Tracks through the station area are now ballasted and catenary posts installed, but am awaiting supply of brass rod to extend the cross arms over the third track.
Thanks. Looking forward to having the basics done so I can get around to weathering that very clean track! Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SII using Tapatalk 2
Whilst the turntable and locomotive depot tracks are being wired, some locomotives are parked near the station
I have always found your catenary interesting since it is Italian FS style catenary. The link is useful BTW, thanks. -I've never done any work in brass rod, how hot is the iron you use? -Are those commercial fittings for the insulator? (oops, just saw they were sommerfeldt as I suspected.) -Your catenary wires look really good. Are they a scale distance in length or did you come up with your own "scaled" distance for them? Any chance you can post up a scale image for the design on those? -Have you had trouble with pantographs getting worn snagging? I have some old Rivarossi poles from the 70's. I still ponder whether to get more Rivarossi poles off of that auction place or go with hand made. Yours look very nice.
As you can see on my website, I used a small blowtorch to solder the main posts. For the details I use a 40W iron. The length of each individual span is about 300mm, but on curves this has to be rather less, so the centreline of the wire does not stray too far from centre of the pantograph. I just hold a straight piece of brass on the track and see where the next post needs to be. Actually, with having tightish curves, the likelyhood of a pantograph de-wiring is much increased, so I cheat and use small spacers on the pantograph linkage to only allow the pantograph to raise to a set height (using a simple styrene gauge which sits astride the locomotive). The catenary is set at very slightly above this height, but if done accurately is not noticable. This completely removes the danger of snagging. Catenary masts are fairly easy to make, particularly if simple jigs are used, and certainly cheaper than purchasing them (particularly Sommerfeldt)! The insulators and other fittings are relatively cheap though.
The MÁV M62 series [ nickname: Sergej ] Built (1964-1980): by Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Factory (former Red Star Tractor Factory), USSR ( now: Lugansk, Ukraine ) ..270+18 broad-gauge(1524mm) to Hungarian State Railways (now 78+8 in service ) ..1114 to Poland ..?? to Ukraine ..735 to Russia ..320(?) to East-Germany ..599 to former Czechoslovakia ..21 to Cuba ..49 to North Korea Diesel-electric locomotive for freight trains. Engine: Kolomna 14D40, V12. Power: 1472kWatts, 2000HP Axle Formula: Co-Co. Max speed: 100km/h (62mph) The short answer is yes!
First test running of electric locomotive following installation of first sections of catenary wires.
Are you building your own catenary? If so, I would be interested in seeing a photo or two of any jigs you built for soldering.
The masts are simply made as can be seen on the web page, and the jigs for making the overhead wire sections is also shown. The positions of the contact wire and messenger wire and droppers is drawn on a hard surface, like MDF, the wires fixed to the drawn lines with masking tape for soldering. Then easily removed and more wires added for next section. http://www.andersley.co.uk/NEWcatenary.html For the tracks at the rear of the layout, which will not be so visible I am re-using catenary wires from the old layout, but think I will custom make the foreground ones in new wire to fit the post spacing exactly.
The weather cooled down enough for me to get into the shed/workshop and start making some more trees, using Woodland Scenics armatures and foliage net. Also experimented with Poly fibre and various scatter materials. I am enjoying making the trees, so will probably end up with a typical Slovenian forest! Then turned my attention to completing more catenary masts for the three tracks in the station area. I am modifying ones from the previous layout so don't have to start from scratch. When I have these installed I will make a jig and solder up the catenary wires, then I will at last be able to bring out all my electric locomotives!
Some trees made using either WS poly fibre or foliage netting. Some tweeking needed, mainly adding more 'leaves' to selected areas on polyfibre ones. But overall I am quite happy with my initial efforts. More practice will improve the end results no doubt!
Took a few shots of the layout with my phone to give an idea of progress. Catenary masts not yet fitted and bolted down. This will be done next to set them at correct height before wires are added. The goods depot has been moved to make space for a new metal fabrication factory.
