# Z Stuff Express Signals



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Has anyone purchased any of the signals made by ZStuffExpress.com? What was your experience? Did you purchase direct or through a dealer? If a dealer, which one carries the products in stock?


Thanks in advance for your input.


Monte


----------



## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes i purchased two different signals one was the semphore. I sent it back three times to the owner who makes them and each time it was sent back to me it did not work. I talked with the owner and told him the product was junk. The second signal was the one with three lights, in order to get this one to work you need to raise the whole signal up any where from a half inch to an inch so the infared sensor can read that a train is going by.As far as where to buy them i purchased them from g scale junction. After what i had to go through with the owner of g scale junction to get my money back for the semaphore signal that never worked well i will just say i will NEVER shop there again.


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The sensors are pretty close to the base, like they were designed for a lionel layout on a piece of plywood. People usually have to put a base under them like Pete did. 

I think my buddy RJ has had some experience with them. If it's as I remember, there's been a number of revisions to the electronics, and they take some tweaking. 

They also seem to originally be scaled for "O", so they may be a little short. 

Greg


----------



## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

According to their web-site, most of them R supposedly available in 3 different sizes... 
One of our club members bought one at the ECLSTS a couple of weeks ago and set it 
up on the club layout where it played just fine for the day-an-a half that we used it...
Looked good, and played good, did not need to be set up on a block either... I considered 
ordering several of them sometime back, but like most people I've never heard anything 
good about them, so I hesitated... Considering the expense of those things, and the
unsatisfactory experiences people R still reporting, think I'm going to continue to hesitate 
awhile before blowing several hundred of the clubs money on a bunch of them... Anybody 
else had any experience with these things, good or bad, I'd sure like to hear about it...
Paul R...


----------



## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Like i said the semaphore did not work after sending it back three times to the owner of the company and the one with the round ligths had a problem with it. A person our club had one of the round faced signals and he said he had problems with it. Tha one that has three ligths in a roll worked ok but you had to raise it up so the sensor could detect a train coming by. I would say save your money for a better product.


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the responses. I have a friend in California who has three and say they work well for him. The real reason I asked is because I had an issue ordering direct from the company. I will not go it to it here as it isn't the place however I will say the product never came. I was hoping I could find one at a dealer to try out. My friend bought his at St. Aubins....well.....


Will make some calls next week and see if I can find one for a test run.


Monte


----------



## Robby D (Oct 15, 2009)

You could try South Bend Signals they make some really good products. http://www.sbsignal.com/Large_Scale.html


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Robby D on 07 Apr 2012 07:26 PM 
You could try South Bend Signals they make some really good products. http://www.sbsignal.com/Large_Scale.html 


Thanks Robby. Looked at the products...nice. Was on your site when this message received! lol Trying to decide what I 'need' (want) next. See the NS Dash 9's are in. Really thinking!


Monte


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Why not build your own signals? I made a bunch for my own railway from PVC pipe, plexiglass and LEDs. They operate via EPL components. Here is a video of one of them in operation on my layout. 


http://youtu.be/HzBIbCtqAMo


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Madman on 07 Apr 2012 09:24 PM 
Why not build your own signals? I made a bunch for my own railway from PVC pipe, plexiglass and LEDs. They operate via EPL components. Here is a video of one of them in operation on my layout. 


http://youtu.be/HzBIbCtqAMo


Dan, that was great. You did a great job and they look and work good.  If I had the time, patience and knowhow, would be nice to do, however....too many things going on. Perhaps 'someday' when I retire (yeah right) I may attempt making my own. lol Personally, for now anyhow, it almost 'has' to be plug and play due to time constraints. Don't know why I bought those Colarado Structure buidlings that need to be put together! lol Guess I'm hoping for a lot of rainy days.
Monte


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I think another attraction is the built in sensors for the trains going by, nothing extra is needed. That makes installation easy. 

Greg


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); @import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css);



Mad Dan, I like those. Look substantial enough not to get crushed by an errant foot. 


Larry got some "South Bend" signals for our modular layout. They have IR sensors built right in and work beautifully. I made some little IR detector boards for Chuck's signal bridge, but I don't think he's had time lately to finish things either. 


Oh. I have a video: http://www.outsidetrains.com/mls/Semaphore.wmv

That's Larry, walking across in the background. His train too.

IR detectors are pretty easy to make. One works this outhouse, which never fails to amuse http://www.outsidetrains.com/mls/treetopview.wmv

(Shad, your editor is a nusence. I use Chrome. Firefox better?



http://www.outsidetrains.com/mls/Semaphore.wmv



http://www.outsidetrains.com/mls/Semaphore.wmv


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Does South Bend have a website?


----------



## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

I know a few guys who have them and say they don't like to work in direct sunlight, one guy even went as far as making sunshades over the sensor area. Another fella reported they won't pick up his black steamers as they roll by, he put white tape on the side under the cab to remedy the problem. These were original models though, if they have been updated those issues may be fixed. 

Terry


----------



## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

Dan- those signals are great! Are the electronics (EPL stuff) difficult to figure out? Let me put that another way.... Can an electronically challenged individual (me, for instance), install something like that? Is there a website with info? 


-Kevin.


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

South Bend: http://www.sbsignal.com/

Oh yes, they don't notice Madam Mallet and trigger when they see the tender. 
@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css);


----------



## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

Monte, I had z-stuff and had nothing but problems even trying to get them fixed was a problem even thought they were new. Not a friendly group to deal with. I now have over 24 south bend and only had one with a problem which they took care of quickly. I even have a pair of their new cantilever signal bridges and they are great. They can stand alone or be wired together with just one wire, signal change time is adjustable. They are weather proof but when the layout is not in operation I cover them with a cut soda bottle. Three Jersey winters with no problems, last year they were under snow for almost 3 months before I saw them again and they worked fine. You can run them from battery or from direct track power as long as you don't go over 21 volts without using a resister in line with it. I use 18volts constant and aristo revolution controls. They are closer 1/29th scale. The pennsy signal from z stuff scales out to being 12 foot in dia. and the 10mm leds equal a lens of almost 2 feet in dia. I live near the northeast corridor where these still exist and there are none that huge more like 4 foot with a 6" lens like what south bend scales to. Makes Z stuff more toy like. [email protected] url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Providers/HtmlEditorProviders/CEHtmlEditorProvider/Load.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css);


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Jack, Thanks for your note. I've been looking at the South Bend products and have decided to try a couple to start with. Your message and the others re: Sount Bend has helpled me make the decision. Glad to know someone else to contact if I run into a problem with them. 

Monte


----------



## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

I will try to post some pic tomorrow, having camera problems. Jack


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Well, I did it. Ordered two signals from South Bend. I'm looking forward to having them on the road. If they work as indicated on this forum I'll be very pleased and will add more.


Thanks to everyone for their input. I'll let you know how they do.


Monte


----------



## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); These are the new and old signals from south bend. The one on the right is the old style that z-stuff threatened a suit over. It has the IR unit looking out the side. The new one on the right has a weather proof detector that looks up from between 2 ties and works allot better. Jack


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, the one with the detector between the rails is the ones I ordered. Really looking forward to trying them out. I have three of the Shiloh Signals, however they are one color.


----------



## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

Here are the South Bend Cantilever signal bridge compared to the Aristo bridge. They are sized the same. The cantilever is produced for South Bend by Alan at the www.thegalline.com who can create any thing you can come up with. South Bend now has a 3 or 4 track bridge available. These I don't leave out side. What I do is take a 3"x3" metal washer stake to the ground where I want the signal and attach the wires to the track. The detectors on this one look down from the bridge so the power wires are the only hook up. I a flat magnet glued to the base of the cantilever. Easy on and easy off. Jack





























I ordered the 4 heads but you can order any number of heads in any position. Jack


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the pictures Jack. Love the indoor train yard. Mine should be so clean!


----------



## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

Monte, how did they work for you? Jack


----------



## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

The South Bend Signals are great! I am using recharagable 9Vs to power them. They are stored in the utility box from SB and sits next to each signal. 
I bring them inside after each run session. 

Can't wait until cooler weather when I can get back outside. 

Monte


----------

