FasTrack Grade Crossing with Flashing Crossbucks and Gates, Multi

This is a very realistic and detailed crossing for Lionel O-scale Fastrack. It has two moving barrier arms, two sets of alternating blinking red lights, and a ringing bell. Some of the other reviews I saw didn't install the device properly. Long story short, on most Lionel O scale setups the inside rail is hot and the two outside rails are neutral - and in electrical continuity with each other. This crossing, however, is a three-piece kit; it's one 10-inch straight with the actual crossing, and two 5 inch "insulated" straights. These insulated track pieces have one of their two outer rail sections that is insulated and doesn't conduct. One piece of insulated track has to be used on each side of the crossing; these pieces have to be oriented so that the insulated rail is on the same side; and the insulated rails have to be on the 'switch' side of the crossing (the crossing has a switch in case you want to turn off the bell for some reason.) The key piece of the puzzle is that Lionel O-scale rolling stock and locomotives have conductive wheels and axles and as they roll over a track piece, they will put the left and right outside rails into electrical continuity, bypassing the insulation on the insulated track section. When this happens, it signals the crossing machinery to activate. One of the problems, as you can see from the video, is that 5 inches of straight doesn't really give enough time to get the barriers down before the train enters the crossing. My two year old loves this feature, as it has allowed the train to crash into a lot of his Hot Wheels, which he enjoys; but many of you will want a more realistic experience. I thought you might be able to sneak a piece of regular straight Fastrack in between the crossing and the insulated track, but no dice, all regular Fastrack splices the outside rails. To make this work, Lionel makes extra insulated Fastrak available for purchase, although you may have to hunt around to find it. There is some in the Accessory Activator track set, which also has a little plug in it that will allow you to activate any Lionel accessory the same way. It's also sold separately as SKU 612027. What else? Well, the barrier arms have little red domes on them that look like they should light up, but they don't. The arms only raise to 45 degrees, which is not enough to let an O-scale car or truck pass under them. Does any of this matter? Not to me or my kids; we're delighted with our working crossing. Is it worth the price? I struggle to answer this; the thing is a small fortune, it cost almost as much as the whole rest of the set it's connected to. But if you've gotta have it, you're not likely to find anything anywhere that could substitute.

GRANDSON LOVES IT! He's obsessed with train especially the crossings. He has a fast track Mikey Disney train and a Army lional fast track trains. Tracks work with either set and you don't have to buy anything else for it to work, just plug it into the track and there you go. You also have the option to turn of the gate bell, which can be a little loud.. Very well built.

Let me state, that like many others with this item, mine did not work out of the box. It is a very delicate item and does not suffer well to shipping abuse. It also must be very gently removed from the extremely tight packaging. The directions included with mine are totally wrong. Once you get your gate out of the box, flip it over. There will be a side of the track that is engraved "insulated side". Take the two small tracks from the package and look for the little black strip on the track pieces. These need to be on the same side as the "insulated side" rail marking. Power for your train comes through the center rail (A). Ground or neutral comes through the other two outside rails (U). This is how the station knows which direction the train is coming from and when it knows the train has passed. The wheels from the train complete the neutral leg and start the crossing moving. My directions said that there is a switch for the isolated side and the bell. In reality there is only a switch for crossing bell on/off (on my unit bought 2 weeks ago..11/2019). The isolation rail side switch has been replaced by the engraving on the bottom of the unit. This is not in the directions. The quality of Lionel accessories from China has been questionable. I recently had a command control switch that I thought would not address with the legacy controller. The switch was programmed fine, out of the box the mechanism was jammed. I took it apart, reassembled the plastic (junk) gears correctly and it worked fine. If you cannot move it before you put it on your layout, something is wrong. I am a third generation Lionel user. All of my grandfathers original Lionel products from 1954 still work flawlessly. The new stuff is very good in concept but the manufacturing is poor. Once you get it working it is great and the command control is unreal, but the accessories need some quality control for the average user. I hope this helps. The average consumer should not require this level of train tech to have fun around the Christmas tree. If you have problems, let me know maybe I can help. My crossing unit had a jammed microswitch when it arrived at my house. Somewhere between China and NC it suffered a drop or blow. LOL. Hope this solves at least one persons problems. Enjoy your trains and the holidays!

Works as it should bit it was a little stubborn and crossing arm motors are a bit loud.

Love it. It really adds a lot to the train going around the Xmas tree and the gifts. Works just as advertised, my kids loved it (so do I). It's little on the expensive side (imo) but it really is nicely made and works just as advertised. Be sure to feel for the breaks on the rails of the track that comes with the gate crossing and make sure it matches up with the breaks on the gate crossing, this will make it work as advertised. Have fun.

I am very disapointed. First of all this was a birthday present for my grandson. He was so exited to see the Lionel Grade Crossing. This would have been a great addition to his Lionel train collection. We put the grade crossing together as per instructions. The gates would not rise up. I called Lionel, and they proceeded to inform me that there is a defect with the design. That I could return the item. Lionel is redesigning the item. It would be ready late November. I'm returning the item for full credit, but I am stuck with the shipping and insurance cost? You expect me to review this product, how could I? It didn't work to be reviewed. I have oredered many items from you, and have been satisfied. I ordered this item trusting that I would continued to be satisfied. The design is defective and you are still selling the item!!! I will have second thoughts about ordering an item sight unseen again.