HO Wig Wags?

[Anonymous]

Does anybody make a working model of a wig wag crossing signal?

[dknelson]

I will be interested if there is since I model a crossing that when I was a kid had wig wags. We called them banjo signals (maybe that is what Lionel called theirs).
Maybe an even bigger challenge to model was the crossing signal that had a yellow stop sign that would flip 90 degrees when a train was coming. Those were something to see.
Dave Nelson

[Sperandeo]

American Models has a non-working HO wig-wag on the market now, and is developing a working version though I don't believe it's on the market yet. The American Models kit could probably be motorized along the lines explained in Woody Langley's April 1992 MODEL RAILROADER article, "Amaze your friends with a working wig-wag."

So long,

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

[gerryleone]

Andy must be sneaking into my basement when I'm not home.

I am very literally in the middle of building exactly what he described. Using Langley's article as a basis for the mechanism, I took an American Limited (I believe that's the manufacturer name on the model)wig wag and modified it only slightly. I installed it last night and tonight plan to build the photocell activation circuit for it.

When my wife saw it working, even she (who's seen it all) said "WOW!"

-Gerry