One easy way is to get yourself a Peco cleaning kit containing a wire brush, wheel scraper, foam cradle and oil. The...
Cart 0 Product Products (empty)
No products
Free shipping! Shipping
£ 0.00 Total
Product successfully added to your shopping cart
Quantity
Total
There are 0 items in your cart. There is 1 item in your cart.
Total products (tax incl.)
Total shipping (tax excl.) Free shipping!
Total (tax incl.)
Search Tips
Tips categories
Latest Tips
-
How do I clean the wheels of my engine?Read more -
What are electro point clips?Read moreIn a nutshell, electro point clips are a quick, easy and affordable solution to de-isolating points (turnouts) ready...
-
What adhesives should I use to assemble a kit with wooden parts ?Read moreWhen it comes to assembling a kit with wooden parts, there are a few different adhesives that can be used depending...
-
How can I best build a compact N gauge layout ?Read moreBuilding a compact N gauge layout can be a rewarding and challenging project. N gauge is a popular choice for those...
-
How can I slow down the drying time for acrylic paint?Read moreAcrylic paint is widely used by hobbyists as it offers many advantages. It is water soluble which removes the need...
Christmas and New Year
We are dispatching orders every weekday apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
If you select next day delivery at checkout, please note deliveries are not made on public holidays or Sundays.
The shop in Sandown is open 23rd and 24th December, then closed from 25th December, reopening on 30th December.
What are electrofrog points?
Electrofrog points are model railway turnouts with no isolated sections.
Regular turnouts require a small plastic isolated section to avoid a short circuit where the outer rail passes over the inner rail as the route diverges. The isolated section consists of a small black triangular plastic insert at the tip of the frog.
Electrofrog turnouts do not have such a feature, meaning the right-hand rail (when approaching the turnout from the heel end) joins directly to the left-hand rail of the converging route. Although that all-metal effect undoubtedly appears more prototypical, it would create a short circuit on a model railway.
That may leave the uninitiated wondering why electrofrog turnouts are used, or even why they exist in the first place. But it's that all-metal, and therefore, all-live quality of the turnout that is attractive. With no isolated section, locomotives perform more reliably when traversing the turnout. That can be especially beneficial when using DCC as even small gaps in power has the potential to upset decoders. But what about short circuits?
When using electrofrog turnouts, a short circuit is avoided by using special isolating rail joiners at the heel end of the turnout. These provide the isolation required without compromising the surface area of rail available to deliver power to locomotives.
If you are thinking of trying electrofrog turnouts for yourself, don't forget to reintroduce power to sections of track placed after any isolating joiners by installing a couple of feeder wires from the main track circuit.
Posted in: Tracks
Click here to receive the tips weekly in your mailbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Related products
O Gauge Curved Turnout Left Hand Electrofrog
Price: £ 101.95O Gauge Curved Turnout Left Hand Electrofrog
Related posts
-
How to clean model railways track?There is of course the old tried and tested method, the track rubber which does the job, no railway modeller should... - Is Peco track and Hornby track compatible?Peco Setrack and Peco Streamline are compatible with Hornby track as they all share the same gauge width of 16.5mm....
- How often should I clean my track?This a hard question to answer. There are no hard and fast rules about how often you should clean the track. Bear in...
- How do I cut flexible track?Once upon a time I would have said a newly bladed junior hacksaw and some warding files, but these days I would have...
- How many pieces of curved track do I need to make a circle?As we all know it takes 360 degrees to create a circle, a standard curve is 22.5 degrees and a double curve is 45...