Looking for source(s) for Electric Company Transformers (video added 9-24-2011)

WWW.walthers.com sells many HO items that will work for O gauge. For example #3126 HO Electrical Transformer, #3121 HO Electrical Transmition Towers, #3520 HO Old Time Coal Convayers, overhead crane kits, and other items. They also have a HO Interior kit for the HO version of a power plant. Check them out for ideas. Lionel has transformers from their flatcar load as does MTH and K-Line. Generators are available from several vendors, or you can use the plastic "formed shrink wrap" from the new energy efficient light bulbs...just spray paint them. MTH makes power transmission towers.

There was another thread on the Korber model and what others have done to add an interior. There was also a thread about building your own transformers.

Hope this helps, Paul Goodness

This thread has been appearing for the last couple of years asking these very same questions. the Nazareth Area Society of Model Engineers used an IHC HO Scale UP coaling tower as the Boiler interior for thier korber plant. very ingenious!

http://nasme.tripod.com/photo-nov-06.html


also there has been someone providing a link to the English/British co that does 1/32 Characatures/sci-fi scenes that have some great controls/details for a power plant control room!

Thanks for the info, Paul. I had built an HO Scale transformer from the Cornerstone product line and used it for my turntable project.

PRR, that is an awesome kit they put together. Thanks for sharing.

I visited my LHS and cleaned him out of the K-line transformers and painted them a silver primer.





Cesar

/Users/richardseaney/Desktop/0816071237.jpg
These were made from scraps on the work bench Thread spools, wooden buttons, craft beads, covers from MTH turn out controls, lights wire , plastruct,
the wires carry power to the lights there is several lights in the equipment boxes and on the structure.
by the way this is my first attempt at sending pictures I hope that I did it ok

/Users/richardseaney/Desktop/0816071237.jpg
maybe this will work

Well it didn't work I'll try again later

quote:

Well it didn't work I'll try again later

You need to move the photo to an internet host. Your posted link shows that the photo is on your hard drive and that just won't work for this.

Fred

/Users/richardseaney/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2007/my_pix/0807070907.jpg

C'mon, Cesar, You can easily make some, using pill containers, styrene and the threaded ends of drywall screws. Also some of the detail sources have metal castings. You're a good, creative modeler so let's see your stuff.
Dave G.

Cesar,

The insulators should be brown or battleship gray (Gloss) leave the tip silver to simulate metal

Lookin Good

David

quote:

C'mon, Cesar, You can easily make some, using pill containers, styrene and the threaded ends of drywall screws.

Dave, I actually have all these item and some but not sure how it all comes together i.e. where cables\wire go from and to. Kind of how a substation is configured. Tried doing some searches but cannot find what I'm really looking for. Thanks for the comments.

quote:

The insulators should be brown or battleship gray (Gloss) leave the tip silver to simulate metal

Thanks for the info, David. These are the things that I am not aware of as far as detailing.

Any prototype photos would be helpful as well.

Cesar

quote:

Originally posted by FatBoy:

quote:

C'mon, Cesar, You can easily make some, using pill containers, styrene and the threaded ends of drywall screws.

Dave, I actually have all these item and some but not sure how it all comes together i.e. where cables\wire go from and to. Kind of how a substation is configured. Tried doing some searches but cannot find what I'm really looking for. Thanks for the comments.

quote:

The insulators should be brown or battleship gray (Gloss) leave the tip silver to simulate metal

Thanks for the info, David. These are the things that I am not aware of as far as detailing.

Any prototype photos would be helpful as well.

Cesar

Just google power substations i'm sure you'll get plenty of pics .If you going with modern era stuff they're gray and 1950's and before brown

David

quote:

Just google power substations i'm sure you'll get plenty of pics .If you going with modern era stuff they're gray and 1950's and before brown

David, I have tried before what you suggested and most of the images posted are too small to view or do not show an overall picture of the facility.

http://www.inmagine.com/search...ical_substation.html I found this site, for example, to show that most sites offer these small jpg's and its hard to get the complete picture.

Thanks for your assistance.

Cesar

Cesar,

That first pic in the first row is a good example of the insulators

The steel frame work is a Buss.This allows them to branch off different lines in various directions .the buss work also has disconnects so they can turn off a particular circuit without interruption to the others.In other words one transformer would feed 3 or 4 -3 phase circuits a 3 phase circuit is Cross arm on top 3 wires on top one wire below those.

David

quote:

Cesar,

That first pic in the first row is a good example of the insulators

The steel frame work is a Buss.This allows them to branch off different lines in various directions .the buss work also has disconnects so they can turn off a particular circuit without interruption to the others.In other words one transformer would feed 3 or 4 -3 phase circuits a 3 phase circuit is Cross arm on top 3 wires on top one wire below those.

Thanks for the info, David.

Here is some progress on the Power Plant. Supports for transformers were made with plasticstruct 3/8" styrene I-Beams for the cross supports and 1/4" basswood for the legs.








The smokestack and boilers were made by Harry Hieke Jr.



Cesar

Okay,

If you want it to look real.paint the transformer insulators brown.If you'll notice you have 2 different size insulators on each transformer and to make it so I don't have to type that word every time we're going to call it a XFMR

You have 3 wires going in the XFMR and 4 coming out .The 3 taller Bushings or insulators are off the buss work and the 3 smaller are for the wires going out to the poles with one of the 4 being a ground(Simulate a ground rod driven in the earth.

XFMR's are very heavy(We're talking about in Tons) It's not uncommon for a substation XFMR to weigh 30 or 40 tons so I think you should close in your rack and try to make it look more like concrete since in total weight you'd have several hundred thousand pounds there although you got them raised and that's the way they are in the real world for flooding and to keep them out of arms reach

David

quote:

You have 3 wires going in the XFMR and 4 coming out .The 3 taller Bushings or insulators are off the buss work and the 3 smaller are for the wires going out to the poles with one of the 4 being a ground(Simulate a ground rod driven in the earth.

Great info, thanks! Here is a question: How are the lines run from the actual plant to the XFMR's? Underground or above ground, coming off the building.

quote:

XFMR's are very heavy(We're talking about in Tons) It's not uncommon for a substation XFMR to weigh 30 or 40 tons so I think you should close in your rack and try to make it look more like concrete since in total weight you'd have several hundred thousand pounds there although you got them raised and that's the way they are in the real world for flooding and to keep them out of arms reach

Wow, the weight factor never crossed my mind. I just assumed from the pictures I've seen on the net that they were suspended on I-Beams. Can I get away with using cinder block? I have a load of plasticstruct sheets of cinder block. Is that prototypical? Thanks!

Cesar

cinder block will be fine prob won't show that much any way .Substation feeders from the P plant to the XFMR are usually underground with an insulator at the top of the cable called a"Pot Head"(yea I know) The Pot Head is designed to keep water out.

David

http://token3rail.blogspot.com...tric-substation.html

quote:

Originally posted by VaGolfer1950:
http://token3rail.blogspot.com...tric-substation.html

The pics are close but no We"o"

The buss would have disconnects for the "high" and "low" side of the XFMR.Those little XFMR's would not be there.Instead a taller and smaller diameter thing would be there with 2 insulators sticking out of the top as most high voltage equipment is done that way.You don't want your men walking into a hot bushing

The smaller diameter cylinders are OCR's or Oil Circuit Reclosers a form of breaker they operate automatically and are designed to give the line 3 shots to clear a fault after the third operation if it can't surge the line to clear the fault it "Locks Out". All Substation breakers are mounted externally

Cesar your XFMR's are as close as you can get in the toy world.

David

quote:

Originally posted by DPC:

close but no We"o"

I've GOT to be the only one on the list who understands the above reference.

quote:

Originally posted by Avanti:

quote:

Originally posted by DPC:

close but no We"o"

I've GOT to be the only one on the list who understands the above reference.

Ah,

You must be an old fart like me

David

quote:

http://token3rail.blogspot.com...tric-substation.html

Paul, thanks for the link. Thats a beautiful model. I'm gonna try some of those techniques.

Cesar

Hey Fatboy. Decided to chime in here a little late. I am a structural draftsman by trade and have been drawing power plants for over 35 years.

All the transformers that I have seen at real power plants are supported on concrete pedestals (foundations). I have drawn dozens of these types of foundations. David is correct, the transformers weigh a lot of kips (1/2 ton). They would not be supported on a steel frame. There would be dynamic issues (vibrations) and the possibility of the steel beams failing in the event of a fire. The transformers also contain 100's of gallons of oil. There would be a containment dike (pit) around the transformers to contain the oil in the event of a leak.

The pit or dike would either be filled with stone as a walk surface or have access platforms built over to the transformers.

Finally, there would be a firewall between the transformers and the turbine building. The firewall would be either cast-in-place concrete or concrete block.

I am fairly sure the electrical current travels from the Turbine Building to the transformers thru bus bars, not wires. These copper bars would pass thru the firewall.

Just me two cents, not trying to criticize. Your power plant is pretty cool.

I'll take my camera to work and get some good photos with detail for you to work with. I'll try to have them posted tomorrow after I get home.

quote:

I'll take my camera to work and get some good photos with detail for you to work with. I'll try to have them posted tomorrow after I get home.

Chip, that sounds great, photos are definetly appreciated.

3rail, thanks for the information. Between yours and all others input, I'm beginning to create a mental picture of how this will look

Cesar

Here are the photos, hope they help.
Switchyard overview

Cesar,

I drew this for you.I know theres a lot of confusion

You have a XFMR an OCB and a minimum of 3 OCR's per XFMR

The Breaker and the OCR's sit on separate racks made of steel so the tops of each are about 8 to 10 feet off the ground

The breaker is rectagular and they usually measure about 6Wx3Dx4H

OCR's look like a XFMR that mounted on a pole but don't have secondary bushings

They're shaped like a cylinder about a foot and a half in diameter and about 3 feet high with the bushinngs(Insulators on top)

Each OCR feeds one phase.A circuit going thru your neighborhood has 3 phases(The cross arm has 3 wires on top and one 4 feet below those which is a ground

Hope this helps

David

Chip,

Thanks for taking the time in providing those pictures, they are very helpful. I have a much better idea of how it will be layed out.

David,

Thanks for the sketch, it's all starting to make sense now. The only question I have is: Does each OCR support 1 buss coming off the OCB? I see you have it illustrated that there are 3 OCR's coming off the OCB. Just wanted to confirm.

Thanks for everyones input, gonna start on this project today. Pictures to follow....

Cesar

quote:

Originally posted by FatBoy:
Chip,

Thanks for taking the time in providing those pictures, they are very helpful. I have a much better idea of how it will be layed out.

David,

Thanks for the sketch, it's all starting to make sense now. The only question I have is: Does each OCR support 1 buss coming off the OCB? I see you have it illustrated that there are 3 OCR's coming off the OCB. Just wanted to confirm.

Thanks for everyones input, gonna start on this project today. Pictures to follow....

Cesar

Cesar,

You have the breaker and each OCR goes to one wire or phase.The buss is just a short set of 3 wires from the breaker.The buss as you can see in my drawing can feed multiple sets of OCR's(Always in 3's).In the real world one Station XFMR may feed several circuits and if a wire went down you wouldn't want the whole thing to be out

So if a wire does go down the OCR opens up but the breaker is still hot and the other circuit still has power .In other words the OCR's protect the breaker and the breaker protects the XFMR .You always have to think in 3's but each one is "A" hot wire they can't be tied together ,they would explode

So one hot wire per OCR

I'll try to draw some station diagrams showing how it all comes together if you think it'll help as I don't know weather that other drawing did you much good?

The Buss is actually aluminum pipe bolted to insulators under slung under the steel frame work .Remember 3 pipes make the buss.

Let me know if you want the diagrams

David

Thanks David for all your efforts and information.

I began my project today and this is what i have so far.

I made a cinder block base for the transformers.(not painted yet)



Made the cage using 5/16" Styrene I-Beams



Overhead view of the proposed layout.



Cesar

quote:

Originally posted by FatBoy:
Thanks David for all your efforts and information.

I began my project today and this is what i have so far.

I made a cinder block base for the transformers.(not painted yet)





Cesar

Well base on that photo you have to many XFMR's and 3 of them need fliped around as they're facing the wrong way.

You need 2 cross beams in between what you have there now to mount the buss to.

If I was doing it I would have 2 XFMR's in the frame work one on the right and one on the left the 3 bushings on top of the XFMR facing the power plant and the 4 facing towards the line.I would start my 3 buss wires(I would use brass rod)at the first cross piece NOT over top of the 3 bushings and carry it to the other end .

I would make the buss in 2 different sections with a short section from the XFMR to the breaker and the longer section from the breaker out to the end of the steel now you see the need for the cross pieces and why you have to many XFMR's .4 of them are in the way

You'll need steel racks out in front for the OCB and then off to the side for the OCR's

David

Take a look at this kinda hard to read but some good INFO here


https://appalachianpower.com/g...2_OF_2a_Exhibits.pdf

Updated links on page 2

David & SIRT,

Thanks for the additional information, PDF's and photos.

I'm gonna give it a go at full speed, will post some pics soon. SIRT, I'm gonna have to steal some ideas from your sub station, great work!

Cesar

Munoz Lines

Scrapiron Scher,

That is a really nice substation, thanks for sharing.

Here is some progress of my project.

Insulator manufacturing.



Overview of structure with insultors





Cesar

Lookin good


David

Thanks David.

Here is a quick video explaining how I got up to this point on my project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_-Pe_e8IC0

Please, any feedback is appreciated. Still have a long way to complete. Thanks

Cesar