Gentlemen,
It seems I am being misunderstood by many so at the risk of doing what I have been accused of doing and not wishing to, hijacking a thread, let me explain. I do not care what size the equipment is; my concern is with operability or how well the old will run on the new. The problem is every track switch has what is called a frog. This is the place where the diverging outside rails cross each other. Now there are two kinds of frogs, a closed frog and an open frog. The old Flyer switches had closed frogs. From what I can tell from the pictures the new Lionel Flyer switches have open frogs. What is the difference and the problems?
On an open frog there is a gap that the wheels must pass over. This is there in order for the wheel flange to pass when going in the other direction. This is a potential area for the wheel to go airy and derail, what is called picking the frog. This is controlled by two things both of which are dependent on the scale and size of the wheels. The first is the depth of the slot the wheel flange rides in since in this small area the wheel actually runs on the flange and not the tread of the wheel. The other is the position of the guard rail. The guard rail is that small piece of track opposite the frog. It is the purpose of this rail to keep the wheels form picking the frog. As I said both of these are dependent on the scale and size of the wheel flange depth.
On a closed frog switch there is no frog gap to cross and as such the size and scale of the wheel has little or no bearing on operation.
It is this problem of the frog that is my concern not the size of the equipment.
Thank you, Al
