Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 6-25-25*

Eastbound signal #1: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Eastbound signal #2: 1 RACO 8 inch light and 1 US&S 14 inch "No Right Turn" light.
Westbound signal: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
This crossing is located in a quiet zone. Trains do not usually blow their horns at this crossing.

After catching the northbound SunRail train at Sybelia Avenue in Maitland, I hopped back onto I-4 and made my way across Orlando to try and get another crossing or two just south of the downtown filmed. I got set-up at this crossing, where I thankfully saw a southbound was lined through, and waited. After a little bit of waiting, I was able to catch my eighth train of the day: a southbound SunRail commuter train with an MP32PH-Q for power, shoving on the rear.

This crossing is a great one, located under part of the I-4/FL 408 interchange, and is easily one of the best ones left on the SunRail main these days, IMHO. It seems that right next to this crossing had once been a 4-way intersection, when the current signals here were originally installed. The signals here were installed in the late-60s/early-70s by the SCL, replacing some old ACL signals it appears. However, during this upgrade, the "No Right Turn" signal had the old US&S 14 inch light reused onto it. Then, in the 1980s, either the SBD or CSX replaced both gate mechs here with the current WCH ones. Later on in the 1980s, or possibly the 90s, CSX replaced the cantilever on the far side with the current Harmon one, which originally had either 3rd Gen MI or 3rd Gen Harmon 12x24 inch lights on it. At some point around the time of either of these upgrades (the gate mechs or cantilever), or possibly a bit later in the early-2000s, either the SBD or CSX replaced the main lights on the gated mast signal here with a set of Safetran 12x24s. Regardless, finally, sometime between 2007 and 2008, all of the lights and both of the original RACO mechanical bells here were replaced with the current Safetran 12x24 inch lights and Safetran Type 3 e-bells.
Thankfully, and amazingly, this crossing has remained largely unchanged since then. NGL, I'm kinda impressed that SunRail ain't made any major modifications to this crossing (yet) since they took it over back in the early-2010s, given that they've made several upgrades to just about every other crossing along their main they inherited from CSX. I'm definitely glad to see these signals have been able to remain largely unchanged though, as it's the last on on the SunRail main with one of these classic "No Turn" signals at it. This signal also features both the last 8 inch and the last 14 inch light along the SunRail at it, which is nice to see as well. Strangely, the 14 inch US&S "No Right Turn" light here flashes with the 8 inch light, which definitely looks rather unusual. It seems that SunRail may have put an LED bulb in there as well, given how it appears to "snap" on and off. This crossing is also one of the last two crossings on the SunRail main with WCH gate mechs at it, as far as I'm aware, so that's cool as well. Hopefully the older equipment here remains in use for many more years to come, with its mix of older ACL, SCL, and CSX (and possibly SBD) equipment without any changes, as it's easily one of my favorites left on the SunRail mainline. Either way, I'm definitely quite glad I was able to get this one when I did on this trip.
The cantilever also has its gate lights a bit oddly spaced as well, with the middle one being noticeably closer to the tip gate light rather than being evenly-spaced between the tip and base gate lights.