made a mistake, i hope somebody can help

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey guys

Im using the atlas code 83 track, my problem is today I bought a HO Atlas wye that has metal frogs, will this cause me any problems? I will only be running one train at a time. All my other switches have plastic frogs and I have read somewhere that using metal frogs can cause a short, Is this only if you power them? like I said I will only be running one engine at a time over the layout… Thanks guys

Jeremy

2

Nope, not a mistake, if you got the Atlas Code 83 Wye. Yes, the frog is metal, but the reason people power them is because they are INSUALTED fromt he surrounding track and a short wheelebase loco can stall because it gets no power - shorting is NOT a problem.

–Randy

3

so I’ll be fine to run my engines free of shorts?

Thanks Randy, I got a little scared there for a minute, I thought I was out $15

4

Nope, they shouldn’t short - unless they are BADLY out of gauge.

5

can you explain to me again why some frogs are plastic and why? and why some are metal frogs and why? you were saying a shorter diesel will stall on the plastic. how come maufactures dont make all turnouts with metal frogs

6

OLDER turnouts have plastic frogs. NEWER ones have isolated metal one’s.
Some manufacturer’s (KATO) use plastic frogs because it’s simpler. Both work, however metal frogs have to be electrically insulated from the two converging rails for DCC.

SOME do (SHINOHARA, BK) but they are not ‘DCC friendly’.

7

glad to hear I’ll be okay, I just have a simple layout with one engine running at a time

8

just put some track together with the wye and everything works fine