The GWR "Toad" brake van is a distinct and iconic piece of railway history in the UK. These brake vans were a crucial...
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What is a GWR "Toad" brake van?Read more -
What is the purpose of rail joiners?Read moreRail joiners, often referred to as fishplates, serve a critical role in ensuring the smooth operation of your layout....
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-43898-p.jpg "What is Peco Streamline?")
What is Peco Streamline?Read morePeco Streamline is a range of model railway track that many modellers in the UK turn to when they want to take their...
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What are Tracksetta templates?Read moreTracksetta templates are essential tools for ensuring that your model railway track is laid accurately and...
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What is a private owner wagon?Read moreIn the world of model railways, a private owner wagon refers to a freight wagon that, in real life, was owned by a...
Are electrofrog points better than insulfrog points?
Using electrofrog points on a layout will undoubtedly result in improved reliability for the locomotives that traverse them. That's thanks to there being virtually no dead or isolated parts on the turnout, unlike insulfrog points which can have a dead spot of a centimetre or more long just waiting to stall smaller locos.
So purely from the perspective of electrical continuity, electrofrog points are better. Where they do lose the interest of some modellers, is the complexity they introduce to the layout's circuitry.
Electrofrog turnouts will in most circumstances still require a degree of isolation to avoid a short circuit being caused where the outer rail crosses the inner rail as the two routes diverge. This is usually done using isolating rail joiners and a power feed to tracks beyond the turnout. A simple enough job but one that puts some off nonetheless.
For those who do not like the sound of playing with electrics, insulfrog points provide the perfect plug and play solution, and that makes the 'which is best' score about even.
So in summary, the question should not be which is best? but more which is best for you? If you like the idea of improved conductivity and engines that don't stall on points at slow speeds, electrofrog is the way to go, but you will need to think a little about how to wire them. If, on the other hand, you just want to run some trains at the weekend with your family for a bit of fun, insulfrogs allows you to just get on with it, the choice is yours!
Posted in: Tracks
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