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.