LionelFasTrack Grade Crossing with Flashing Crossbucks and Gates

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.

It makes my granddaughter and myself smile.

This signal was a great addition to my Lionel Fastrack set I'm building. You have to pay attention to the two 5" track that comes with this piece to be sure they line up properly, simple to do if you read the instructions, or if you don't like reading, go to YouTube, again simple to get this piece working properly. Great addition to my set, helps make my overall set more realistic. My only grip is the cost, but I guess you pay for what you get!

Looks great and my son loves it, however the quality is not there considering the price. I paid nearly $200 for this toy. It worked perfectly the first time out of the box, but the 2nd time I hooked it up on of the arms stopped working. The 3rd time the other arm stopped working and the bell won't stop ringing. I switched off (thank goodness there is a switch for that) because it's really annoying. We've had it for 9 months, used it 3 times, and now both arms don't go up and the bell won't shut itself off. The only thing that works properly are the flashing lights. It's still cool, but more than a little disappointing.

Lionel is really the best stuff my dad had it when I was a kid 65 years ago. I forgot to order the part to make the crossing go up and down.Will get it for him for Easter.