I was wonder which product is better, Tomar or NJ International with respect to crossing signals. I am looking for a working flashing light grade crossing signal for a 2 track mainline. I would like to have the bell sound also, but that is not a "must". I noticed that the Tomar signal itself is more expense than NJ International. But, Tomar seems to have the other pieces of equipment to get the whole thing working. What are your thoughts and experiences.
Craig North Carolina
Which is "better" depends on which one you intend to use -- both brands are brass and seem to be very similar in construction. Depending on your choice, both use 3mm LEDs, so both work equally well and neither one is better than the other.
Craig, I cannot say which is better because I have not used the signals from NJ International.
However, I have a dozen of the Tomar Industries crossing signals and I really like them a lot. They look great, perform great. and have tremendous customer support like all of the Tomar products.
The flashing signals work flawlessly, and they are lit on both sides. The Tomar signals can be purchased with or without the "bell" which is non-operative but you can purchase the bell sound circuit board separately.
Once I began purchasing Tomar Industries signal years ago, I never had any reason to try other manufacturers. On a couple of occasions, I have fried an LED on a dwarf signal or searchlight signal, and Tomar will repair the signal for a nominal cost.
My vote is for Tomar Industries.
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks, Rich, that is the way I was leaning. I like the idea of the bell sound, too.
On the AZATRAX website where I use their fantastic railroad crossing IR detectors, comparing the Tomar and NJI crossing signals, it appears that the Tomar "RAILROAD CROSSING" sign as well as the LED's are larger, almost to the point they're out of scale. I've been leaning towards NJI for that reason.
I model the mid '60s if that makes any difference.
http://www.azatrax.com/image/nji-vs-tomar-large.jpg
Thanks!
Brass Hat, Gulf and Pacific Railroad HO/HOn3 (Modelled to represent mid 1960's) Big Bear Lake, CA. For pictures and videos of the layout please see below:
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/jostaiii?feature=mhee
Photobucket: http://s584.photobucket.com/albums/ss287/josta1954/
With a little more research I learned that the NJI ones are more for the '60s and earlier, while Tomar are for the more modern era as new regulations required larger lights and signs.
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=45017
John
I model 1940-1950. I use NJI Pennsy Intermediate PL signals and Logic Rail Technologies control system. They work great and customer support is terrific. I have had them on the layout for more than a year without issue.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/
For a completely independent (of the rails) controller, the Logic Rail unit is hard to beat. It even handles situations like when a train enters the crossing, stops, and then backs clear, like if you have a siding near a grade crossing. Some of the more inexpensive ones can properly lower the gates and then release after the last car clears, but if you do switching maneuver it won;t respons correctly. The Logic Rail units are also expandable for multipel tracks, and will correctly handle situations like an eastbound is just about clear when a westbound hits the detection zone.
Might be a fun project to build the correct logic with an Aurdino, if you are feeling in a DIY mood.You'd need 8 sets of IR detectors (2 on each side of each main, 4 per track, 2 tracks) and some way to play the bell - or buy one of the bell boards with it digitized and just urn it on and off as needed. Effort would naturally be much more than just buying a ready to use solution, but the cost would be much lower.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Although installing signals on my layout is a bit down the road, my admittedly brief explorations into signals would indicate that Oregon Rail Supply offers the best value. Does anyone have any first hand experience with the ORS products and how do they compare to the NJ International, Tomar Industries and Rail Logic offerings?
Hornblower
Hmm, looks liek the ORS option is the chepest, but as usual, will require more work. Prices are right, pack of 3 of the heads of the type I need are $4.95. LED can be had super cheap on eBay, in mass quantities. A little solder and some bits to make up a proper mast, should be maybe $7 tops per signal.
Hello,
I have a pair of the NJ International 1164 crossing gates on a double mainline set up on my layout detected by two LogicRail GCPs (IR version) with the bell unit and tortoise machines animating the gates. It all works very well. The IRs take some tweaking as I have changed the lighting conditions in my layout room a few times. The sensitivity adjustments is pretty sensitive; there to me seems to be a fine line between the system being too sensitive (it will just go off all the time sensing anything that interrupts the ambient light) to undersensitive (if you have just one loco going around the system may not detect it if you have it too low). It works very well, but definitely takes some give and take to get it just right with your layout's lighting.
To the original poster's question about NJ Intl...I am very happy with their signals. I liked that they were LEDs on both sides and were already wired with the required resistor. Back when I was researching the crossing signals, it seemed to me the choice was definitely between NJ Intl and Tomar. The NJ Intl seemed to be more scale-sized and nice looking. Some modelers at the time said they thought the Tomar was far too large and out of scale. For me the Tomar was not worth the extra cost. Even today, its showing about $182 on the Tomar website (includes signals and two Tortoises but no detection). I believe I paid about $30 less than that and that was a package deal with signals, 2 IR detection units, and the bell unit and speaker.
As far as signals go, I am getting there on my layout. I will probably use Oregon Rail Supply for some snow hooded signal heads and a couple NJ Intl signal bridges to build some faux ones on a big part of my layout where the aspects will not be visible to the operator or viewer but still would be a nice scene (two crossovers back to back, so I am considering two of the 4 track so it will not make sense to spend $ to make them operational. On a couple parts that are, I may build a couple or I may use the BLMA ones and use LogicRail BDs to animate. There's no way I am going anywhere near a prototypical type system though; more the signal animator type set up.
Brad
I've used both the Logic Rail and Azatrax units, and actually prefer the Azatrax ones. I know what you mean about the cheaper ones; they're available on eBay from China and are very limited on what they can do....almost to the point of not worth it to serious model railroaders like many of us. Yes, the Azatrax one responds correctly in the situation you've mentioned and the IR detectors are very easy to adjust.
So far I have 4 crossings with lights/gates, all using Azatrax products, with two more coming.