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First found on the back cover of the 1968-69 catalog listed
as "New in '68," the No.908 Crossing Gate Set remained until TYCO dropped trains in the early 1990s.
The
Crossing Gate, listed among Action Cars & Accessories, works without electricity. As a train passes it
depresses the piece of plastic located between the rails. This causes the gate to lower. When the train clears, the pressure
is gone and the gate raises. One minor goof in this system does work well with cars longer than the plastic piece. Cars with
a length of 62' or longer have enough gap between the wheel sets that allows the gate to raise momentarily as they pass. Another
functional liability is that the car's weight must bring down the plastic piece. Often many cars don't weigh enough or have
wheel sets that want to derail over this piece. Generally however, this item does what it is designed to do without fail.
Nite-Glow Crossing Gate
(No.924)
Add a bit of glow-in-the-dark paint and you've got the Nite-Glow
Crossing Gate(No.924). Introduced in 1979, this variation on the No.908 Crossing Gate is the same
item with Nite-Glow applied to the highway lines and the crossing gate. The 1981 catalog was the last appearance for this
item.
Signal Crossing With Lights, Bell And Nite-Glow
(No.937)
Here's a neat accessory that was first seen in 1980 in The
Golden Eagle train set(No.7328) and also sold separately. The Signal Crossing with Lights, Bell, and Nite-Glow(No.937)
works much like the No.908 Crossing Gate. The No.937 differs in that it includes alternating lights in its
crossing buck and a warning bell. The warning bell is housed in the loading dock area on the base of the item. The large crate
is removable and a winder is inside it. You wind up the bell and it works when the train passes. This accessory had a fairly
short life and only appears from 1980 through the 1982 catalogs.
Operating Lighted Crossing Flasher
(No.960)
The Operating Lighted Crossing Flasher(No.960)
is a very simplified version of previous TYCO crossing gate accessories. This item lacks a base that was included with other
similar items in this line. The crossing buck or flasher is the same one used in the No.937 accessory and functions much the
same with alternating lights. Introduced in the 1982 catalog, this accessory is last seen in the 1986 catalog.
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