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Exactly how important are powered frogs?

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  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, September 8, 2016 10:34 PM

MisterBeasley

Power the frogs.  Simple answer.  

If nothing else, drop a wire from the frog so that the job will be easier later on.

If you are driving the turnouts with Tortoises, it's a no-brainer.  All it takes is wire.

 

I have to agree. If you need to power frogs and the turnouts are Tortoise powered, the solution is simple.

Rich

 

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    October 2001
  • From: OH
  • 17,574 posts
Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, September 9, 2016 5:11 AM

fieryturbo
I'm doing some work on my layout, and it occurred to me that I should probably care about at least knowing why I should power the frog. Atlas turnouts are isolated, so I don't really have to deal with it per se, but under what situations does it become critical?

I dunno..60 years in the hobby and dozens of ISLs under my belt I never found a reason to power a switch frog even with the old timey brass track and brass wheels..

Even at slow switching speeds I never had a stall issue even with a  two axle Mantua Plymouth center cab switcher over those terrible Atlas switches with the rubber looking frog.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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