Catenary progress

It has been awhile since I posted any progress on the catenary system.  I've been side tracked with other issues but I did manage to make some progress.

Got the double  catenary extended around the side wall and over the first lift bridge and meeting up with the 2nd bridge.  The bridge was the trickiest part of the installation.  The bridges are both lift bridges hinged at 1 end.

 Since the mainline catenary needed to end at the bridge I had to figure a way to overlap the catenary from the mainline and the catenary on the bridge so that there would be continuous pantograph contact  as the loco entered and exited the bridge.   The hard part was coming up with the right spacing and configuration of the catenary supports at either ends of the bridge such that the bridge could be opened without anything hitting the opposing supports or catenary.

Now I would like to say that I designed it all out on paper before building it and that once built from the plans  it all worked out fine.  Since most of you know me well enough to know that there is no way  I could do that I won't try to con you.

It was all trial and error, with ample amounts of each coupled with a scant bit of bourbon anxiety medication before arriving at the correct spacing and support configuration.

This is a short video of a PC GG1 pulling a 17 car consist under catenary power.  It ran smoothly around from the left rear of the room and around onto the 2nd bridge where the catenary ends and it ran out of power.  Note there are still some trimming of bolts, patching and painting that needs to happen.  I also discovered that the nuts that go on the bolts used to attach 1 piece of cat to the next extend below the catenary wire a tad which prevents the pantograph from smoothly gliding from one piece to the next.  I will simply grind the nuts to eliminate the issue.

The bridgework is built as a single unit so that I can remove it to gain access to the catenary supports in case I need to work on them. It is made to slide over the catenary supports. This is the start of the 2nd bridge.

Total of 17 cars most of which have some weight to them.  The GG1 did fine considering it is not a diecast body.

It appears the intermodal containers are a different size between MTH and Lionel.  The MTH containers clear the catenary with 1/8" to spare.   The Lionel containers need another 1/8".  Looks like I will be running some single stack intermodal cars.

And there are my filthy PC coal hoppers bringing up the rear.   I don't think these cars would be allowed at Hudson Coal even with its recent "aging".

Now that the bridge specs have been worked out the remainder of the catenary installation should go a lot quicker.   I have 5 conventional GG1's that I need to modify to allow selection of power source from either catenary or track via a slide switch.  That is pretty straight forward. 

Trial run under catenary

As you may know I have been working on building a live centenary system for my 2 upper mainlines.   I am building the catenary supports out of wood.  The wire is Marklin  HO catenary wire. Although they no longer manufacture it, there is plenty to be had from Germany.  I have been given lots of advice from a friend on the OGR forum who has a magazine quality large layout with all tracks under live centenary.  It has been running without trouble for  almost 18 years.   Without his help I would surely be in the crazy house by now trying to do this.

The biggest issue is dealing with the various height of the electrics.  I was told 5 1/8" from top of track to bottom of catenary is the sweet spot.   However, some of the pantographs on various engines do not have springs quite strong enough to exert the proper upward pressure on the catenary.  After some trial and error I found the perfect sized springs and have converted 2 GG1s.  One was MTH DCS PRR GG1 command controlled engine so it had operating pantographs which needed just a little more pressure.  The 2nd engine was a Williams full scale GG1.  It needed stronger springs.  I also installed a SPDT slide switch on it giving me the option to run from track or catenary power.    That is the engine seen in the video.

I only have about 15' of double track finished and have the bugs worked out and the process for the build so that all supports are the same height, centered and such

Thought I would dust off the blog and post a couple of photos and short video of a PC GG1 running under live catenary

This is the converted PC GG1. note there is exactly 1/8" to spare between the Lionel containers and the catenary.  Just purchased 4 new old stock MTH container cars and they do not fit under the catenary.  that problem is for another day. 

This is the PRR GG1 on the other mainline.

And a short video to record the momentous occasion.