MTH RealTrax: mechanical TAD?

I am not an expert on this/ how to do it.....but look on the interweb about the old timers method of cutting a part of the rails so that the "electric connection" is made and it causes the gate to light up and the go down.  I bet someone more astute than I  will either explain it to you, or point you in the right direction,

MTH has an ITAD, and no TAD in its Real Trax and Scale Trax product lines.

The isolated rail method works just as good for realtrax as it does for tubular track.

I stand corrected! MTH does make a mechanical activator like a Lionel 153C. The part number is 10-1037.

I wanted to thank everyone for sharing their expertise.

• I guess that mechanical TAD could sit under RealTrax. Thoughts? 
• Can someone please elaborate a bit on the "isolated rail method?"
• Do most folks just use infrared TADs for crossing gates?

Again, thanks for being generous of your expertise and tolerant of my "newbieness."