NJ International


Greg@mnrr

Section Hand
Every-time I check Walther's it seems that NJ International is always out of certain items and the note "No word from the manufacture". This is leading me to believe that something is happening at NJ and is it still in business?

I email them a question some time ago and I never heard back from them.

Greg
 
Hmm the website is still up, no notices or anything.
It does indicate a lot of sold out stock tho.
 
I too noticed there have been issues with NJ International, and when I looked on their HO scale page, many of their items are missing! All I see are their 1095 crossbuck signals and their 1172 crossing gates, which they did have one of but now their sold out again!

I phoned NJ International myself, and you should too, and they said that their equipment comes from China and the people in China aren't always at work, probably under-staffed, or maybe nobody's showing up for work at all, and the COVID-19 could be to blame. But NJ International has been long out of stock on their items, at least their crossing signals and crossing gates! And I'm still waiting to replace the broken 1193 cantilever signal I have and NJI said they cannot repair it themselves since they don't have a repair facility (I made a post about that!) And I'm trying to get more 1170 and 1172 crossing gates from them and I've been thinking of getting their 1095 crossbuck signals, but unfortunately it's impossible to right now.

They should still be in business and I hope they are and will stay in business because their crossing signals are the best to me and if they get discontinued I don't know what I'm gonna do! I cannot use Tomar signals and don't want to use Walthers signals either! I need signals that don't come with mounting stems or mounting pins.

It is hard to get emails from them. I've tried emailing them but they don't always reply even after weeks! I would try calling them on the phone.

I don't know what NJ International's future holds. I hate to think they're going to go out of business or discontinue their signals and gates! I mean it seems just when I want a certain item and plan to buy it, be it crossing signals, flasher units, etc, they get discontinued and then I have to hope they're available on eBay or something, which isn't often! Some other crossing signals I use like the Bachmann 42421 signals, the Train Tronics 510 signals, and the Sakai crossing signals are all discontinued, same with the NJI 1190 Boulevard/Over-The-Road signal with the incandescent lights (I was told NJI's manufacturer was unreliable and so they discontinued the 1090 crossbuck signals and 1190 signals.)

Keep trying to get a hold of them until you do. Email them again or call them.

Their page so far https://njisignals.com/collections/ho-scale-crossings All that's shown are their 1095 crossbuck signals, 1172 crossing gates, and their wigwags and their wigwags seem to still be in stock!
 
I too noticed there have been issues with NJ International, and when I looked on their HO scale page, many of their items are missing! All I see are their 1095 crossbuck signals and their 1172 crossing gates, which they did have one of but now their sold out again!

I phoned NJ International myself, and you should too, and they said that their equipment comes from China and the people in China aren't always at work, probably under-staffed, or maybe nobody's showing up for work at all, and the COVID-19 could be to blame. But NJ International has been long out of stock on their items, at least their crossing signals and crossing gates! And I'm still waiting to replace the broken 1193 cantilever signal I have and NJI said they cannot repair it themselves since they don't have a repair facility (I made a post about that!) And I'm trying to get more 1170 and 1172 crossing gates from them and I've been thinking of getting their 1095 crossbuck signals, but unfortunately it's impossible to right now.

They should still be in business and I hope they are and will stay in business because their crossing signals are the best to me and if they get discontinued I don't know what I'm gonna do! I cannot use Tomar signals and don't want to use Walthers signals either! I need signals that don't come with mounting stems or mounting pins.

It is hard to get emails from them. I've tried emailing them but they don't always reply even after weeks! I would try calling them on the phone.

I don't know what NJ International's future holds. I hate to think they're going to go out of business or discontinue their signals and gates! I mean it seems just when I want a certain item and plan to buy it, be it crossing signals, flasher units, etc, they get discontinued and then I have to hope they're available on eBay or something, which isn't often! Some other crossing signals I use like the Bachmann 42421 signals, the Train Tronics 510 signals, and the Sakai crossing signals are all discontinued, same with the NJI 1190 Boulevard/Over-The-Road signal with the incandescent lights (I was told NJI's manufacturer was unreliable and so they discontinued the 1090 crossbuck signals and 1190 signals.)

Keep trying to get a hold of them until you do. Email them again or call them.

Their page so far https://njisignals.com/collections/ho-scale-crossings All that's shown are their 1095 crossbuck signals, 1172 crossing gates, and their wigwags and their wigwags seem to still be in stock!
Heya Will, quick question about your NJ International cantilever signal. Is it a modern LED assembly or the older ones with incandescent bulbs (older assembly is black, and has overhead "catwalk" to over-road signals)? For my sake, I hope it's the latter ;-)

Their model only has front-facing indications. I'd like to add a set on the back. I'd also like to remove the "STOP ON RED SIGNAL" sign. My understanding is that the parts are brass. Any idea of a way to remove the affixed sign without destroying the whole signal assembly? Equally, I am thinking of buying a cheap Model Power crossing for parts, removing the light assembly, and back mounting it on the NJI cantilever set. I think those are brass, too, so assume the flashers plus bracket would be an equal challenge to remove. Do you think that would work, any words of wisdom? Thanks sir!
 

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I tried as well to email NJ as well, but no response. It's a shame if they are no longer in business.

Greg
I tried as well to order stuff from them. I think they are having trouble keeping up with the supply and demand situation. Nonetheless they should post some kind of news or notice.
 
They do seem to have some NJI 1171 black and white crossing gates minus crossbucks available, at least for now but probably only one pair. I don't know since they don't tell us how many of their products are available. But those aren't what I want anyway, I want their 1170 and 1172 red and white crossing gates!

I really hope they're not out of business, just on hiatus. Where else am I going to get cantilever crossing signals exactly like this one?
NJI 1193 Cantilever Signal 01.png

Who's gonna make this and exactly like this one? I don't know how to make these (then again I never made my own model railroad signals) and I don't know who to go to. Same with their 1095 crossbuck signals and their crossing gates minus crossbucks!

It's possible NJI and its staff have been affected by the COVID19. They told me they get their supplies from China, that's where their manufacturer is if I'm not mistaken, and the staff in China isn't always available. Parts of me are hoping NJI goes to another manufacturer or maybe uses domestic supplies rather than having them imported from China! Hopefully the staff is still alive at least! Or hopefully someone can make signals exactly like those!

I was hoping to get three more of the NJI 1193 cantilever signals (including one to replace the one that broke (not the one in this picture this is my other one) if I cannot get repaired the one I already do have, they don't have a repair facility, and I have nowhere to go to get my signal repaired (half the LEDs are burned out and the black wire came loose!) I'm in Tucson and there is a model train club but I don't think I can get to them and even if I could I don't know if they can help!

I say keep trying (keep calling or emailing) and maybe they'll answer!
 
Heya Will, quick question about your NJ International cantilever signal. Is it a modern LED assembly or the older ones with incandescent bulbs (older assembly is black, and has overhead "catwalk" to over-road signals)? For my sake, I hope it's the latter ;-)

Their model only has front-facing indications. I'd like to add a set on the back. I'd also like to remove the "STOP ON RED SIGNAL" sign. My understanding is that the parts are brass. Any idea of a way to remove the affixed sign without destroying the whole signal assembly? Equally, I am thinking of buying a cheap Model Power crossing for parts, removing the light assembly, and back mounting it on the NJI cantilever set. I think those are brass, too, so assume the flashers plus bracket would be an equal challenge to remove. Do you think that would work, any words of wisdom? Thanks sir!

Hi @EmperorDuncan

I'm so very sorry I missed your message, I haven't been very active here and I hope I'm not too late!

The black crossing signal is lit with incandescent lights. The lights they're installed with are really tiny incandescent light bulbs, less than 3mm I believe and they come with one wire/lead per bulb so I learned. Since there are four lights I think there are four wires each, plus a 5th wire, that being the common so the lights can alternately flash.

I don't think it's possible to add rear-facing flashers to that kind of signal, especially with bulbs. You can try but I don't think you can. But if you want to make the signal bi-directional, your best bet would probably have to be to remove the original lights and light housings and the cross-arm that connects the two lights and replace them with a completely different set of lights and light them with LEDs, which are way more efficient. That might be too many incandescent bulbs to put on one signal and on a flasher unit, especially if you try to light or flash more than 8 bulbs at once and you could fry your flasher unit (speaking from experience!)

I've had Model Power signals too and they're different from the NJI lights. I forget if the MPD signals are bulb or LED, I didn't have them for very long and they stopped working on me, much to my sadness! But I don't think you can or should use them to back-mount your NJI cantilever! As I said the MP signals and the NJI signals have different kinds of lights and brackets and the lights have to all be the same. Otherwise I wouldn't do that if I were you!

I have two of the black NJI cantilevers but I had to replace all four lights on one of them. I used grain of wheat light bulbs to replace the original bulbs, I think it was one of these
fal180672.jpg
or the ones from Model Power
mdp382.jpg
Both available on Hobby Linc https://www.hobbylinc.com/faller-12-16v-grain-of-wheat-bulb-red-model-railroad-light-bulb-180672 But it was a drag installing the new bulbs into the signal and wiring too, especially the upper signals, being how wide the wires are, and you have to string one wire at a time through the holes and make sure they all come out of the base of the signal! But it's doable to replace the bulbs!

I don't know how to remove the STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign, I never tried to. Personally I like the STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign on the signal. My best guess is to use a razor sharp knife or razor blade and slowly saw it off.

I'd ask other hobbyist or model railroaders about all that because my advice might not be legit and I hate to be the reason your signal gets more messed up than it is!

I'm sorry if I wasn't much if any help, but I hope you can try something!

Have fun! (My way of saying "good luck" since I don't believe in luck but want to show I do care.)


If anyone else reading this can help, please oh please do so!
 
Was on the NJI site early this morning, still a pretty limited stock available. Was posted to a thread of mine that the facility is currently not operating and looking for new management (I think that was the gist of it). Does anyone have an alternate they go to for items such as sold by NJI?
 
Was on the NJI site early this morning, still a pretty limited stock available. Was posted to a thread of mine that the facility is currently not operating and looking for new management (I think that was the gist of it). Does anyone have an alternate they go to for items such as sold by NJI?
After posting in your other thread and reading this one, I recall now it was NJ international.
 
Hi @EmperorDuncan

I'm so very sorry I missed your message, I haven't been very active here and I hope I'm not too late!

The black crossing signal is lit with incandescent lights. The lights they're installed with are really tiny incandescent light bulbs, less than 3mm I believe and they come with one wire/lead per bulb so I learned. Since there are four lights I think there are four wires each, plus a 5th wire, that being the common so the lights can alternately flash.

I don't think it's possible to add rear-facing flashers to that kind of signal, especially with bulbs. You can try but I don't think you can. But if you want to make the signal bi-directional, your best bet would probably have to be to remove the original lights and light housings and the cross-arm that connects the two lights and replace them with a completely different set of lights and light them with LEDs, which are way more efficient. That might be too many incandescent bulbs to put on one signal and on a flasher unit, especially if you try to light or flash more than 8 bulbs at once and you could fry your flasher unit (speaking from experience!)

I've had Model Power signals too and they're different from the NJI lights. I forget if the MPD signals are bulb or LED, I didn't have them for very long and they stopped working on me, much to my sadness! But I don't think you can or should use them to back-mount your NJI cantilever! As I said the MP signals and the NJI signals have different kinds of lights and brackets and the lights have to all be the same. Otherwise I wouldn't do that if I were you!

I have two of the black NJI cantilevers but I had to replace all four lights on one of them. I used grain of wheat light bulbs to replace the original bulbs, I think it was one of these
fal180672.jpg
or the ones from Model Power
mdp382.jpg
Both available on Hobby Linc https://www.hobbylinc.com/faller-12-16v-grain-of-wheat-bulb-red-model-railroad-light-bulb-180672 But it was a drag installing the new bulbs into the signal and wiring too, especially the upper signals, being how wide the wires are, and you have to string one wire at a time through the holes and make sure they all come out of the base of the signal! But it's doable to replace the bulbs!

I don't know how to remove the STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign, I never tried to. Personally I like the STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign on the signal. My best guess is to use a razor sharp knife or razor blade and slowly saw it off.

I'd ask other hobbyist or model railroaders about all that because my advice might not be legit and I hate to be the reason your signal gets more messed up than it is!

I'm sorry if I wasn't much if any help, but I hope you can try something!

Have fun! (My way of saying "good luck" since I don't believe in luck but want to show I do care.)


If anyone else reading this can help, please oh please do so!
Hi Will! With our slow reaction rate we’d be better off sending each other letters in the mail! Seriously I posted my question long ago and did not realize you replied. Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a thorough and detailed reply. Your message was excellent guidance, and based on what you suggested I will keep my NJI highway crossing signals as is and add a separate, roadside signal behind (probably will strip it of the cross buck) to serve as the supplemental far-side of the track indication. I do wish I could combine in the same brass post (especially supplemental heads to face a side street) but to your point, it would be way too much wire for such a tiny diameter brass pole. Thanks again for the reply and as you say, have fun!
 



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