GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, i aquired more junk, and made some modifications.

I have 12 TankTrain cars painted in Quakerstate green and yellow. these cars did travel up into Pennsylvania and New york, so the prototype is there.

I also completed a Stemman style pantograph. these double armed pantographs can be found on Arrow I and III commuter cars, as well as some Metroliners. they were less harsh on the wire than the Faively type (the kind you would find on Silverliners, E44s, and E60s).

The hardest part was getting the equalizer bar working, but last night i had an epiphany, and now its just fine. The stabilizer bar is necessary on "pentagon/diamond" pantographs (like the GG1, E33, etc.) because other wise, the pantograph will drag one way or the other very easily, and will not fold correctly. Essentially, the stabilizer bar helps the pantograph keep it's shape.



What i did, was mount 1/32 wire brackets to the arms, and then slip on a piece of brass strip with a short section of tube soldered onto it. i then slipped another section of tube on the other arm, and held the pantograph in proper position, then soldered the other end of the strip to this tube, cutting off the extra. That way, i didn't have to do any crazy measurements or precise parts, since "eye ball engineering" seems to yield good results. It only took me a few moments of adjustments to get it lined up properly.



I also rebuilt the pantographs found on Atlas's AEM7 Electric locomotives. These models feature the "original" pantograph style for these engines, but they have long since been replaced with single arm "Brecknell-Willis" pantographs. The bachmann acela pantograph is a good match, but it doesn't fit on the roof of the AEM7 without looking out of place.

The solution turned out to be simple. The original pantograph is held together by screws. Unscrewing the side screw (visible in the picture below), opens up the frame and allows me to remove the upper arm easily (just need to unhook it from its stabilizer bar). This way, the old pantograph remains intact.

At the same time, the bachmann pantograph is made out of stamped brass sheet, and the very base of it is flat. This allows me to attach a 1/32nd wire across the bottom, which fits perfectly into the atlas pivots. because the pantograph i used was a broken one, i had to make a new attachment on the top for the stabilizer bar, but otherwise it fits right in perfectly. The only other major modification is that you'd have to change the "Spring arms" on the base to match the atlas springs attached to the base. this pretty much requires you to either file down or cut the old appendages off, and replace them with a more appropriate hooked piece of wire.