cygnus485 N Scale Catenary Construction

[dem34]

Considering this is something that gets asked constantly in my neck of the woods. Here is a video detailing how to make some wired Catenary in N scale. Subtitles are in Japanese but the editing makes it fairly easy to follow along despite the fact.

*If I posted this in the wrong area pls move it.

[nkalanaga]

Nice looking, but I can just imagine how long it would take to do an American-bedroom sized layout.

[MK]

Those whacky Japanese.  Don't forget to wear the white gloves when you build your layout.   

[nickelplate759]

That's some serious craftsmanship!

[nkalanaga]

for the catenary construction the proper gloves might be useful, to keep skin oils off the wire.

I've built N scale catenary piece-by-piece, about six feet of it, almost 50 years ago.  It is neither easy nor fun, which is why my MILW uses single-wire overhead!

Besides that, I'd imagine that a cat would do a lot more damage to the fancy stuff.  In my case, it survived fairly well, until I put a gate across the train room door, solving the problem. Need to leave the door open for ventilation.

[bbussey]

I will be etching my components. Brass for the towers, stainless steel for the cross wires/hangers and phosphor bronze for the transfer wires. The phosphor bronze should be gentle on the pantographs and not wear (hopefully) while the steel will add rigidity and protection. The commercially-available HO product is etched entirely out of brass. Rick Abramson has been running his electrics with the pantographs up for decades and no detriments.

[davefoxx]

I will be etching my components. Brass for the towers, stainless steel for the cross wires/hangers and phosphor bronze for the transfer wires. The phosphor bronze should be gentle on the pantographs and not wear (hopefully) while the steel will add rigidity and protection. The commercially-available HO product is etched entirely out of brass. Rick Abramson has been running his electrics with the pantographs up for decades and no detriments.

Wouldn't you rather have wear on the pantograph than the transfer wire?  If wear requires maintenance down the road, it would seem to be far easier to repair the pantograph than the catenary.  You could glue small wear strips of an appropriate metal on the pantographs.  And, don't forget that little side-to-side zig zag of the catenary, so you don't wear a groove in your pantographs.

DFF

[bbussey]

Based on the experience of HO functioning catenary modelers, I think I’ll be fine. Yes, a zig zag pattern so no grooves are worn into the pickup shoes.

[dem34]

And my experience doing it for an HO modeller who no longer can the zig zag just happens naturally as long as you aren't precisely aligning the hangers.

[peteski]

From what I noticed on the N scale pantographs , the pickup shoe is usually copper or brass (sometimes plated with some silver metal). I believe that PB wire is harder than copper or brass.  Plus with the very small pressure applied, it will take quite some time to show any wear.

[nkalanaga]

The MILW didn't intentionally zig-zag their wires.  They didn't need to, their track did it for them!  Along with the poles warping with age.  They did use graphite grease on the contact shoes.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The MILW didn't intentionally zig-zag their wires.  They didn't need to, their track did it for them!  Along with the poles warping with age.  They did use graphite grease on the contact shoes.

It always amuses me to see video of MILW electrics rocking back and forth. There's a reason those pans are as wide as they are!