Installed this vintage atlas turnouts #6 lh if it matters
Worked fine in the straight ahead position. But once set to the turnouts direction it would short the track. Did some checking with continuity and such and saw at the frog where voltage positive and negative meet at the cross over. Saw some pictures on the web about shorty the frog. So I blew it up. Sawed through the soldered connections and it works fine. No more shorty. Sure some senior MRs have come across this. Not sure I needed to all this but not sure why I had to either. Hmm. Try to include a picture. Thanks all.
This comes up so often in MR circles there really should be a āstickyā about it at the top of the page 
You have an uninsulated frog thus your turnout falls into the āpower-routingā category.
The plain basic rule is:
All frog-to-frog rails need at least one gap in the rail.
All electrical feeders must be from before the point hinge of the turnout.
Later Atlas āSnap trackā or perhaps Custom Line turnouts were āAll Liveā variety with an insulated frog thus any of the rails on either side of the points or frogs could be wired as if they were ordinary track.
IF your power routing turnout was on stub-end track it wouldnāt be a problem but since there are other rails beyond the frog you are creating an electrical short.
Hope that helps, Ed
I kinda of get that and Iāve read about fussy DCC with turnouts issues. But I canāt figure out why out of the box even though NOS does this . Were they just lazy about engineering this out ?? Now it runs next step to run a jump connector forward to power the dead track rail cutting the frog created. Always something in this sport. Thanks for the reply.
Oh, they did engineer it out, about ten years after your turnout was made. I mentioned āCustom Line Turnoutsā * thatās when plastic injection molding developed far enough to incorporate an insulated frog with imbedded jumper bonds molded into the ties. Same way they engineered out hitting icebergs in the North Atlantic. You donāt hear so much about it since that thing in 1912.
When your turnout was made nearly all track was hand laid, turnouts were soldered together with no insulation at the frog since it required a lot more work. Much easier and made more sense to power the frog and diverging rails through the switch points. For some operators it was an advantage, too, to have a stub-end siding where you didnāt need a toggle switch to cut the power to it, if the points werenāt lined to the siding it was dead.
The other standout in power routing turnouts is the fact that the points arenāt usually insulated, either.
It really isnāt a question of the vintage. When I built my layout in 1995 and used Shinohara track the only available turnouts were power-routing. Kato and Peco also have various styles of power routing turnouts. It is simply a matter of having more choices and knowing what the caveats of those choices are.
I guess thatās what keeps us coming back, we enjoy the challenge.
Good Luck, Ed
- Iām not all that familiar with Atlasā terminology of their track line as Iāve also found āCustom Lineā turnouts that are power-routing, too.
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Have to hand it to the engineeringā¦I was able to blow up that turnout and make it work. A standard of good craftsmanship. Hereās to them !
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So for future purposesā¦a good reliable turnoutā¦peco insulfrog or Atlas Custom line. ?
Atlas Custom Line is my prefered turnout, others will think differently.
Sheldon
Iām leaning that way as wellā¦