Wood Grade Crossing HO Scale

The place where a road meets a track

A grade crossing is a small thing on a layout that decides the credibility of a whole scene. Without it a road by the track simply ends, while with it a junction arises around which a crossing gate, a crossbuck, broken asphalt and a waiting vehicle can be built. The package solves the most laborious part: filling the space between the rails and on their outer side.

The version and the contents

The crossing imitates an older arrangement in which the running surface is made of planks laid lengthwise. The parts are injection-molded from polystyrene, so they hold their shape and do not warp. The package holds two crossings, each with a length of 6.9 cm, which in HO corresponds to a roadway roughly six meters wide.

Fitting it to the track

The lower edge of the parts is cut away so that it straddles the fastenings of the rails and is not lifted up on them. The pre-cut pads enclosed make up for the differing height of the rail profile, so the set can be used on track with a higher as well as a lower profile without the planks floating above the head of the rail or, the other way round, blocking the flange.

Finishing the scene

What follows the fitting makes the biggest impression: joining the roadway around exactly level with the running surface, dusting with pigment according to whether the crossing lies in a dusty dirt road or in a paved street, and the tracks of wheels in the fill between the rails. Wood suffers in such a place, so a slight darkening along the line of travel looks natural.

Why two pieces

A line is rarely crossed by only one road. The second piece suits either the opposite end of a station or the same road, if it runs over a double-track stretch and both tracks have to be covered in the same line.