I have it on good authority that Peco will be phasing out the Insulfrog and Electrofrog versions of its turnouts and that the new Unifrog will take their place(s). Out of the box it behaves like insulfrog but with simple modifications involving a wire you can make it behave like electrofrog. The frog will be metal but with gaps.
The phase-out will not be at the snap of the fingers but will take time I understand.
This will be good news for Steve Otte who expresses mild frustration when having to explain the differences and the reasons for electing one or the other over and over in the pages of MR.
Whether there are any compromises in performance between the Unifrog and the "true" Insulfrog and Electrofrog I cannot begin to speculate. But at least you won't have to make or worry about an "epic" decision when you buy.
I have already written more than I know. Others are welcome to chime in with info or opinions.
Dave Nelson
Here's a little more information on the Unifrog:
https://dccwiki.com/PECO_Unifrog
Apparently they do not come with jumpers installed between the point rails (the article refers to them as 'switch rails') and the closure rails. That is an oversight AFAIC, but not everybody thinks that the jumpers are necessary.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Yeah, I've read also about these changes coming to Peco. Upon closer examination, it appears the Unifrog version may suffer from the same issue that the Insulfrog version does, where some wheel treads may short out the metal rails of opposite polarity near the plastic frog.
I'm slowly stock piling electrofrog now before they are eventually phased out.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I commented on the Peco Unifrog back in October in another thread. At the time, I emailed Peco and their answer seems to indicate that they are re-tooling to just have a Unifrog which will replace the Insulfrog and the Electrofrog.
Rich
richhotrain rrinker Not sure what they started with, but they have switched over the Code 83 #6 double slip, and I doubt the tooling was worn out on that yet. And they announced the new code 70 line will be Unifrog right from the start. I don't follow the code 100 or code 75 product line so maybe some of that has been switched over - I saw on another forum somethign about having a true bullhead rail line now as well, and the turnouts for that are Unifrog. My curiosity got the best of me yesterday, so I emailed Peco to inquire about the future of the Unifrog, specifically whether they plan to convert the Code 83 #6 regular turnout. Their response was, "At present very few of our turnouts are Unifrog, but others will be as the tooling is replaced over time". So, it sounds as if the Insulfrog and Electrofrog versions will eventually be eliminated as the Unifrog becomes more widely available. I agree with Randy that it seems hard to believe that the tooling was worn out on the Code 83 double slip and diamond crossing, since these two pieces of track work are far less popular than the regular turnout. I can't help but think that the tooling was changed to address the shorting issue on the converging rails, a common problem with the double slip and the diamond crossing. Rich
rrinker Not sure what they started with, but they have switched over the Code 83 #6 double slip, and I doubt the tooling was worn out on that yet. And they announced the new code 70 line will be Unifrog right from the start. I don't follow the code 100 or code 75 product line so maybe some of that has been switched over - I saw on another forum somethign about having a true bullhead rail line now as well, and the turnouts for that are Unifrog.
Not sure what they started with, but they have switched over the Code 83 #6 double slip, and I doubt the tooling was worn out on that yet. And they announced the new code 70 line will be Unifrog right from the start. I don't follow the code 100 or code 75 product line so maybe some of that has been switched over - I saw on another forum somethign about having a true bullhead rail line now as well, and the turnouts for that are Unifrog.
My curiosity got the best of me yesterday, so I emailed Peco to inquire about the future of the Unifrog, specifically whether they plan to convert the Code 83 #6 regular turnout. Their response was, "At present very few of our turnouts are Unifrog, but others will be as the tooling is replaced over time".
So, it sounds as if the Insulfrog and Electrofrog versions will eventually be eliminated as the Unifrog becomes more widely available.
I agree with Randy that it seems hard to believe that the tooling was worn out on the Code 83 double slip and diamond crossing, since these two pieces of track work are far less popular than the regular turnout. I can't help but think that the tooling was changed to address the shorting issue on the converging rails, a common problem with the double slip and the diamond crossing.
Alton Junction
If you wire the Unifrog like an Electrofrog then there should be no shorting issue. I was going to use Electrofrog anyway, so using them in this manner changes nothing. People using them as Insulfrogs might have the same issue that Insulfrogs have, though until someone has some actual for sure ones in hand and measures the spacing we probably won't know. it LOOKS like the thin sliver of plastic is the same size as the Insulfrog, but there is that metal tip that migth help guide the wheels over better than on the Insulfrog design.
In the end I think much ado about nothing, and everyone will just wonder why Peco made two different lines all this time and didn't switch over sooner. Though one thing is that the Unifrog is NOT power routing like Insulfrog, so I really think this change will affect Insulfrog users more than Electrofrog users.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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