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| Fast Track Frog tools for frogs on bridge guard rails? http://fast-tracks.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=874 |
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| Author: | wabash2800 [ Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Fast Track Frog tools for frogs on bridge guard rails? |
Some railroads formed a point at the end of their pairs of bridge gruard rails with what looked like a frog casting. Has anyone tried this with Fast Track frog/point tool and the frog helper for soldering? It would seem this would work and be a nice touch. I've been working on a very large double-track thru-truss bridge with almost a thousand nut-bolt-washers for the scratch built timber guards (done), but have yet to scratch the walkway, guard rails and add joint plates. True to my prototype, the frogs will only be on one end of the guard rails as it is not bidirectional double-track. I'm also using code 83 on the live rails and code 70 on the guard rails. The guard rails will be painted rust. |
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| Author: | Kurt Konrath [ Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fast Track Frog tools for frogs on bridge guard rails? |
In photo's I have seen of several bridges the bridge guard rails were tapered in and down at the end, but not neccessarly touching each other. I guess it depends on the bridge builder and railroads standards at the time. To do this work you could use the Frog Helper tool, which allows for the long rails needed for the guard rail to be soldered after being filed with the Point Form tool to get the angle needed to make a nice guard rail. Then you would just need to clip and kink the rails to get the angle back and along the mail track. If you already have a switch jig you could just use the points location in the jig to hold the frogs, but for a guard rail the angle would be a broad angle on the frog, not long and sharp as most turnouts. Just my two cents, maybe Ecammy or someone with lots of prototype knowledge will chime in. Kurt |
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| Author: | emccamey [ Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fast Track Frog tools for frogs on bridge guard rails? |
Kurt is correct that there were and are dozens of differences between the prototypes. Many though did have true points on bridgework guard rails. Most will have a shorter distance and a rather wide angle (usually about 30 - 45 degrees). Another note is that the flangeway (guard rail offset) on the prototype was about 6" as the idea was for the wheel to ride between the rails - bouncing along the ties - with a derailed truck. With model wheels being so much wider; the net effect is rather odd appearing unless you use a cosmetic guard rail with close to a normal flangeway offset. Also there were many western and narrow gage prototypes that had the guard rails outside the track gage and the bent rails gathering was flared away from the track. I'd say the relative differences between code 83 and code 70 for HO, that the appearance may be too severe. While many prototypes did use smaller guard rails in bridgework - the height differences were very modest. I'd suggest code 75 rails with code 83 running rail as being closer to perspective. (You may want to combine the code 81 rail with code 83 as the profile is quite different with very modest if any discernible height difference). If you want a distinctive difference - but a 'similar height' - I've used the old code 80 N scale rails as bridge guard rails with code 83 track in HO several times (this allowed for a nice appearing flangeway that worked well). Chose your prototype approach, and try several sizes of optional rails to get the right 'feel'. Nothing wrong with using the same size rail for both as that was also very often used. Because of the much wider angle, just using hand filing would be very sufficient to form those (non-critical) points. There is absolutely no hard rules on bridge guard rails over time and with many different prototype practices. |
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| Author: | Kurt Konrath [ Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fast Track Frog tools for frogs on bridge guard rails? |
emccamey, sorry I spelt your name wrong, but I knew you would have more info than I had. As always thanks for the info. Kurt |
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