I am planning to do a cantenary system and was wondering what ready made system to use. At present there are a couple of ready made one to use: Marklen, Kato,and Vollmer. Was wondering which one would Bachmann recommend, because it appears they will all need a little modification to work with EZ track.
It might be easier to have plastic clips to the road bed then glue on the poll. Which area are modeling after, rural interurban or streetcar traffic.
Ed-
It depends on whether you will have functional catenary or merely cosmetic catenary. Your decision on nonfunctional catenary is a simple one: Which do you like best and would be the easiest to adapt to your layout? If your cat is to be functional things get more complicated because you have to add the challenge of getting all of that overhead hung and parallel to your rails.
Functional cat has the advantage of relieving the worry about reverse loops. But, and this can be a big but, you must have very high construction standards. Keep in mind that DCC decoders reset and restart after even a momentary power interruption. Electric locos don't go through the whole start up sequence of a steam engine, of course, but might not want an automatic whistle to signal that your train is starting to move when it's already running down the track.
-- D
There is also the Veissmann catenary available:
http://www.reynaulds.com/catalog/dept_374.aspx
and also Sommerfeldt:
http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh_list.asp?mn=24&ca=32&sc=HO
Depends how accurate (and expensive) you want it to be, and if it is to be operational or not.
Steve Magee
Newcastle NSW Aust
Thanks for all the information. To answer USCG Tanker's question I am planning to add an express passenger system/heavy electric traffic. I like the idea of plastic clips. Now the question is what to choose. It is a shame that Bachmann does not make its own cantenary system.
Functional? ::)
If you are going to install overhead (catenary), track type (ez track, flex, etc) aren't really considerations as a catenary system -s essentially separate from the track structure. Saying that, I will also say that, unless you are a real "cat nut", then overhead systems at the very least, are a lot of work to get them to look, act, and operate correctly. if you take a good close look at photos of this equipment, you will appreciate that it is a very encompassing proposition. A for instance would be the PRR or NH catenary system. Each were constructed around the 11,000VAC, 25 CYCLE single phase component, and wee essentially resembling of each other .
The only source I can think of for American prototype catenary system would be "Model Memories" in Pennsylvania. Oh, and none of this stuff is exactly cheap-unless you plan to do a lot of scratch-building ns assembling by jig.
RIch C.
Some links on building catenary in HO scale:
http://pennsyrr.com/kc/model/downloads/catenary.pdf
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/154658.aspx
http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?p=883270
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNdt1DxrqYQ
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/218937.aspx
http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=fromLibrary&guide=110
Hope this helps out.
Thinking about this the next question is the track stationary or movable. If it's movable it will make things a little more interesting. electric fence wire would work nicely. It's easy to get keeps a good shape and conducts electricity and heat very well. Then it's only connecting each section together. very fine rod crimped on on side of the line would work very well. I will see if i can make this work and post pics or video's on here.