Report on installation of Logic Rail “Grade Crossing Pro” and ITT (ITTC?) “Crossing Bell” sound modules:
Last week I installed a crossing flasher system on a set of 30" x 48" club modules for a show this past weekend. The system worked very well ‘right out of the box’. A miracle, given my clumsy hands and tendency to make wiring mistakes. I recommend this combination (LogicRail + ITT) to anyone wanting to drive a pair of crossing gates or flashers such as Tomar’s, which I use. I am not affiliated in any way with any of these fine companies.
I do have considerable electronic knowledge, and surely could build my own detect and driver modules; however, even using some of the many circuits on the web, it would need a good bit of fussing to get a home-brew system working in anything close to the realistic timing and operation of these commercial units. My own experience tells me that I could never hope to duplicate this combination, even approximately, at the cost of these modules - and also without a lot of personal work to build/test/correct/test/…etc ad infinitum. Far easier and cheaper, for me, to go with these devices on the market.
This grade crossing spans three tracks, with a portion of a turnout in the road, leading to a spur (fourth track). To do this right, it needed three GCP modules, one sound module and speaker, two extra photocells, a pair of Tomar 862 4-LED crossbucks, and a 12-volt wallwart for power. I could also have driven crossing gates, such as Tomar’s or NJ’s, with the same setup. The wiring was a bit more tedious than I had anticipated, but not too difficult. If one can read and follow instructions, it goes pretty simply, though the three GCP’s required careful attention to instructions. Each GCP (Grade Crossing Pro) comes with four photocells; each of the three tracks required four photocells (near and far, each side of the crossing); I put two on the spur side of the turnout, for a total of 14 photocells. Sounds a bit hairy, I know, but it worked just fine. Any t