Did everyone see the announcement from Chas Ro on the new 8’ and 10’ diameter switches?
The frog is all brass and there is a microswitch to set the right frog polarity
Much better for short wheelbase locos with minimal pickup
http://www.charlesro.com/usanewswitches1.html
Greg
An 8’, or 10’ switch sounds real appealing to me in that price range. It’s a match for those with LGB and AML 332 brass, but it isn’t offered in nickel (or even aluminum) code 250 so it doesn’t work for me.
Sorry for the double post. I’m still a rookie here and can’t find the ‘delete post’ switch.
Thanks Greg, very nice sounding indeed
Jerry
Michael, there is no “Delete post” button. And yea, I use stainless, so brass won’t work for me neither.
Yep, I need stainless or nickel plate myself, but I was thinking of the rest of the track power guys, a nice metal frog that will wear longer than the plastic frogs of Aristo, LGB and Piko.
The 2 different curvatures are helpful since I see many people struggle to get to 10’ diameter curves.
Also the switch motor is different so hopefully better than their previous offerings.
No clue yet if the switch is a motor or servo or a solenoid. My guess is a geared motor, since they tell you that you cannot run against the switch.
Greg
It is good to see a 8 and 10’ diameter switch coming to market. I like USAT stuff hopefully these will be good additions to their product offerings.
The brass frog is a good idea.
They appear to have a new 2016 “overview” catalog posted on the home page. http://www.usatrains.com/minicatalog.html
It looks like the American Series of freight cars no longer come with metal wheels.
Paul, did they? None of the USA cars I bought came with metal wheels.
The ones I got did not have metal wheels either… sometimes show cars had them I heard…
Greg
I know the show cars Aristo did had metal wheels, at least for the latter shows. But the East Coast USA cars had plastic wheels. So after I bought my show cars, I went right to Charlie’s booth and bought blackened metal wheels for the show cars.
Back to switches, I hope they are gauged right, and we’ll have to see about flangeway widths, both on the stock rails and the wing rails,.
Greg
What do bipolar frogs have to do with plastic or metal wheels? Do bipolar frogs derail a thread faster or is about the switching in their minds?
Apparently talking about switches causes an almost instant derailment! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)Almost makes sense… almost
Greg
editing: for explanation of the bipolar frogs and whether they should be medicated or not?
Paul Norton said:
It looks like the American Series of freight cars no longer come with metal wheels.
None of the American Series came with metal wheels, only the Ultimate series.
Custom runs may be an exception.
