I had to file a bit at some of my frogs on my Atlas customline turnouts and the black paint came off resulting in shinny metal underneath. Is this an issue; why are they black instead of bare metal?
The blackener being removed is not an issue. I file nearly all my Atlas frogs flush with the surrounding rails, and remove the blackener from the frog points on the rest. The tops of the frog wing rails are not wear surfaces on the prototype, so I paint those when I finish and weather the track. The running rails are kept clean.
Rob Spangler
As Rob points out, the tops of the wing and guard rails are not polished by passing trains. They go to rust color pretty quickly. A very dark brown would be a good start for a color for painting them.
If you don't know what wing and guard rails are, here's a start:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_switch
Ed
nscsx I had to file a bit at some of my frogs on my Atlas customline turnouts and the black paint came off resulting in shinny metal underneath. Is this an issue; why are they black instead of bare metal?
I sand the black off the top of the rail on all the frogs on My customline turnouts, the original Shinohara's I have there is no need. I use 400grit red paper on a hard rubber sanding block, followed by a few rubs one way with a silver dollar, I then polish it with Maas silver polish and never have to touch it again. It also improves conductivity. I believe the reason behind them doing it was just purely cosmetic. Rather than have a bulky looking piece of pot-metal, with two holes in it, to power the frogs...that is the older one's.
Take Care!
Frank
BTW: That is a real silver dollar...I still have quite a lot of them.