It appears Peco has made those changes to mitigate the potential for shorting on the original Unifrogs. At the time I was buying Peco turnouts for my layout, the original Unifrogs were all that were available, and wanting to avoid the shorting issue, I searched out electrofrogs. I note that the frog "looks" better on the Electrofrogs where as the continuous points look better on the Unifrogs. It's too bad we can't have both on one turnout.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I believe the isolated frog section was enlarged to eliminate certain wheelsets bridging the gap to the adjacent frog rail, creating a short.
Mike
Bill,
I recently received and installed a pair of Unifrog LH #6 turnouts SL-U8362. They came from a distributor so I don't know how long they may have been sitting in a warehouse. I immediately noticed the closure rail is continuous from the frog to the points. The rail actually bends like the proto. No joints or hinges like other brands. This makes a much more reliable and smooth turnout. I don't know, and would be interested in knowing, if this is a standard PECO design or a new design for Unifrog products. It's really nice and all my trains including 6 axle passenger cars and large steam engines love it.
Charlie, Northern Colorado
P.S. I've found some pictures of Electrofrog and Insulfrog PECOs and the all seem to have hinges in the closure rails. Apparently the continuous closure rail is new with the Unifrog. . Other posts suggested future changes to address shorting issues with Unifrog. The response from PECO indicated they wouild initially go into code 70 products so they might not yet be available in code 83.
Charlie
Hi all
IIRC Peco has made some design changes to the #6. I have just acquired some so curious to know if I have the new or old. What is the difference?
Bill