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frog ?

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  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
frog ?
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 12, 2005 7:05 PM
Ok guys i am new to this . ok i am building the Atlas #36 layout. and i want to go with DCC when i get the track laid. do i need to wire the frogs of the turnouts? and if i need to what would be the best way to do this?Thanks
Scot
  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Michigan
  • 227 posts
Posted by SteelMonsters on Saturday, February 12, 2005 7:27 PM
The frogs on atlas turnous are insulated so they shouldn't be a problem. They are live also each piece of track gets the correct power so no wire is nessesary.

The problem you might run into if you use very fast acting circuit breakers is the tred shorting out the supply as metal wheelsets cross the frog. This is usually solved by somewhat lengthening the delay time. DCC boosters usually cut power in .5 second, and the defult for the circuit breakers is probably .1. All of the circuit breakers I've seen are adjustable. It simply needs to be shorter than the booster so not to trip the booster.

The idea behind circuit breakers is to seperate a booster into districts so you only shut down a small area. Before these things came along, Many boosters had to be used at great cost to do the same thing.
-Marc
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Metro East St. Louis
  • 5,743 posts
Posted by simon1966 on Saturday, February 12, 2005 8:40 PM
Scot, are you using Atlas track? If not look at this web site for an explanation for many of the common wiring issues related to different turnouts.

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/switches.htm

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 12, 2005 10:05 PM
Yes i am using atlas code 83 turnouts.i spent today seting the cork on to the layout,

thanks Scot
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Saturday, February 12, 2005 11:37 PM
Are they Custom-Line or the Snap-Track Code 83? I don;t think you can power the Snap-Track frogs, I think they are plastic. Custom-Line you can, see the thread on this subject from the other day. Do you ahev to? Well, it depends on the equipment you run. I have nothing with less than 8-wheel power pickup, and none of it stalls or hesistates running over unpowered frogs. I WAS planning to power than anyway, although that job has moved to a lower priority based on my results from test running things.

--Randy



Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 13, 2005 3:33 PM
yes they are custom-line turnouts. thanks for the replys.
anyone else have anything to say about this?
thanks again Scot

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