Im looking for an animated crossing gate, just wondering if anyone had any good product recommendations for crossing gates.
Thanks
Greg
Check out Walters.com, however they are somewhat expensive.
Greg,
Here is one site to check out:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/nj_model_trains
Frank
Some of the best and most popular working crossing gates are made by Tomar Industries and NJ International.
But, be aware that working crossing gates are expensive and require a lot of support items which add to the cost.
And, it is difficult to make them look entirely realistic as they move up and down.
The least expensive way to do this is to operate the crossing gates manually, that is, to activate the gates through a flip of a switch. But that requires that you be near the location of the crossing gates to lower and raise them at the proper time.
The more expensive and complicated way to do this is to operate the gates automatically. To do this effectively, in addition to the crossing gates, you need the following items.
Switch Machine - Something like a Tortoise of servo motor to activate the motion of the crossing gates
Occupancy Detection - Some arrangement to tell the switch machine when to go on and when to go off.
Flasher - A circuit board to alternate the lights in a flashing manner.
Bell - Another circuit board to provide the sound of a ringing bell.
No one makes a single kit, so you have to assemble and wire the accessories yourself.
Total Cost: $100 to $150 and upwards.
I use Tomar Industries crossing signals with alternating lights but no crossing gates and no bell.
It is still costly but cheaper than working gates and a lot less expensive.
Rich
Alton Junction
On my Digitrax layout I use flashers and bells only, no gate. They are operated by a DS64 and triggered by a BDL168.
I bought the lights and bells from my local hobby shop. I think they came from Walthers originally.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Logic Rail Technologies makes a crossing gate control board that works very well, but it does not include the actual gates, signals, slow motion motor, or other components.
I have installed the Logic Rail system using Tomar or NJ International signals and gates, a Tortoise slow-motion switch motor, and a bell module on both my home HO scale layout and a club HO scale layout. I use infrafred across-the-track detectors for both systems, which eliminates problems with overhead lighting (or lack thereof).
http://www.logicrailtech.com/gcp.htm
Thank you for the feedback everyone, i see there are a few manufacturors who make the crossings. Is there any information out there on how to trigger a crossing just by manually flipping a switch on the front of the layout. Thats all i really need and it sounds like it would be cheaper to do it that way.
The Logic Rail Technologies controller mentioned above can be manually triggered with a toggle switch.
I think what the OP is hoping for is a crossing gate itself that goes up and down with the flick of a switch.
Not sure if one exists.
If you are willing to skip the crossing gates, which many of us choose to do, then a simple toggle switch can activate the crossbuck signals and then turn them off again. However, this will simply light up the red LEDs. If you want to alternate the lights in a flashing manner, then you will need some sort of flasher circuit board, but one flasher circuit board can operate all of the signals at a crossing or crossings, turning them all on and off at the same time.
If the gates are raised and lowered with a Tortoise, a simple flick of a toggle can raise and lower the gates, too. It all works the same as using a Tortoise to control a turnout, just with some different linkage. For crossing gates you'd probably want something solid like a piece of wood or metal for the control arm to bump into and make the Tortoise stall so it's not putting all that force on the relatively fragile gate arm. There are also servo motor drives that can take a toggle switch input, the electronics of the driver take care of making the servo not move too far. SOme of them even let you simulate the 'bounce' when the gate comes down aor goes up - also useful for semaphore signals.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.