Frogs & wyes

[Law Dawg 86]

The more I read as a novice the more questions I have. First, what is the difference between a wye and a turnout? Next, do you need an insulated frog for a DC operation, and if so will that appear on the box that the frog is insulated? Thanks

[ABC]

A turnout has a straight and divergent route, whereas a wye has two divergent routes. No you do not need insulfrog turnouts for DC, electrofrog turnouts are preferred if you are using locos with short wheel bases or locos that don't pick up power with all wheels. It may or may not state that it is electrofrog or insulfrog, but an easy way to tell is look at the turnout and see if the frog is plastic or othterwise insulated.

[on30gn15]

First, what is the difference between a wye and a turnout?

There can be two things happening with that word. Like ABC said there is a type of turnout called a wye.

And there is a track arrangement called a wye. It is a triangular configuration with 3 turnouts, which can be the standard or the wye type.
A wye allows trains to be reversed by pulling in on one side then backing out on the adjacent side. 
That track arrangement requires some extra work for wiring in either DC or DCC.

[Jim Banner]

To paraphrase ABC, Little Locos Like Live frogs.  Big locos don't care.  Live, all metal frogs work for everything but require a bit more wiring.  Some require contacts on the switch machine to control the power fed to the frog.  With others, the often less than perfect internal switch for the frog can benefit from the addition of such contacts.  Live frog turnouts may also require gaps, either built in or added by you, to insulate the rails extending from the frog.  The rules for gapping live frog turnouts are the same for dc and for DCC.

Jim