Trolley Guys, what did I find?

[mecgp7]

I bought a box of N scale parts the other day at train show. Included was a trolley shell with a brass pantograph. Is raises and lowers. Does anyone know if it is built from a kit or is it a custom piece? Check out the pics. It was designed to conduct electricity as is sits in a brass tube through the roof of the trolley and there is a wire attached. Just curious. [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[brokemoto]

It looks like the old Model Power trolley to which someone added a live trolley pole.  These were four wheel trolleys and sold in pairs:  one powered one dummy(?).  They might be of Mehano manufacture.

EDITORIAL NOTE:  A quick check of Spookshow's website indicates that they were, in fact of Mehano manufacture.  Spookshow rated them a "D".  As this one is missing its mechanism..............................

[thomasjmdavis]

Brokemoto has it, I was thinking it was Bachmann, but no doubt he is correct.  Looks like it has a serious upgrade to the trolley pole.   These were 4 wheel trolleys with a power plant similar to the little industrial switchers that were marketed in the early days of N scale. I bet some research will yield a Japanese power chassis that will fit in there and provide 21st century performance.

[mecgp7]

Thanks. I sort of recognized the trolly body itself. I was most interested in the story behind the pole.
Is there anyone out there that runs trolleys with live catenaries?

[delamaize]

I wanna say there was a company that use to make those, I think it was something like "Jason's poles." I can't remember for the life of me where I saw them at though....

[johnb]

You found crap and gold in one...crap shell, gold pole

[sd45elect2000]

The trolley pole is a homemade contraption , It's not one of Eric's .

https://www.miniaturesbyeric.com/collections/n-scale-trolley-parts

Jason makes the line poles that hold up the wire.

Randy

[nkalanaga]

I did run off a live wire, with a homemade trolley pole, in the late 80s.  However, it was just a test track, one turnout and three pieces of flex, on a 4 foot board, with a hand-bent trolley frog. The "motor" was my old standby Arnold/Rapido FA.  The good news was that it ran, and the pole stayed on the wire, even through the frog.  The bad news is that it was enough of a hassle that I have never tried it again.

Why the FA?  It was my best running, if ugliest. loco, and all of the electrical contacts were exposed underneath.  Very easy to insulate one side of the trucks and run a wire from the roof.  It ran very nicely under wires using a homemade bow collector, like a lot of European trams used, and would probably have worked fine with a pantograph.

I've often wondered about rebuilding one into a PRR-style motor, as the wheels are way to big for most diesels.

[atsf3751]

A pantograph would probably be the best way to run an N scale overhead system because you would have to be very finicky on the catenary to run a pole and keep it on the wire. Unless, of course, your interest is in running an urban trolley system. If it is, let us know how it progresses.

[narrowminded]

You may have already seen this.  http://www.eastpenn.org/  Not much N scale but it's a start.

[ncbqguy]

I also only did test sections a couple of decades ago but did not find the overhead construction or operation to be much of a problem
The wire and frogs are pretty much as used in HO (0.008 phosphor bronze wire and etched frogs).   The tracking of the pole was very reliable.   With the right frogs you can run both poles and pans on the same trolley wire. 
Charlie Vlk

[atsf3751]

I have only seen HO and larger trolley systems at train shows and they always ran reliably. The one N Scale one I saw had dummy overhead and the trolley poles kept coming off. So, if properly built and configured, as Charlie says, it might work ok. I wouldn't want to build one (cleaning track could be a bitch) but it would be fun to watch a good trolley system run.

[nkalanaga]

I'm not sure exact-scale wires and poles would work in N scale.  However, they do work in HO, and, as Charlie said, parts are available, so that should be an "easy" option for N scale modelers wanting trolley pole operations.  One would still have to do some precise work, but no more so than in HO.  Operationally, you'd have an HOn30 trolley layout with unusually low wires, and those have been done successfully for years.

As for cleaning the track, how about an Aztec track cleaning car, with the rubber roller, pushed by a freight motor?  Put a trolley pole on IT, and it could be a street sweeping car.