Hi
In the March 2012 edition of Model Railroader on Page 37 (track laying on the feature layout the top right item) mentions modifications to a Peco Electrofrog turnout. In the article it is not mentioned why the modifications were made, and that is essentially my question. As a novice to Model Railroading I am confused as to when to do this and when not to do this.
Thanks in advance.
Graham Harris
Graham - Welcome to Trains.com! [C):-)]
The Peco turnouts are fitted with a spring so that the points will hold their position once thrown. It works fine with the Peco switch machine. But if you want it to work with a Tortoise switch machine, then it is usually necessary to remove this spring, since the spring is strong enough to inhibit the motor from working and with a Tortoise, the motor is always powered and so does not need a spring or other contrivance to hold its position.
It could also be an issue of frog power, but I suspect the reason is the spring.
ROAR
The trains on the layout are to be operated by Digital Comand Conrol (DCC) . The modification is to make the turnout DCC friendly (prevent electrical shorts). No modification is needed for a Direct Current (DC) only operated layout.
Thanks
So the moral of the story is when buying switches and you are using DCC you need to make sure that they are DCC friendly.
Graham Harris
That is indeed the moral of the story…[:D]
I wonder what I am doing differently. I use the Peco Code 55 Electrofrog turnouts on my Digitrax layout and have not modified any of them. Straight out of the box, I make sure everything conforms to the NMRA gauge, and on the layout it goes. The only shorts I have encountered come when someone (i,e, me) has the turnout thrown in the wrong direction. Any ideas?
Scott
Content removed due to a completely fucked up and incompetent Kalmbach customer service.
Sevin
Thankyou for the more complete accurate explanation. I am saving a copy of your post for future refferance.