Are movable point frogs common?

Ray Murphy wrote:

> RM: They were very rare in Victoria in the 1960's - probably less than
> a dozen in the whole state.
>
> I saw one at Baxter, the microscopic town 6 miles past Frankston in
> Feb 1962. It was situated between the station building and the road to
> prevent trains travelling at low speed from crossing it without
> permission. It was probably only about 50 yards from the road and
> painted a brilliant white.
>
> As you know better than most of us here, no frog in a situation like
> that would stop a train with a lot of momentum.

You are using "frog" in a totally different sense from the rest of this
discussion.

On Mon, 12 May 2008 15:04:23 +1000, David Johnson
<usenet@trainman.id.au> wrote:

> The "frog" in the discussion was the replacement for the K crossing in a
> set of points. By having "swing nose" points, the hammering of wheels
> on the K crossing is eliminated, reducing wear and tear, and allowing
> faster turnout speeds.
>
> In NSW, we have examples at Glenfield, Beverley Hills and Chatswood.

Wow, Chatswood is high-tech ! Wasn't the coal train derailment at
Hexham due to a faulty swing-nose point ? I don't know if they're still
there.
--
Steven

On Mon, 12 May 2008 00:20:37 +0000, Ray Murphy wrote:


>>> You are using "frog" in a totally different sense from the rest of
>>> this
>>> discussion.
>>
>> RM: Thanks. What's a frog in other railway systems?
>
> [Ipdate]
>
> Found it on the net. I was referring to the slang for derail blocks.

An old Fetler I worked with at Thirmere used to call them 'Lizards'. As
in 'there's a lizard on the line'. And down Thirmere way isn't wasn't
uncommon to actually find live lizards sunning them selves on the rails.
I was a bit thrown the first time he said 'mind the lizard' when all that
was on the line was a derail block and no little reptiles in sight.

Some people refer to 'movable frog' points as 'swing nose' points.

At least one 'low speed' derailment has occurred in Queensland when a
set of movable frog points was being hand operated. They forgot to wind
over the frog switch blade as well before waving the train through the
points.

QR seem to use a lot of these points, particularly on the north coast
line loops. NSW doesn't seem to like the idea very much.

"Steven Saunderson" <phelum.net@Syd.au> wrote in message
news:ekpf241cq43b15onu6e672f0a8ph7vqcnq@********...
> On Mon, 12 May 2008 15:04:23 +1000, David Johnson
> <usenet@trainman.id.au> wrote:
>
>> The "frog" in the discussion was the replacement for the K crossing in a
>> set of points. By having "swing nose" points, the hammering of wheels
>> on the K crossing is eliminated, reducing wear and tear, and allowing
>> faster turnout speeds.
>>
>> In NSW, we have examples at Glenfield, Beverley Hills and Chatswood.
>
> Wow, Chatswood is high-tech ! Wasn't the coal train derailment at
> Hexham due to a faulty swing-nose point ? I don't know if they're still
> there.
> --
> Steven


Crossover on the coal road at Hexham has been removed. Swing nose points are
relatively common in the Hunter Valley.
Peter Miller
Newcastle

On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:30:02 +1000, "Peter Miller"
<peter_miller_60@optusnet.com.au> wrote:

> Crossover on the coal road at Hexham has been removed. Swing nose points are
> relatively common in the Hunter Valley.

Thanks for the update. I think the point failure at Hexham was due to
parts swapping to fix a swing nose point near Singleton. It seems a bit
silly but I guess some parts are hard to get in a hurry. The locking
mechanism for the frog must be fairly substantial.
--
Steven