Some of you may not know–Aristo is offering replacement frogs for its wide-radius switches. They cost a bunk apiece. I installed a couple and they solve the biggest problems with that switch–they are lower overall, so they don’t protrude over the railhead, and they have deeper flanges, so the locos don’t bump up going over them.
You can do the same fix yourself and I had done it to one switch, but this seemed easier to me
I just received about 20 of them a few days ago. Haven’t started retro-fitting switches yet. I also need to work on a throw with more tension as some of my heavier locos will split them quite easily.
Question…Are this for the Aristo track switch’s that are the 10 ’ R. or the Track switches that are almost 3 foot long?? I never get them straight when some one says wide track switches… and how much are they for each frog?
Hate these plastic frogs that i have to take a Dremal to and make them deeper for the wheels.
They’re for the 10 foot radius, which is what they call the “wide radius switch.” They’re a huge improvement–I just did some quick testing and ran a few trains over one with the new frog and it was smooth and steady, none of the problems I had with the old ones
They are a dollar each
Too bad I already glued bases to all my switches.
I just pulled up 3 of the wide radius switches on the main line of indoor division. It took about an hour and a half to unscrew them form the roadbed, take out 8 joiner screws and swap out three frogs. Swapping the frogs requires removal and replacement of 8 screws per switch.
Once they were back in place I ran my Connie and a short consist of Bachman 1:20 cars over them multiple times. The wheels no longer bump at the frogs which is a great improvement. I’m still splitting the first switch on the main about 50% of the time. Close inspection didn’t point out any problem with the points, they are just not tight against the stock rail when set to the diverging route. It doesn’t split through the straight route.
In conclusion, the new frogs are a great improvement, but mine still need more work.
mike, how close is the top of the frog to the top of the rails… on the original WR switches, the frog is about 1/16" higher. Also, do you have a way to measure the depth of the flangeways?
Thanks, Greg
Jon,
the Aristo wide-radius will usually ‘split’ a switch if the divergent section is preceded by a curved section, or the wheel back to back is a little wide. The problem, as stated, is that unlike in smaller gauges, the divergent point rail is not recessed into its adjacent rail. The splitting never occurs on the straight through route. The modified frog is part of an eventual upgrade on the entire switch (hopefully).
Greg:
I have a cheap vernier caliper and to be honest, I don’t exactly know how to use it. I have the flangeways at 1/8 inch depth, exactly, and the frog protrudes over the rail VERY slightly, the caliper has it at .5 mm
While I had these up I did a lot of filing to get the switch to sit closer to the rail
Tim Brien said:The switch is proceeded by a long straight, but the B-B could be suspect. I haven't done any wheel adjustments to any of my 1:20 stock yet. They are being run as-is straight from the box. The locos are usually the ones that start the split, and they can't easily be adjusted. When my live steam Shay splits the switch it's a real problem because the universal/slip joint linkage comes apart. Fitting that back together on a hot engine is no fun.
Jon, the Aristo wide-radius will usually 'split' a switch if the divergent section is preceded by a curved section, or the wheel back to back is a little wide. The problem, as stated, is that unlike in smaller gauges, the divergent point rail is not recessed into its adjacent rail. The splitting never occurs on the straight through route. The modified frog is part of an eventual upgrade on the entire switch (hopefully).
As you said, the point rail does not sit inside the stock rail when the switch is set to the diverging route. If the wheels happen to be up against that rail when going through the switch, they will pick the point and bump over it to the straight route. If I hold the points tight against the stock rail with a tool, even my heaviest locos will go through with no problem. That’s why I thought changing the throw to something more solid may help.
I have tried filing on a different switch and made things worse, so unless I can figure out exactly where to trim, I’m not going to do that again.
Another quick fix might be to put a guard rail in front of the switch on the side of the diverging route to pull the wheels away from the point. While not very prototypical in appearance it might stop the derailments. I wonder if that would just move the problem to the straight route.
The Aristo 6 axle loco front set of wheels will hit the open side switch point in the diverging route if this switch is used as part of a curve on the main line. This is due to incorrect back to back wheel spacing. I have solved this problem on all my 6 axle locos by modifying the wheels. Later RJD
Jon,
I have nearly forty wide-radius switches on my road, with many using the divergent route as the mainline. To modify the rail to recess the divergent point rail, then close the switch in the divergent route and mark the straight section of rail that the divergent point rail contacts. I then use a Dremel with a fine cut-off blade and carefully and slowly remove a section of the straight rail until the tip of the divergent point rail recesses slightly into the straight rail. I use the side of the cutting tool, not the circular edge. Take your time, as heat will build up and distort the plastic tie base. I have carried out this mod on all my switches and never suffer a split or derailment. There is no need to recess the straight through rail section, as the wheels do not catch the end of the point rail. My track is stainless steel and thus more difficult to work than brass.
Thanks Tim. I’ve never been very good working with metal but I’ll give that a try. I think my mistake the last time was grinding the point rail, not the stock rail. The one I messed with was brass, the rest are all stainless.