In this months trains on page 18-19 their is a photo of a flange-bearing frog but when I look at the switch at the top of the photo how do the cars get into the side if their is no slot for the wheels to pass thurgh the frog.
can someone tell me how it works?
It doesn’t work at all–it just sits there and the wheels go right over the top of the rail. The trains taking this route are presumably moving slowly enough that it’s safe, and the normal route has the advantage of not having a gap in its rails at the point of the frog.
We’ve already had a couple of threads on this subject–look back about a month or so, or search for “flange-bearing” in the Forum Search (guess I’d better check and see if we still have such an animal!).
Right you are Carl, it’s been kicked around quite a bit a few weeks ago.
It really is a strange situation to understand. " A gap in the rail"…Can’t seem to understand why such design was funded to do away with a “gap in the rail”…All rails used to have a “gap” about ever 40 or so feet…!
Yep…every 39 feet, as a matter of fact.
But that little gap, perpendicular to the rails, is nothing compared to an inch-or-so-wide flangeway. In a switch or crossing diamond, the gap is most often at an angle to the rails, making more steel open to wear–a well-used switch or crossing diamond needs to have its frog(s) replaced or built up every couple of years, to replace the steel that has worn or chipped away.
The other thread is titled “Is this a swingnose switch or what?”
Here’s the link to that thread - right now it’s near the top of Forum Page 10 of 1,211 . . . (last post 10-07-2008):
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/138188.aspx
There’s also a similar question and a shorter thread titled “November issue, page 19 photo” (last post 10-06-2008) at:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/138778.aspx