The crossing

I finally got the crossing working and to prove it, here is a video. The bell still needs to be added (so I added a fake train bell for the video) and a small house needs to be build to cover all the electrics and the wires. But is works. When a train approaches the spring under the rails is compressed and a contact is made triggering the Lemax crossing lights (#34954) to function. After the train passed the spring pushes the rails back up again.
This set-up is clearly not finished yet, but I am happy that it works.
By the way, these Lemax crossing lights (that are easily available in Europe during the X-mas season) are the same as those once sold under the K-line brand. Probably they originate from the same Chinese factory.
The reason why the lights are still not fixed on the ground plate is that my layout is a folding table and I need to unplug them before I fold the layout table back against the wall. I connected them with a simple hole-pin system, but I need to fill the holes a bit more to get a tighter fit.

Weaver hoppers

A beautiful Weaver hopper car has joined the layout. It was available locally and that seldomly happens, making this a unique opportunity. Weaver is still relatively unknown in Europe as compared to Lionel and therefore there was hardly any competition.

It is a #71353 Great Northern PS-2 Hopper and it gladly combines with the #80003 AC-2 Hopper. The new one is clearly older. It is still has plastic trucks without springs and there are less rivets to count on the body. The light blue GN paint job is a rather simple two-tone as compared to the orange-black-white decoration on the DTI hopper. Nevertheless it is a great hopper that runs smoothly on my 027 layout. If anybody knows when the GN PS-2 hopper was produced I would be grateful for letting me know.