Wiring MTH crossing gate

If you are talking about the 30-11012 crossing gates, using an MTH TAD, ITAD, or Lionels' ITAD or a relay is the only way to make the gates operate correctly. The easiest(and cheapest) is the relay. the coil is wired to an auxiliary(12VDC) supply(+) and the insulated rail . the  (-) of the aux supply goes to the common rail. The gate is wired to the relay contacts(white to NO, yellow to NC, and blue to the common contact). This is how I wired the gates I put on my sister's layout--- on mine, i use the ITAD's.

This is, as far as I know the only way to wire this crossing gate up.

This thread talks about the gates and a relay.

you could also wire them into an AIU and activate them with the remote. If you use the record feature in DCS they will lower automatically when you play back the session.

One method is shown here

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=410&categoryId=426

For the scale gates you must use spdt contacts. This is because the gate is always powered.

Dale H

Thank you one and all for your prompt replies to my question.  I still wish I could operate the gates with only an insulated rail, but it looks as if I will need to find a relay and go from there.  Thank you again.  I really appreciate all the help.