Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 6-26-25*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a WABCO Model 75 gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a WABCO Model 75 gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

While waiting on the Silver Meteor at CR 3, the southbound Floridian wound-up pulling-up behind them in Seville. As such, after catching the southbound Silver Meteor, we hopped on back down to this crossing in Pierson to catch the southbound Floridian since we knew it was running right behind them. Not too long after we got here, we were able to catch our second train of the day: Amtrak 41 with a Phase V P42DC leading a Phase VII P24DC for power.

This crossing is another nice one, featuring a pair of signals that were originally installed in the 1970s by the SCL. In the late-80s/early-90s, it appears that CSX replaced all of the lights here with the current MI 12x24s. Then, in the late-90s/early-2000s, CSX replaced the bells here with a pair of GS e-bells. After that, sometime in the 2010s, both bells here were replaced with the current NEG e-bells. At about the same time, or shortly after (and certainly before 2023), CSX also upgraded almost all of the lights here to LED, though strangely they left one of the pairs of side lights incandescent. Thankfully, since then, nothing else appears to have changed to this crossing.
Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure why the closer signal here still has side lights on it. It seems the pair facing to the right may still face a driveway that runs right up alongside the A Line here, which might be why they got upgraded to LED. However, the other pair hasn't faced anything for decades it appears, with the road/driveway they must've once faced having long since been removed/abandoned. I suspect this is why CSX strangely left them incandescent, while upgrading everything else here to LED, though I can't say for certain, given that they don't face anything anymore. Sadly, one of the bulbs in this pair has gone, so I wouldn't be too surprised if CSX upgrades them to LED before too long as well. Either way, at least this crossing still has both of its original WABCO Model 75s, which is great to see.