bumpy frogs

[slow-n-low]

is there a way to smoth out inselfrogs on atlas coad 100 #4 turnouts i have a few that rock my cars when they hit the frog on the switch sometimes causeing derailmints

[jrbernier]

  You may have a couple of issues here:

• The frog may need to be filed down with a fine cut mill file(large flat one).  I suspect that in the manufacturing process the turnout is pulled from the injection molding machine and is stll hot - the metal from may shift a little.  I have had a few Atlas Customline turnouts that have had this issue and the mill file wil fix this.  If these are the 'Snap Switch' turnouts with the plastic frogs, the same trick will fix them.
• The other issue is the wheels on your freight cars - have you inspected every one with a NMRA gauge?  If the gauge is too tight or too wide, the wheels may ride up on the gaurd rails and cause that 'bump'.  Also, if you have the narrow width treads on you metal wheels they may 'drop' into the frog area.  The 'fix' is to add some styrene strip 'support' in the flangeway so the wheel flange rides on the support.

Jim

[slow-n-low]

thanks i will give the file a try..i havent checked all my wheels most are intermountan wheels but some of  the metal wheels are the factory ones. but all my rolling stock have metal wheels  

[Doughless]

File them smooth.  Mainly where the frog meets the rails, not the pointy end.

Becareful to not hit the rails and scratch them (holds dirt) or put a dip in them.  Also, my cars might bottom out in the gap just before the frog too, so don't file the frog so much that it makes this gap bigger (the pointy end of the frog being too low)

[gondola1988]

They may also be "warped", press down near the frog and if it goes down and touches your road bed its warped and needs a track nail where you pushed down on it. Good luck, Jim.

[peahrens]

I added feeder wires to my walthers Shinohara frogs, trying to heat sink with alligator clips so I didn't begin to melt the plastic in the frog, but managed to do that a bit and needed to file out an adequate clearance again.  I don't know if this is possible with Atlas or whether you might have that issue, but for what it's worth.

[Mark R.]

The problem is that the wheel drops down into the middle of the frog. The problem being the distance between the wing rail and the point rails of the frog are spaced too far apart and the wheel face drops into the gap.

The cure is to cut some tiny triangles out of some .019" styrene and glue them into the bottom of the frog. Now when the wheel tread crosses the gap, the wheel flange will contact the styrene filler piece at exactly the same height providing silky smooth crossing through the frog.

I've done this on all my Atlas turnouts and everyone is amazed at how smooth they operate.

Note - If you have equipment with oversize flanges, the wheels will now bump UP as they go through the frog ....

Mark.

[MisterBeasley]

Your frogs have warts from being handled by humans.