Animated or static scenery items?

[PortLineParker]

Hi all,

Just a quick question for you modellers and drivers out there; on a route, whether building or driving, do you prefer to see animated scenery or static? I have a section on a project I am currently working on where I have a level crossing at the end of the platform at a busy junction station, and it is currently set up with ATLS so that the gates open and close. Unfortunately, due to the proximity of the crossing to the platform the trigger has to be some distance back as some trains stop and others do not, which means that any movement within station limits tends to mess up the ATLS, so trains cannot start there or engage in shunting.

In this scenario, would you be likely to choose static scenery items to have the gates permanently open or would you stick with the ATLS? Operationally it is a nightmare but on the other hand it is a more interesting feature if the gates are functional.

Cheers,

PLP

 

[KotangaGirl]

Operational gates are nice to have, but in places near stations or sidings where animated gates are going to waggle about opening and closing with train movements and be a nuisance I prefer to use static gates. The majority of my layouts are pre-WW1 and rural so motor traffic would be fairly light. In this era the gates would remain open to railway traffic as their default position unless farmer Jones comes along with his horse and cart and wants to cross the railway.

 

[PortLineParker]

Thanks Annie, I have got static gates at other crossings along the line but as this was a prominent one I thought ATLS might be a good shout. That being said, apart from the aforementioned issues with it, you can only really see the animation when you are up close as the line is on a curve so unless you left the train and watched them you wouldn't necessarily notice it either way. Perhaps static is the way to go?

Cheers,

PLP

 

[marky7890]

For my Lostwithiel station I set up the 2 way running - 4 trigger system which worked great for mainline trains all the triggers would be used, as its right next to the station trains going East would arrive with the barriers already down, depart crossing over it then they would raise as soon as the train passed. Trains going West the crossing is just before the station so the leaving trigger is at the end of the platform so the barriers shouldn't raise until the train has left.

There were however problems when freight trains would come off the Fowey branch go through the station and use the goods loops the otherside of the crossing once in the loops they needed to run around their train which also required going over the crossing again where the ground shunt signal is and the is a crossover right over the otherside of the crossing, so a quite a few freight movements can happen in the station, and the barriers used to just stay open.
To fix this I added another 2 ATLS triggers to the middle of the crossing on each track, but these 2 use the 1 or 2 way running - basic 2 trigger system, so as soon as a loco which is running around now gets close the barriers go down then up again once the loco goes away.
This method seems to work alot more realistically.

So to answer your question I prefer level crossings to be animated.

Mark

 

[PortLineParker]

Cheers Mark, that's useful advice about the additional triggers. I hadn't thought of that. I may give it a go and see what I come up with. It doesn't solve the issue of starting in the platform though unfortunately so there would still be a limitation on what could start at the station but I'll have a play around.

Cheers,

PLP

 

[stagecoach]

The trick is to use a priority that does not trip the trigger when stopping. Then when you want to leave use the ATLS driver command to trigger the crossing.