HP and Sackville Railroad


Smudge, do you use insulators at all?

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Smudge617 said:
No, and all three legs have feeders either on them or within 6" of them, and I've never really had a problem yet, I've had shorts on points, but that was my fault for not checking the wheel gauge on the loco.
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Even the picture I showed is incorrect in my opinion, that short white rail should be red in my op8nioninion with power coming from the other direction? Hard to get reliable accurate info at times.
 
I'm using insulfrogs:

I don't use insulators either, and I have 3 sets of feeders per turnout. 1 for each leg. I have not experienced any issues at the turnouts as of yet. If for some reason I do, I will just take my Dremel and cut gaps.

Don't know what the right answer is. It is a widely debated topic on a lot of forums when insulfrogs are used.
 
BigGRacing said:
Even the picture I showed is incorrect in my opinion, that short white rail should be red in my op8nioninion with power coming from the other direction? Hard to get reliable accurate info at times.
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No, it's correct, it's called power routing, the white rail in the frog itself isn't carrying any power, because the switch is carrying power from the other track to the bottom blade, if you switch the blade the other way, the white blade in the diagram will then become powered (red) and the blade shown in blue will then be unpowered (white) that's how Insulfrogs work. The author has simply used white to differentiate the unpowered blade, but you're correct, the track side of the frog should be red, not white

If you look at where the end of the blades touch the relative track it becomes obvious, as that's where it takes its power from so the loco doesn't stall
 
Electrofrogs simply have the blade powered all the time, apparently having the blades powered helps with power conductivity, in case the blade doesn't throw correctly and connect to the relative rail, causing a stall.
 
Smudge617 said:
Electrofrogs simply have the blade powered all the time, apparently having the blades powered helps with power conductivity, in case the blade doesn't throw correctly and connect to the relative rail, causing a stall.
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There are a few good videos on the tube that show how to solder jumpers underneath to essentially make the insulfrog more electricly reliable. I thought about doing it, but chose to go with the 3 feeder approach.
 
migalyto said:
There are a few good videos on the tube that show how to solder jumpers underneath to essentially make the insulfrog more electricly reliable. I thought about doing it, but chose to go with the 3 feeder approach.
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Yes, if you get it wrong and ruin the turnout, $$$$$$:eek:
 
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