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Crossing Signal Selection (HO Scale) Track and electrical/DCC Signals
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Regular poster 479 posts Ben MEC/CP Rail guy Regular poster 479 posts
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy
I'm going to need a set of crossing signals on my layout. No bell, no gates, activated with a switch (I don't have the space before or after the crossing for a detection circuit). It appears that there are at least a few options at various price points but it's hard to tell the difference between each set. I'm hoping someone has experience with a specific mfr's crossing signals and can recommend for or against a particular set.
 
I'm seeing Busch and Details+, among others.
 
I'm modeling the late 1990s if that makes a difference.
 
Thank you!
Ben
Prototype Modeling a quarter mile of Vermont Railway's Northern Subdivision in 1998
Reply 0
Mister Beasley Prolific poster 1,129 posts
Mister Beasley
I have bought and installed both crossing flashers and crossing gates from different suppliers, plus circuit controllers and Tortoise gate actuators from Circuitron. They all play together well, and the circuit controllers sense the approach and departure of trains very well.
 
I bought Rob Paisley controllers, pre-assembled. These use optical sensors between the ties.
 
I have crossbucks with flashers from Oregon Rail Supply. They are simple plastic kits that come with LEDs and build up easily. They do need an external circuit driver to flash the lights..
 
I also bought a pair of gates and flashers from NJ International. These require the Tortoise to drive the gates and the linkage package from Circuitron as well. These are pre-assembled, but I found the gate linkage weak and I had to rebuild it (easy job, just stiff wire).
 
The circuits run on 12 VDC which is not included. I have a 12 VDC bus around the layout, so that works fine.
 
My crossings were built to keep costs low from various manufacturers.
 
I'm not sure if the Rob Paisley circuits are still available. It's worth a search. The circuits also support a bell (not included).
Reply 2
Neil Erickson NeilEr Moderator 6,361 posts
Neil Erickson NeilEr
Keep your eyes on ISE!
 

Neil Erickson, Hawai’i 

My Blogs
Reply 1
kenheywood MRH Author 2,202 posts
kenheywood
 
I am lucky enough that my detector system can also do grade crossings, but before I used the system, i experimented with a totally independent device that works with the FL2 flasher. This one uses 4 photocells to operate for bidirectional trains. One caveat is that it only works with lights on, so night operations won't be friendly.
 
Ken
[259338%2F8551665%2Fmceclip0]
Ken on Youtube
Reply 1
GN67 Frequent poster 819 posts
GN67
My N-Scale crossing gate came from Showcase Miniatures & I used an Iowa Scaled Engineering  "SoundBytes Crossing Bell". --Brian
 
PA070211.jpeg
Brian Morgan, ESU ECoS - ProtoThrottles, SwitchPilot, SignalPilots, ECoSDetector, LokProgrammer,  GN in 1967
Reply 3
ezlyamuzd66 Frequent poster 548 posts
ezlyamuzd66
I have bought and installed both crossing flashers and crossing gates from different suppliers, plus circuit controllers and Tortoise gate actuators from Circuitron. They all play together well, and the circuit controllers sense the approach and departure of trains very well.
 
I bought Rob Paisley controllers, pre-assembled. These use optical sensors between the ties.
 
I have crossbucks with flashers from Oregon Rail Supply. They are simple plastic kits that come with LEDs and build up easily. They do need an external circuit driver to flash the lights..
 
I also bought a pair of gates and flashers from NJ International. These require the Tortoise to drive the gates and the linkage package from Circuitron as well. These are pre-assembled, but I found the gate linkage weak and I had to rebuild it (easy job, just stiff wire).
 
The circuits run on 12 VDC which is not included. I have a 12 VDC bus around the layout, so that works fine.
 
My crossings were built to keep costs low from various manufacturers.
 
I'm not sure if the Rob Paisley circuits are still available. It's worth a search. The circuits also support a bell (not included).
All good info thanks so much for sharing
I have Showcase Miniatures boom gates to be installed on a double track passing loop so what you’ve detailed here is very handy

Steve

NSW Australia

D&RGW Tennessee Pass - 1978

 
Reply 1
CN/IC Isaac Regular poster 327 posts
CN/IC Isaac
I have only experience with the Busch ones, which include the flashing circuit. I also activated them manually, plus an ISE Soundbyte and one of their DCC power adapters off the bus -- not that I recommend the latter, but I didn't have an accessory bus on the old layout.
 
My only gripe with the Busch was that it required a single resistor which the instructions didn't mention at all. I believe I found an old forum post that cleared things up.
Isaac
TOMA'ing the CN/IC Gilman Sub c2006 in HO
#ProtoThrottleGang
E. Peoria, IL
Reply 2
Mister Beasley Prolific poster 1,129 posts
Mister Beasley
I should have mentioned that my crossing gate flashers and also my operating gates have all the controlling components under the layout, so the only parts on the surface are the flashers and gates themselves. My photosensors are between the ties and barely noticeable, and the electronics are a small board. Some provision must be made for the single Tortoise machine and the linkage, but the design is flexible. The flashers are just a thin mast, and each set of gates is just what you see. You might want to reconsider actually automating the operation of the signals, as they take no real estate on the surface.
 
If I get around to it, I may add bells to the crossings.  My controllers have provisions for bells already built in.  A friend actually gave me a real crossing bell he had. It actually ran on 12 VDC, the same as I use for my circuits. So, a couple of beers later, we conected it to the gate circuit, being careful to only run it for brief intervals because I didn't know the current draw. It actually worked, and the next time a train came around it was VERY LOUD. I gave the bell to a local hobby shop.
 
I installed simple toggles to turn on and off the control circuits, just to allow me to have control over them.
Reply 2
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy Regular poster 479 posts
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy
Thank you all, looks like any of the crossing signal models will work well.
 
@CN/IC Isaac do you recall where it needed the resistor?
 
@Mister Beasley I've thought about automation, my concern is that the crossing is at the end of my layout:
259338_9609420_mceclip0.png
If I automated it I'd only implement an island circuit. Every single ops session, I do some switching at and over the crossing, so I'd like it to work correctly. But it sounds like the various options all work pretty well.
Ben
Prototype Modeling a quarter mile of Vermont Railway's Northern Subdivision in 1998
Reply 0
jeffshultz MRH Staff 10,430 posts
jeffshultz
East Coast Circuits has a nice inexpensive grade crossing flashers controller = https://eastcoastcircuits.com/Circuits
 
I don't know about getting it working without the sensors - drop @Neal M a message about what you'd like to do and see if they have a way of getting it done.

orange70.jpg
Jeff Shultz - MRH Technical Assistant
DCC Features Matrix        My blog index
Superintendent, 2nd Division PNR, NMRA
Northwest Oregon/Southwest Washington
Reply 2
CN/IC Isaac Regular poster 327 posts
CN/IC Isaac
do you recall where it needed the resistor?
No, but I have it boxed up somewhere with the resistor still on, so can tell ya if needbe.
Isaac
TOMA'ing the CN/IC Gilman Sub c2006 in HO
#ProtoThrottleGang
E. Peoria, IL
Reply 1
Bernd MRH Author 6,964 posts
Bernd
East Coast Circuits has a nice inexpensive grade crossing flashers controller = https://eastcoastcircuits.com/Circuits
 
I don't know about getting it working without the sensors - drop @Neal M a message about what you'd like to do and see if they have a way of getting it done.
Looks like Neal is using  light sensors.
 
111737.png
 
Bernd

New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds - NCSWIC

BLOG: The Kingstone Model Works Shop - the MRH Forum
Reply 2
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy Regular poster 479 posts
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy
East Coast Circuits has a nice inexpensive grade crossing flashers controller = https://eastcoastcircuits.com/Circuits
 
I don't know about getting it working without the sensors - drop @Neal M a message about what you'd like to do and see if they have a way of getting it done.
Though more expensive, I'm leaning toward the LogicRail Grade Crossing Pro/2 since it appears to be the only controller with an LED driver that fades the lights in and out realistically.
 
The Showcase Miniatures crossing signals seem popular too.
Ben
Prototype Modeling a quarter mile of Vermont Railway's Northern Subdivision in 1998
Reply 0
kenheywood MRH Author 2,202 posts
kenheywood
I use an integrated controller per layout module. It detects occupancy, controls servo driven turnouts, and drives signals. The crossing signal gets detection, drives the gate, and flashes the LEDs (with the fade).   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7A2dJjsPqHY
Ken
[259338%2F8551665%2Fmceclip0]
Ken on Youtube
Reply 1
THaag Regular poster 279 posts
THaag
Just make sure that the crossing signals are to scale. I have seen many that look out of proportion or just too big......some look like S scale compared to the HOivY9Ovh.jpg trains going by. I used a modified set of out of production Oregon Rail Supply flashers.
Reply 1
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy Regular poster 479 posts
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy
I use an integrated controller per layout module. It detects occupancy, controls servo driven turnouts, and drives signals. The crossing signal gets detection, drives the gate, and flashes the LEDs (with the fade).   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7A2dJjsPqHY
That looks good! Is that the LogicRail controller?
 
Just make sure that the crossing signals are to scale. I have seen many that look out of proportion or just too big......some look like S scale compared to the HOivY9Ovh.jpg trains going by. I used a modified set of out of production Oregon Rail Supply flashers.
That's a good call. Are there any other flashers you can recommend for or against?
Ben
Prototype Modeling a quarter mile of Vermont Railway's Northern Subdivision in 1998
Reply 0
kenheywood MRH Author 2,202 posts
kenheywood
That looks good! Is that the LogicRail controller?
That's a QuadLN_S manufactured by N3IX Engineering.
Ken
[259338%2F8551665%2Fmceclip0]
Ken on Youtube
Reply 1
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy Regular poster 479 posts
Ben MEC/CP Rail guy
That's a QuadLN_S manufactured by N3IX Engineering.
I looked it up and that's pretty slick!
 
Probably overkill for just running a set of crossing lights on a micro layout though.
Ben
Prototype Modeling a quarter mile of Vermont Railway's Northern Subdivision in 1998
Reply 0
kenheywood MRH Author 2,202 posts
kenheywood
Probably overkill for just running a set of crossing lights on a micro layout though.
Probably yes for a single purpose. Although, the price isn't that much more than some of the crossing controllers. I use the Quads in each of my layout modules, like I said, for detection, turnouts, and signals. For just the crossbucks, a flasher and a toggle will do for what you want.
Ken
[259338%2F8551665%2Fmceclip0]
Ken on Youtube
Reply 1
John P Frequent poster 533 posts
John P
Ah, but who has a manual gate being pumped by hand? (The little guy comes from a Bachmann handcar, and yes, he's working faster than scale speed. I've slowed him down since making the video.)
Reply 0
jeffshultz MRH Staff 10,430 posts
jeffshultz
This isn't the inexpensive option, but one of the tricks of the Logic Rail Technologies EFX-16 is that you can use two plugs flashing in opposite phase to drive a crossing flasher.
 
I suspect you can trigger it from a throttle like a turnout in DCC mode. You can set up an event to trigger it as a consumer in LCC mode.

orange70.jpg
Jeff Shultz - MRH Technical Assistant
DCC Features Matrix        My blog index
Superintendent, 2nd Division PNR, NMRA
Northwest Oregon/Southwest Washington
Reply 1
mvlandsw Regular poster 425 posts
mvlandsw
Neat animation John.
There were some of those pump actuated gates in Mckeesport, Pa. on the B&O into the late 60's. The operators were in elevated towers at each crossing. I don't think that they had to be pumped back up though. Releasing the pressure allowed the counterweights to raise the gates.
   An ex-operator that I worked with said that he had to pump constantly against leakage to hold the gates down. Once a train occupied the crossing, he just allowed the gates to gradually rise as the pressure leaked down.
Mark Vinski
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