Building A Catenary System

My pleasure.  It is enjoyable to watch your system progress.

I understand your reluctance to use MTH units.  Some, perhaps several, have numerous troubles of various types.  DCS seems to be delight for some, and a dreadful bane to others.  For my part, I have had generally excellent operation from my MTH PS3 scale locomotives.  I run DCS 6 (I do not use the app or wi-fi, hence the lag in upgrading to 6.10) and have been pleased with it, minus a few quirks here and there.  For overhead catenary operation, it has been all but flawless.

I will say that the E33 pan leaves a bit to be desired after extensive operation, so it will get replaced, (hence the post about MTH parts at York that I submitted this morning).

Scrapiron Scher posted:

Thanks, Nate. The problem, as I see it, and as Dan and others have resolved, is wire tension in two planes. The tension between towers must be constant enough so that a flexible pantograph could raise and lower and keep contact. The other issue is wire strength. Scale wire, such as I am using, just does not have the strength, IMO, to resist the pantograph. Consequently, there would be too much play in the wire vertically and laterally.

The skill level comes in when adjustments have to be made that are consistent all the way across the line. When I put in my first towers, I went nuts. Raising, lowering, several times. Centering the wire properly seems like it would be a piece of cake. It's not.

 

 

Centering the wire on a layout with O31 curves proves an even bigger challenge.  What works well for my GG1s does not for my EP-5s.  It has to do with the center of the pantograph in relation to the pivot point of the motor trucks.  On the GG1 the pan center is quite a bit forward of the center of the motor truck.  Conversely, the EP-5 pan is almost centered directly over the pivot point of it's motor truck.  

So on O31 curves an extra contact wire needs to be installed.  Fortunately, in my case, the O31 curves are hidden.    

I took a couple videos of the GG1 running under live catenary.  Unfortunately my iPhone isn't synchronizing with my MAC.  This happened two weeks ago and I'm not sure what I did to correct it.   

Dan Padova posted:

I took a couple videos of the GG1 running under live catenary.  Unfortunately my iPhone isn't synchronizing with my MAC.  This happened two weeks ago and I'm not sure what I did to correct it.   

When in doubt, reboot.  Almost always works like a charm. 

I got one to work !

In the second video, you might notice an extra piece of brass contact wire.  This is for a 132 stop station to be hooked up to.  The red wires dangling from the masts are part of the station hook-up wiring.  These will be made to look or should I say not look so visible.  

Looking real good there, Sparky.

Nice Marty.  I've seen some of your work on this forum.  Outstanding !   I only wish I had the space some of you guys have.  By the way, are those Welz Metroliners ?

Dan Padova posted:

 

In the second video, you might notice an extra piece of brass contact wire.  This is for a 132 stop station to be hooked up to.  The red wires dangling from the masts are part of the station hook-up wiring.  These will be made to look or should I say not look so visible.  

VERY SMOOTH on the videos!!! It appears you have nailed the height issue!

Thank you GEOPEG

Looks great Dan.

Bob

Dan:

Collapsed pans are prototypical...

In the vicinity of Suburban Station (Philly) I believe.

Philly Airport.