Been fiddling with a really old ho Tyco crossing gate with the little guy that pops out of the shed when a train passes. This model only actuated the shedman not the gates. It failed to operate so I lubed every part of the mechanism and added to the counterweight so the man retracted well. A passing train will not cause him to come out of his home, only directly pressing on the long plank between the rails does the trick.
After many hours of puttering and switching out for heavier locos to no avail, I realized this antique must have been designed for the old pizza cutter flanges. All my stock is rp 25 whose flanges barely touch the actuator plank. This item may end up a passive display if building up the plank edges doesn't help.
Old meets new sometimes makes for a sad encounter...
I'm not sure for I never had one, but it sounds like it was designed for use with the older horn-hook couplers, where the trip pins would ride over the plank and press it down. They were more rigid vertically, than say a Kadee with their more curved trip pins.
Good Luck!
Frank
And you still have code 100 track installed in that item? First try a section of code 83 or less. Then if no better try this. You should see that the only point of the 'between the track planking' that really puts downward pressure on the actavation arm is at that arm location. My planking has wavey flange ways so... shave out a nice even flangway section about 3" over that location, taper the styrene strips to be layed/glued in the flangways at their ends. The counter weight for return to home flagman will incress the pressure needed to make that flagman do his job.
Glue some thin styrene strips to the bottom of the flangeways to build them up enough for the shallow RP 25 flanges to work it.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
The pizza cutter flanges are the problem. It was designed for those flanges. I would glue in styrene strips in the flange way onto that plank strip. Raise up the flangeway so it contacts the flanges again Could also use brass strips. .60 wide And start with .60 high. Might need .80 high to work. I would buy .60 wide strips by .60 high. And a package of .60 x .10. The .10 would be used to add the depth to the final height. To high and the loco wheels will be lofted off the rail
Wolfie
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
you guys have all been so helpful in your suggestions, thank you and thanks to all further help too! it's also nice for group members to patiently help out with a "toy" train accessory. what a great forum. -rob
I'm not so sure it has anything to do witht he flanges - the actuating mechanism is the 'plank' down the middle, not anything in the flangeway. I had the ones with the crossing gates that moved - while a few of the Rivarossi locos we had were larger than RP25 flanges, most of the other locoos and cars were well after the standard was adopted and that all tripped it just fine.
I'd be inclined to agree on the coupler pins - although I'm also surprised the kadee trip pins don;t snag on the plank. I do seem to recall that the gates would 'flutter' a bit as different cars in the train would roll across it - so variations in the coupler pins could very easily account for this. I always thought it was the axles the pushed it down, but the couplers make more sense.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Are any of you guys looking at the item in question? It's the flange's of the wheels in the funky wavey flangways not the X2f hook horn couplers that trip the action. I would consider this Tyco grade crossing item an accident waiting to happen.
If it's the flanges that push the bar down, then it's not an RP25 being too small problem, that thing was in the Tyco catalog at least into the early 80's (1981 one hat Nite GLow glow in the dark pavement markings and gate arm! Woo!) and certainly by then they weren't using pizza cutter flanges on the wheels of everything. Mine from the very early 70's worked with a wide variety of equipment, not all of it train set level stuff and not all of it fitted with pizza cutter flanges. I'll have to dig, might still have it somewhere.
Bottom line, it IS a toy, good for nostalgia maybe, but it shoudl work fine if used with approriate vintage equipment. The even older Ideal crossing shanty watchman I had was electromechanical, using a small blade ont eh end of a wire that you shoved under the rail between the rail and ties for the connection, with insulated gaps on either side. When the loco hit this section of track, the power flowed through the operating solenoid as well as the loco and the little guy with his lantern would pop out of his shack. Much like the bigger Lionel one, but with less buzzing and violence.
OP here -- I just ran a vintage Tyco boxcar (1970s?) with hornhooks through the crossing. The coupler pins actually ride higher than the wheel flanges and completely missed the plank, so this model was not pin actuated. Also the flanges don't look any deeper than any of my newer equipment--definitely not pizza cutter.
My conclusion is this crossing is worn out and sloppy after many years of use. No amount of shimming and lubing and tinkering helped. It will be a static display, with the door set open and the little guy all the way out so he can get some sun and have something to do when a train passes. Least I can do for the old-timer...
Thanks again for indulging, Rob
Probably got worn out and tired like a coo coo clock bird did after so many times of popping in and out..LOL That's what those things and such always reminded Me of.
Take Care!