3 more questions

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi, I have some more questions…

  1. whats the difference between and electrofrog and insulfrog on turnouts ( i want to have a long passing line and have one freight stopped on the passing line and a passenger pass by eventually to another passing line and the freight get back on the main line?)

  2. is it possible to wire an old controller just to power one siding and not have it interfere with the mainline its connected to, so I can have one switcher working those sidings and another on the main line? If the mainline loco goes on the siding and the switcher controller is off (assuming switcher isnt on track at that time) will anything interfere?

  3. I have too much tamiya paint on a proto loco (long story) how can I take it off without damaging the graphics?

thanks for any help

2

anybody…please?

3

  1. Even though you can use the turnouts for this function, I would not recommended it. Use gaps or plastic rail joiners and block control or DCC.

  2. see #1 above, re block control - DCC is MUCH better.

  3. 91% iso-propyl alcohol. It that doesn’t work with 12 hours, your only other safe choice is a grit blaster using baking soda. There are many chemical strippers out there, but they are as likely to dissolve the plastic as the paint.

4

Insulfrog turnouts have the rails from the points wired to the rail beyond the frog, but there is no connection in the frog so they don’t short. Some versions have the rails powered all the time, others just power the rails when the points are set that way.
Electrofrog or all-rail turnouts have the points connected through the frog and both rails beyond the frog are the same. This creates shorts when two different polarities meet. Cure this with gaps or plastic rail joiners.
For your siding situation, if you run your mainline loco into the siding, it will cross the gaps and start up your switcher. You may also get problems with the two controllers. The way around this is Block Control. Search the forum; I’m sure it’s explained somewhere.