For the holidays i was looking for crossing gates, but motorized. I have looked every were, web sites, hobby stores, the works. But i havent been succesful. Anyone know where they might be, store wise?
What scale are you looking for
If you are looking for HO scale gates, I think you are out of luck. In O, both MTH and Lionel offer motorized gates. N scale would be very hard to engineeer.
[:)] I saw a site in Canada a while ago for Signalogic Systems. Their web address is http://members.shaw.ca/signalogic/ They have pictures and videos on their site of crossing gates and flashers manufactured in the Canadian style. Detection and control circuits are included and it’s in HO. It’s worth a look.[:p][8D]
Im looking for HO
That’s an easy question to answer: Tomar.
http://www.tomarindustries.com/signals.htm
Look for product no. H-863. This comes with a Tortoise for gate animation (and the linkage), but not the block detection nor the flashing circuit. If you have straight DC (analog), then you need their Grade Crossing Detection and Flasher, product no. LR-GCP. If you have DCC, then you need to use some kind of DCC compliant device like the Digitrax BDL168 or BD1.
All of this, however, isn’t cheap. The gates and Tortoise (plus linkage) is $150, the Tomar detector and flasher unit is another $40. The BDL168 or BD1 are even more money…
But…Tomar makes great stuff. We have a bunch of their items at our RR club, and it’s great looking.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
NJ International makes them in N, HO, S, and O scale. http://www.njinternational.com
For the record, several companies make very nice authentic crossing gates in HO scale; most are designed to be used with a Tortoise switch motor or equivalent. The operation is smooth and realistic; not the toy train bouncy action. They are not mounted to road sections, or preassembled track sections. BTW, semaphores and wig wag signals are now available with similar characteristics.
Ok!..so I went out and purchased theTOMAR kit last yr at the Springfield show…150 bucks…Because the kit was to be Complete!..Well system is still not up and running…( 85%) because we had to go get Flashing activator and decector…Think the gates look great and will work fine when complete BUT I wish someone would put a complete Kit out there!..The frustatation in reading instructions and finding out that i had to go shopping some more for parts drives me nuts…My time is limited and gas for car not cheap( would rather put $ in train layout…lol)…anyway that’s my complaint…If anyone knows of a systems that IS COMPLETE…let me know…Thanks Tom
Tom,
I have raised this very issue with two very knowledgeable guys who run our local hobby shop, and they have told me, unqualifiedly, that there is no complete kit in HO for a working gate and flashing lights with occupancy detector. As others have posted, Tomar and NJ International can get you close but no one offers a complete kit. A few months ago, someone from one of the other forums sent me a diagram and instructions for building a circuit board, but not being an electrical engineer I never tried to assemble it. Maybe Walthers will create such a kit, now that they have marketed a fully indexed turntable. Someone could make a fortune if they would market such a kit.
Actually, you need an electronics technician. Most engineers, if they even pick up a soldering iron, just burn themselves. [:D]
The reason there are no all-inclusive kits is that every layout is different, so the requirement for sensor placement is never going to be able to be standardized.
On the Cochise & Western Model Railroad Club’s 20x40 foot HO scale layout, we have two road crossings with automated signals. There are many more road crossings that need to be so equipped, but the cost would be astronomical. One of these crossings also has crossing gates, which add to the overall cost per crossing because of the need for a Tortoise motor and all of the linkage. Placement of the IR emitter/detector pairs to trigger the crossing logic is nowhere close to being the same on them, so custom cutting of the wiring will always be necessary.
I would not want to try installing a system that had everything plug-n-play, especially for the placement of detectors.
And what about multiple tracks? One crossing has two mainline tracks and the other has three. What would be the “standard” that a manufacturer could come up with?
Kato have an operating crossing in N - part of their unitrack system. You get bell sound effects and there are a pair of track sections with occupancy sensors built in - it’s pretty much plug and play from what I’ve read. The price is somewhat high though!
i think life-like (walthers) and bachman make them?? try this website www.hobbylinc.com Tim
I wrote an article for Model Railroader in the late 80’s (when I get my train room finished and everything unpacked I can get you the exact issue) expalining how I used some inexpensive Bachman crossing gates, LEDs, 2 IR sensors and 2 IR transmitters and a small electronic circuit to make a working crossing gate. It was for an n scale system but would work for HO.
BTW I’m an engineer and built the circuit myself and somehow managed to not burn myself!
I have one for O scale and one for HO.
The O scale one was a complete set! I got it through Ross Custom Switches. Looking at my old invoice it was listed under Accessories as #1000, All Brass Operating Crossing Gate ($250.00). The best thing about these gates is they came with all the circuitry. The circuit board had a sound unit for the “bells”, the stuff to make the lights flash, and circuitry to control the motors… and it would accept a detection unit. I however just made it work by an on off toggle (layout was way too small to have it work automatically…it would be down all the time [:D] )
Anyway, I also wanted a set of gates to protect my highway crossing on the HO layout. Tomar’s looked to be the best. But like you said, no circuitry came with it. Well, recently completing the O scale crossing, I got to thinking if I could get just the circuit board (and speaker) from Ross. A call later and it was on it’s way. And, with a resistor for the smaller Tomar bulbs, my HO scale crossing works the same as the O scale. I also made the HO one work with a toggle switch. If I wanted, a detection unit would have worked too.
Unfortunately I just did a quick search of the Ross webpage and could not find the crossing gates. So they may not be available anymore. But it might be worth a call to see if they remember who the vendor was and maybe you could get the circuitry.
Here’s a link to the Ross webpage:
http://www.rossswitches.com/
UPDATE
I just found this, http://catalog.rossswitches.com/viewProduct.cfm?item_id=480596, this is not what I have, and to be blunt [xx(] rather poor looking compared to the set I have (although these are $160 cheaper), but maybe they are using the same circuitry for this unit. The O scale set I have is basically a larger set of the Tomar gates. They look almost identical…well except for the size [;)]
I went to thw web sight Dougfearon posted…these guys may have it right!..I sent them an e-mail as i have never seen their system in real life…will let you know what they say…Tom
Im in the same boat kinda of,I want the working gates also .but yes the cost of buying lots of stuff to get them working is quit costly and frustrating
Carl.
Hey [:O], I’m an electrical engineer and I know how to use a soldering iron [;)]