Piko point used for siding and analogue system

[davecar]

Hi All,

I am new to this so please forgive me if my question is very basic.

I had planned to do a loop system and a long track but after consulting colleagues on this forum I decided to do an oval - it is about 22 metres long. I had already purchased a Piko point so I have decided to do just one siding off the main track.

I have tried laying the track on the grass with the point and siding and it does appear to work OK but the siding appears to be live all the time. I can live with this and not park any locos in the siding, just rolling stock.

Is it that simple or am I missing a trick? I know it is a basic issue but I do want to get it right.

Any help or suggestions will be gratefully received.


Kind regards,

Dave

 

[Neil Robinson]

Hello and welcome.
You've done nothing wrong. Self isolating points are common in other scales but not in G.
If you wish to park up a loco you need to isolate and install an electrical switch for one of the siding rails or switch the loco off, many G scale locos have motor on/off switches as standard.
Should you go for digital control this can be performed remotely.

 

[mike]

just remeber, theres no such thing as a silly question..
there are of course, silly asnwers

 

[Old Tom]

Self isolating points are common in other scales but not in G.

Because Neil has answered Dave's question, I hope no-one minds me hi-jacking this thread...

My question is: Why are G scale points live frog?

Isolating frogs are a lot more useful on any layout with more than one loco and just wondered if anyone knew the reason why the standard is live frog?

 

[ntpntpntp]

My question is: Why are G scale points live frog?

Let's not confuse "live frog" with "power-routing" points (two different concepts). You can have points with a "live frog" but which can route the power according to the route selected. I must admit I was pondering the same question "why aren't they power-routing?" after this came up.

Actually non-isolating points like LGB and Piko are more common than you might think: I've found that many points in the smaller scales from European manufacturers maintain both routes live by default, and you often have to remove little wire links to make them self-isolating. I'm sure I've seen power-routing points called "thinking points" by at least one manufacturer. Here in the UK many people grow up using Hornby or Peco points which are power-routing by default.

As for a reason why, my guess is that maybe it was thought to be more robust for garden use, as there's no reliance on the blade contact (or an integral switch) to feed power to the following trackwork.

 

[Zerogee]

Self isolating points are common in other scales but not in G.

Because Neil has answered Dave's question, I hope no-one minds me hi-jacking this thread...

My question is: Why are G scale points live frog?

Isolating frogs are a lot more useful on any layout with more than one loco and just wondered if anyone knew the reason why the standard is live frog?

I can't answer your actual question, Tom (I can only assume that, in general, LGB and others decided that non-isolating points were more useful overall than self-isolating ones), but I do think you are mixing up the live/dead frog option with the isolating/non-isolating point one - as I understand it, they are two completely different things - LGB points are dead frog, because the frog is plastic; live frog points have a metal frog to maintain electrical pickup continuity, and require special wiring/switching to change the frog polarity when the point is thrown, but that is a separate issue to whether a point is self-isolating or not. At least, I think that's right!?

 

[Zerogee]

Nick posted while I was typing mine above, rendering my comment a bit redundant! However I would echo his thought that a lot of smaller scales use non-isolating points too - including the Z gauge stuff that I dabble around with indoors!

Like Nick, I would think that the choice to make LGB points non-isolating (and dead-frog too) is down to robustness and simplicity for outdoor use - it may also help with power flow all round the layout, if you imagine a simple loop of track then any spot on the circuit is being fed from both directions, so a single bad track joint won't necessarily stop the power getting round - but if you then had a point off the circuit that was self-isolating when switched to a siding, that could make perfect joins much more critical.....?

 

[ntpntpntp]

Ah yes, you're quite right Zerogee - I'd forgotten that my little collection of Z-gauge points are yet another example of a non-isolating design.

 

[Old Tom]

My mistake :

You learn something every day!

Perhaps there is no definitive answer to this question.

 

[minimans]

The Answer to your question is 42 mate...................according to Aurther Dent anyway....................!