Reviewed in the March 2004 issue of Model Railroader magazine. You can see the review online at this link.

You can see a video of the GCP in action on a customer's layout. Click on this link. Thanks to Brian Machart for permitting us to share his video!

Grade Crossing Pro (GCP) Features:

bullet

Prototypical control of grade crossing signals (common anode/positive LED or bulbs) and gates

bullet An eastbound (left to right) train will cause the signals to begin flashing when WF is covered. Approximately 4 seconds later the gate motor output will turn on and the gates will move down (if present). The signals will continue to flash even if it uncovers photocell WF as long as the train reaches photocell WN within 35 seconds. Assuming the train does this and then subsequently covers photocell EN the signals will continue flashing. Approximately 2 seconds after the last card of the train uncovers photocell EN the gate motor output will shut off and approximately 3 seconds later the signals will stop flashing. If the train had not covered photocell WN within 35 seconds of uncovering photocell WF then the GCP will assume the train has reversed. This “timeout” will cause the gate motor output to shut off and the signals will stop flashing (~3 seconds after gate motor shut off). Similar behavior exists for a westbound train with respect to photocells EF, EN and WN (shut off occurs after the last car uncovers photocell WN).
bullet

"TrueLamp" feature gives realistic flashing lamp persistence; the lamps (common anode/positive LED or bulbs) appear to fade out rather than simply turn on and off

bullet

Uses 4 photocells (included) for proper bi-directional behavior; each photocell has its own sensitivity adjustment and the GCP provides a setup mode for making the adjustment process easier

bullet

Adjustable gate motor speed

bullet

Cascade multiple GCP units for multi-track crossing arrangements. NOTE: Although it may be tempting to simply add additional photocells to handle a multi-track crossing, this will not yield correct behavior! The GCP would not be able to properly sense the direction of travel on different tracks!

bullet

Can also be triggered by other electronic circuits; trigger output can also be used to turn on a bell circuit (see below)

bullet

The GCP instructions cover the use of infrared emitters and detectors in place of photocells. It is also possible to use current-sensing detectors rather than photocells; you can download an application note from our Documents section.

bullet

Works with all scales; signals and gates not included (use with products made by Tomar, Oregon Rail Supply, Walthers, NJ International, etc)

bullet

Powered from AC or DC (7-16V); current draw is ~90mA with dual LED signals

bullet

Solid State Design (1 year limited warranty)

bullet

$42.95 MSRP

Grade crossing bell module from Innovative Train Technology

bullet

#ITT-BELL is an electronically reproduced grade crossing bell module   

bullet

$34.95 MSRP

bullet

#ITT-SPKR2.5 is a 2.5" diameter, 8 ohm speaker for use with the ITT-BELL   

bullet

$6.00 MSRP

bullet

#ITT-SPKR4 is a 4" diameter, 8 ohm speaker for use with the ITT-BELL   

bullet

$9.00 MSRP