Fixing The Short In The Peco Insulfrog

As we mentioned in our previous post, the Peco Insulfrog is definitely DCC ready right out of the box!  We do, however, have a potential shorting problem as the wheels on our locomotive go through the frog.  This occurs particularly with 6-axle locomotives and on the Peco Medium and Long Radius Turnouts.

Let's take a look at how this shorting occurs.

As the wheel moves from the mainline or diverging route into the frog and towards the points, the inside diverging rail and the inside mainline rail of the frog get narrower and narrower until they finally terminate in the plastic part of the frog.  While this narrowing is not so obvious in our photo below, it is very obvious with the Peco Long.

In the diagram below, as the locomotive wheel travels along the inside diverging rail, it starts to overhang the inside mainline rail.

However, as it gets closer to the tip of the frog, the wheel sometimes crosses the gap between the inside diverging rail and the inside mainline rail.  Kazaappp!!!  A short occurs and the command station/ booster shuts down.  We then have to 0-5-0 our locomotive through the frog until the wheels clear the short.

This can be very frustrating and is usually what leads to the "dissing" of the Peco Insulfrog and its banishment from model railroad clubs.

And yet the fix is very, very simple!!!

Simply take a small mill file or a triangular file and file off the rail between the inside diverging rail and the inside mainline rail up to the plastic part of the frog.  I like using a file instead of a Dremel because I can control, take my time and frequently check my progress.  The idea here is to file wide and not all that deep.  We want to convert the top part of each rail into a point as shown in the diagram below.

Remember, it's not like we're playing dentist here where we have to drill deep into the tooth.  We're simply modifying a turnout.  Then fill up the space with a bit of epoxy.  We don't need a lot.  In fact, keep it slightly below the top of the rails.   

Voila!!  The problem is fixed.  A perfectly good DCC-friendly Peco Insulfrog turnout that still picks up the power to the locomotive!

So what's the difference between the Peco Insulfrog and the Peco Electrofrog?  Let's take a closer look at the Electrofrog!.