Insulfrog or electrifrog?

ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.


F

firetacoma

Member
I am about to purchase track for my new layout. Do I want insulated frogs or do I want electric frogs? I've read enough about it to confuse me. I will be using DCC. What do I need and how do I wire them?

Make it simple! Pictures help!
 
If at all possible, take your tiniest locomotive and try it on each type. That is the best way to tell. Take it to another layout or to a local hobby shop and power it up. The trial will tell. If the loco stalls, you will probably have to either power insulfrog turnouts with their frogs wired with a toggle, or use electrofrog.

Otherwise, the DCC-friendly (or insulfrog) turnouts are the way to go in my experience. You have no way of getting shorts at the frog when the frog is dead. They are simpler electrically than the electrofrog, with none of the mechanical contact issues that may creep up over time as they get used.
 


I have some locos that have problems on unpowered frogs. Actually all my small steam will stall at slow speed. The problem is with insulfrog is that there is no power in the frog and if the wheel base is short, it can become unpowered. If you are designing a small layout, then you are designing small radius turns and sharp turnouts and therefore small engines.

You should find a way to test your engine with the turnout, before you make a blanket decision.
 
Well, my plan was to get all the track laid, then get the DCC system, then get the locos and rolling stock. Due to my budget this is a multi-month process. I will not be using any steam. If I get the insulfrogs, I can always wire them later if I have problems right?
 
I've not used them, but I believe they are plastic frogs. My Bachmann EZ Track frogs were plastic. I had trouble with those.
 
Peco Code 83 Streamline are somewhat more costly, but they are metal frogs, insulated, and they work very well. I have at least six of them, their #6 turnouts, in my yard. They have an overcentre spring on the throwbar which tends to snug them hard against their stock rails, a nice feature.

Chip is using smaller engines made by a manufacturer, I think ?, that does not necessarily power all the axles, so his machines do stall at yard speed. I have "modern" steam that has all axles except the truck(s) under the locomotive powered. So, while all the drivers of my smallest steamer, a P2K 0-6-0, may be traversing the dead frog, the trailing tender's axles are still on powered track, and since the engine is tethered electrically to the tender, the engine can keep going.

BTW, I also have far longer handlaid #8 turnouts, also with dead frogs, and my 0-6-0 still has no difficulty with that longer dead frog.

I expect Chip to launch a thread sometime in praise of his Fast Tracks tunouts, of which he is turning out a prodigious number. :D Once he powers up a section of track to try it out, I think he will be very pleased.
 
The other advantage of hand-laid turnouts is you can shorten up the dead frog a bit to make the dead part less noticeable. Just might have to add a solder tie or two to strengthen it up.

Mark
 


An unpowered frog or powered frog should have nothing to do with being DCC friendly. DCC only cares about getting a constant voltage to the engine, regardless of the source. The difference in the electrofrog is that the diverging route only gets power when then point makes contact with the stock rail. The electrofrog gets power to both routes all the time though a series of jumpers under the turnout. Insulated frog switches were a lot more useful in the days of DC and block wiring, since you didn't have power to a diverging route as long as the switch was lined for the main. This worked great to have a train in the hole while another one past. With DCC, you control all this from the DCC controller and don't need blocks unless you're using them for something like signals. Unpowered frog switches will cause problems for short wheelbase engines or engines without all-wheel pickup. I fail to see why I should still use any unpowered frog switches on a DCC only layout.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.




Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)

Back
Top