I am planning on putting N-Scale crossing signals onto my layout. I am curious as to which brand of signal to use. I am leaning towards NJ International.
My next question would be which type of Flasher unit would be the best to use? Also which type of sensor control system would be recommended for the job?
I'm working on two HO scale grade crossings. One uses Oregon Rail Supply crossbucks and flashers, and the other uses NJ International gates and flashers. I'm driving both of these with Rob Paisley's circuit boards.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/AGC11.html
The boards contain both the detection and flasher circuitry. The board for the crossing with the gates will also drive a Tortoise to mechanically raise and lower the gates. I haven't installed that yet.
So far, so good. For each crossing, the circuit uses a total of 6 phototdetectors which are placed facing up between the rails. They work off room light. I'm experimenting with adding infrared LEDs above the detectors so they will work at night, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Showcase Miniatures has some good signal stuff.
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These are HO scale, but they're an example. This is the Oregon Rail Supply kit:
The kit contains a pair of them. It's a sprue of black plastic parts, LEDs and decals. The vertical shaft is brass. You'll need some magnet wire (not included.) It looks like they only come in HO.
These are my HO-scale NJ International gates:
They come fully assembled. The wire that raises and lowers the gate is too short for my 2-inch pink foam, and I think it's stainless steel so it's difficult to solder on an extension. On both of mine, the wire broke off inside. I swapped some e-mails with NJ International, and they agreed that the linkage is weak and easily broken. We agreed that the best course of action would be to drill a small hole in the counterweight and drive it from there. This will give me a more robust mechanism, and the longer lever arm should provide a more realistic motion.
I'm going to drive the gates with a Tortoise and Circuitron's remote signal linkages, 800-8100 and 800-8101. One Tortoise will drive both gates.
The NJ International flashers are wired with a common anode. The Oregon Rail Supply ones can be wired common anode or common cathode.
I installed the HO NJ crossing gates as well. Some advice on the install: center the Tortoise as best as you can between the 2 gates. When installing the linkages, what I did was hold the linkage in place by hand, mark the holes for the screws that hold it in place,remove the linkage, drill the holes, put a bead of Goo or contact cement on the linkage to hold it in place while you put the screws in.On the Tortoise mechanism, you will have the 2 wires and tubing coming from the gates. Get one working properly and use contact cement to hold the tubing in place on the mechanism. Then get the other gate working properly and glue it in place. I cut the wire longer then I needed as a safety issue. You can always shorten it once things are working. Joe
Subway of LION has eliminated all grade crossings.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
The link below takes you to my recent blog posting where I evaluated the different grade crossing options. My focus was HO but the underlying technology is the same for every scale. Discovered some interesting stuff.
Joe Daddy on Grade Crossings
I used NJ International Crossings, both the crossbucks and highway crossings. I forgot which detector circuits I used.