About six months ago Walthers had a sale on code 83 switches which I jumped on and am now the proud owner of 20 of these beaqsts. Today I decided to throw myself on the hand grenade and wire all the frogs and cut gaps as I am going DCC on this new layout. By now most of you are probably laughing as the frogs are insulated. After my initial cursing I analyzed the situation and came to the conclusion that insulated frogs should be better as the shorting problem at the points is eliminated. My quesyion is this:
Why do people prefer non-insulated frogs? What am I missing here? As I am in the construction phase of this I am willing to go to the expense and purchase non-insulated switches.
non insulated frogs keep a train from running a turnout that has it’s points positioned the wrong way…the train will stop (short) before it derails if the points are not aligned to the track the train is traveling on…chuck
Also short wheel base locos are less likely to stall on live frogs.
Thanks for the fast reply. It looks like I will be able to use the switches.