Model Railway Crossing Lights add a great deal of animation to a model railway. This controller will automatically operate your crossing lights will for trains traveling in either direction. The crossing is activated when the train is some distance from the crossing and turns off as soon as the train is clear of the crossing just like the real thing. All you need to do is operate the trains.

The trains are detected using IR optical detectors so there is no modification need to either the track power system or your trains. The placement of the detectors sets how far from the crossing the lights activate. The detectors are placed between the rail at sleeper height, and are barely seen when ballast is installed around them. No user programming is required, position the sensors in the track, plug it in, adjust the sensitivity of the sensors and run trains. 

The single track crossing and the double track crossing are now available from simplyrail.com.au

The below example is for a dual railway line crossing.

On the display board (Top centre of the screen) the two green lights indicate there is no train present and both tracks are ready to detect a train.
Each of the two rows of LEDs are for separate tracks, that operate independent of each other to ensure the crossing lights operate when they should to protect the crossing.

The top row of LED’s indicates the far track that is used in this demonstration.

As the train approaches the crossing the the far Left sensor (off the screen to the left) detects the train. This is indicated by the top left Yellow LED coming ON. The Red LED in the centre of the top row turns ON as well to indicating the crossing lights as there is an approaching train.

As the train travels across the crossing both close sensors are activated with the LEDs both sides of the Red LED turning ON. As the train clears the crossing there is a short delay after the sensor to the right of the road, no-longer detects a train present. Then the crossing lights turn OFF.

Note the Red LED is now off, but the Yellow LEDs remain ON until the train is clear of the sensor to the far right of the screen. Then the crossing is reset to the Green LED ready for the next Train.

If there was a train on the track closest to us it would operate the same with crossing lights on as required to protect the crossing. Both tracks operate in either direction. This double track crossing requires 8 sensors (4 per track) This allows activation from a long approach and the canceling of the crossing light once just clear of the crossing.

The blue lights between the tracks shown in the video are the Ultra Violet LED of the Sensor. The Ultra Violet bounces off the train and back to the UV detector on the sensor.
These are not visible to us, but the video camera used picks up the UV.

This controler can be configured for single track to any number of multiple tracks. (it may be used in parallel with similar controllers if more than three track are required.

The long approach time is determined by the distance of the sensor from the road crossing.

Crossing control consists of the Main Control Board.

Crossing Light Display Board (Configured for single or double track)

Optical Detectors

Wiring consists of commonly available Cat5e computer cable to join the control board and the Display boards. This enables you to place the control board out of the way and the display board above or below your layout.
The detector connect to the control board with simple 3 wire joiners supplied.