Nathan...the rail codes refer to the height , or size of the the actual rail used.........Code 75 rail is deemed a bit more closer in scale size to the real thing.....Code 100 is taller...and therefore more 'rigid'..or resistant to distortion when set up, or laid.
'Electrofrog' is one of those 'trade' terms...like 'hoover'....used to describe a point frog which is 'live....if you study (a picture) of a point, you'll notice how close a +ve and -ve rail get ot each other......therefore in order to [1] eliminate risk of short circuits, and [2] establish a simple system of 'power routing'....ie, the track you have set the point to, will have the same polarity/power to it..the other will 'isolate'....to achieve this, makers produced a 'frog (the bit where opposing rails cross each other) made of 'plastic'.....Peco, in particular, name this type of point 'Insulfrog'.....However, there is an issue with engines sometimes stalling at the 'dead' bit of the frog........so then we come to 'live frog' points (trade name from Peco, Electrofrog).....where the whole shebang is live to the rail you have selected....this ensures continuity of contact throughout. To achieve this involves some [complicated] switching...I suspect using a switch linked to the point's tiebar..the bit that moves the blades......essentially the power in the frog is whichever the switch is connected to at that time.
easily described with drawings?
My immediate recommendation is to find a nice simple shunting [switching] track plan, get a board built around 6 foot by 1 foot.....and place track upon it! A ''timesaver'' design is , IMHO the best to start with.
However, if you are intent on 'trying out on the floor'...as it were, different issues come to play.
What a shame we don't seem able to get Bachmann's E-Z track system here in yUK?
Being built on a nice rigid plastic 'ballast' base, it would be ideal for 'playing around on the floor'..to get a feel of things?
Perhaps Triang and Hornby Dublo had the right idea all those years ago?
'Electrofrog' is one of those 'trade' terms...like 'hoover'....used to describe a point frog which is 'live....if you study (a picture) of a point, you'll notice how close a +ve and -ve rail get ot each other......therefore in order to [1] eliminate risk of short circuits, and [2] establish a simple system of 'power routing'....ie, the track you have set the point to, will have the same polarity/power to it..the other will 'isolate'....to achieve this, makers produced a 'frog (the bit where opposing rails cross each other) made of 'plastic'.....Peco, in particular, name this type of point 'Insulfrog'.....However, there is an issue with engines sometimes stalling at the 'dead' bit of the frog........so then we come to 'live frog' points (trade name from Peco, Electrofrog).....where the whole shebang is live to the rail you have selected....this ensures continuity of contact throughout. To achieve this involves some [complicated] switching...I suspect using a switch linked to the point's tiebar..the bit that moves the blades......essentially the power in the frog is whichever the switch is connected to at that time.
easily described with drawings?
My immediate recommendation is to find a nice simple shunting [switching] track plan, get a board built around 6 foot by 1 foot.....and place track upon it! A ''timesaver'' design is , IMHO the best to start with.
However, if you are intent on 'trying out on the floor'...as it were, different issues come to play.
What a shame we don't seem able to get Bachmann's E-Z track system here in yUK?
Being built on a nice rigid plastic 'ballast' base, it would be ideal for 'playing around on the floor'..to get a feel of things?
Perhaps Triang and Hornby Dublo had the right idea all those years ago?
