Grade Crossing Signal Project - a Photo Essay

[MisterBeasley]

maxman

Very nice.  But I think you'll need to do something with that signal light that turns green when the gates are down.

 

I thought about that, but it would involve re-routing all the lights for three separate traffic signals through relays, and providing alternate power.

So, I'll just argue that they hadn't been brought up to modern standards.  The layout is Transition Era, after all.  Interconnection of traffic lights with grade crossing signals was specified in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices in 1948.

[maxman]

Very nice.  But I think you'll need to do something with that signal light that turns green when the gates are down.

[Geared Steam]

very nice Mr B!

[RR_Mel]

MisterBeasley

I decided to install a couple of sets of grade crossing signals on my layout.  Flashing lights and gates that go up and down add a nice touch of animation, and they are instantly recognizable to modelers and non-modelers alike.

 

 

 

 

Your correct animation smacks you right between the eyes.  My crossing gates are the first thing visitors Wow over.  I used NJI cross arms and signals too with a Tortoise controlled by a Logic Rail Grade Crossing Pro.  I went with their across the track IR detection.  Because I have two crossings close together I operate both crossings with one controller and Tortoise using fishing line to raise and lower the gates.  I did a post on my blog about the crossings.

 

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2014/06/june-4-2014-logic-rail-gcp.html

 

Mel

[MisterBeasley]

I decided to install a couple of sets of grade crossing signals on my layout.  Flashing lights and gates that go up and down add a nice touch of animation, and they are instantly recognizable to modelers and non-modelers alike.

 

There are a lot of options to choose from.  I’m in HO scale.  I decided to install one set of crossbucks with flashers and one set of gates.  Oregon Rail Supply makes a kit which built up into a nice model for the crossbucks, and I chose NJ International for my operating gates.

 

 

 

The crossbucks took some work to assemble.  It’s necessary to wire the LEDs and run the leads through the shaft.  I used magnet wire for this.  There are a few small parts, and the decals need to be applied as well.

 

The gates are fully assembled, but they come with a stiff wire to activate the gate from below.  This wire was too short for my 2-inch foam base, and it came loose as I tried to add an extension.  I swapped some e-mails with the manufacturer, who suggested mounting another wire on the counterweight instead, as they’d had problems with this particular linkage.  As it turns out, this is a better solution anyway.  By putting the wire further away from the axis of rotation, the gate motion is greatly slowed down and gives a more realistic performance.

 

I used the Rob Paisley circuits for these.  They run on 12 volts DC, and directly drive both the LEDs and the Tortoise used for gate motion.  The circuits each come with 6 phototransistors which are designed to mount between the rails.  I bought the circuits built-up and tested, but you can buy the parts and assemble them yourself if you’d like.  The circuits come with complete diagrams.  Warning:  There is a lot of wiring involved.  It’s not complicated or difficult, but there are lots of wires.

 

The phototransistors operate under normal room light, and will work quite well under more dim conditions.  I tried a few options to get them to work with infrared light, but so far I haven’t been successful.  One thing I did discover is that you need to wire up at least the one set of 3 phototransistors for travel in one direction, or the system won’t respond.  Once I learned to do that, though, the circuit works very well indeed.

 

Here’s one of the crossbucks installed on the layout.

 

 

 The gates present more of a challenge, because they need something to drive the mechanical linkage for the gates themselves.  I bought one Tortoise machine, one #8100 Remote Signal Activator and one #8101 Cable and Actuator.

 

The two lever parts mount beneath the gates and are connected with a vertical wire.

 

The parts connect with a very thin “speedometer cable” which moves in and out with the motion of the Tortoise.  There are numerous configurations and adjustments built in to the mechanism to get it to work with different brands of gates.  The three pieces mount to the underside of the layout, and you need to drill a hole from the top for the activation wire and the leads for the LEDs.

See for yourself how they work.