Crossing Gate Operation Question

[Anonymous]

My Lionel crossing gates are connected through insulated track sections. They operate erratically (bouncing and incomplete descent). What is a the root of this problem and, what do you recommend as a better way to operate these?

Thanks

[jkerklo]

The power for the crossing gate goes through the wheels and axles of passing trains. Wheel bounce and dirty wheels will cause the problems mentioned.

How long is the insulated track section? A single 10" track section is too short, especially if some cars' trucks can span the track section. A multiple length insulated section of track will work better; more wheels bridging the outside rails at once and carrying the power.

See www.Three-Rail.com "How-To" for some information on isolated outside-rail track sections and some products that will further help the problem.

[lionelsoni]

You might improve things by cleaning wheels.

There are various ways to fix the problem electronically. One that is fairly simple is to use the isolated control rail to operate a relay coil returned to a (positive) DC voltage. Put a large enough electrolytic capacitor between the un-isolated outside rails and the control rail. The train will then discharge the capacitor as it operates the relay. The capacitor keeps the relay operated until it can recharge. The recharge time is the capacitance in farads times the relay coil resistance in ohms. That is why you would use a relay rather than the accessory coil directly, since the latter probably has a pretty low resistance. It would be a good idea also to put at least 10 ohms in series with the control rail, so as not to draw too much of an arc when the first wheel hits it.

[4kitties]

Dkvt87,

I've built probably close to a dozen of the circuits that lionelsoni described. WIth the version I use, everything fits nicely on a 2" square PC board from Radio Shack. I usually operate mine from track power but they work equally well on a dedicated power source. This is a foolproof way to fix your problem, and arcing of the wheels isn't an issue because they carry only the small relay current.

If you're handy with soldering and want to email me, I can walk you through building one of these circuits.

A question of etiquette: is it OK to reference articles from other publications in this forum? The bidirectional circuit I use for my crossing gates takes the relay concept a step further and gives prototypical operation. It did not come from the pages of CTT.

Joel

[Chris F]

When I experienced crossing gate operation as you described, I found the problem was due to inadequate voltage. The manual for modern crossing gates indicates 12-18V, but mine didn't operate well until I raised the voltage to about 16V. I didn't even try using track voltage.