Railroad Crossing | Belleair Rd, Clearwater, FL

🗓 Date: 11/22/22
🛤 Line: CSX Clearwater Subdivision
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On November 22nd, 2022, my second full day in the Tampa area, I was up at 0630 for my second try at catching CSX L791, the local based out of Clearwater. After a bust the morning before, I would succeed this day. The first place I snagged L791 was here at Belleair Road when they stopped to work Suburban Propane. For power, L791 had CSX 4420, a GP40-2. Every video I took of L791 over the two days I followed it around features 4420, so do get used to it.
This crossing, like so many others on the Clearwater Subdivision, is really nice. I'm fairly certain the setup dates back to the SCL, but I can't say for sure. There is a pair of Harmon cantilevers and Safetran gate masts. The lights are a mix of Safetran and Western Cullen Hayes 12x24s which replaced the original incandescent lights in the early 2010s. In wasteful fashion, the original 12" overhead lights were thrown away instead of being retrofitted to LED. There are two bells here, the far one being a Safetran Type 2 electronic bell. The near one is an adapter-mounted Western Cullen Hayes mechanical bell. For all I know it could have been a Federal Signal, but I didn't bother to look as usual. I wasted no time repositioning a couple crossings north...
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Signal activation!
0:31 - Train!
2:23 - Signal deactivation!
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[@TheBCRailfan]

Great video and crossing!

[@texaswonderer5564]

Good video as always

[@AmtrakProductions]

Nice video! Love a good double cantilever crossing

[@TheCentralTexasRailfan]

Thanks, same

[@kenytha5]

Nice catch and crossing

[@TheCentralTexasRailfan]

Thank you very much!

[@anthony-ez4yf]

i love refletive gates can you do video of gates bouncing if not no worries

[@freebrickproductions]

Great video and crossing! Looks like the gate mechs might've been RACO or early Safetran as well? Either way, that's definitely an SCL install, don't believe either the ACL or SAL used Harmon cantilevers of that style.
It seems like from about the mid-2000s to the early-2010s, when CSX upgraded a crossing to LED, they typically replaced all of the light-heads as well (though not always). I guess it might've been an older habit from before LEDs started being used when a light upgrade at a crossing would typically involve replacing all of the lights at a crossing.

[@TheCentralTexasRailfan]

Pretty sure they are Safetran but I didn't check as I peeled outta here seconds after the train cleared.
Yeah I've noticed that with crossing lights. Sometimes it's still done that way for whatever reason but retrofitting almost always makes more sense.

[@KirbyTheCoastalOCRailfan]

Great video and crossing!

[@TheCentralTexasRailfan]

Thank you very much!