Swing Nose Frogs On Railroads

April 29, 2006

It might sound strange, but there are turnouts on real roads that are know as ‘swing nose frogs’.

In railroading terms, “frogs” have nothing to do with those little creatures that jump around. A railroad “frog” is best described as the part of a turnout or a crossing where the rails have an intersection which allows the wheel flanges to cross the running rail (the spot where the deverging rail crosses the straight rail).

These ‘swing nose frog’ turnouts require the conductor to throw the points of the switch, and then walk up to the frog and manipulate that mechanism as well.

‘swing nose frogs’ are used where high tonnages meet high speeds.