10-23-2011, 09:17 AM
Never.
Ever.
Buy phosphur Bronze wire in a "loop". It does not end well. That was the mistake I made at this year's Mass Transit & Trolley Modelers Convention.
After spending a few hours untangling the most glorius metallic knot known to man, I now have a probably endless source of .020" wire. I had originally intended to use it to build Catenary Structures, though now there are a few bends and kinks that might prevent me from really using it in any useful capacit as overhead wire and Cross catenary.
I figured the phosphor bronze will do a better job than Steel wire, which has begun rusting around the insulator details on the current towers. I'm thinking I better add the catenary hangers now and just paint the steel wire and the catenary structures now to prevent corrosion.
I can also use this wire to finally make good contacts on my E44 Electrics, which have not been functioning well with the Tomar shoes. Though the addition of tomar pick up shoes did do much to increase reliability of the E44s, they got easily caught on obstructions, and since the truck is a rigid metal block, one could not rely on the truck to stay "even" on the tracks. As a result, if the truck tilted in such a way that the tomar shoes lifted off the rails, power could become lost.
by running phosphur bronze wires across the tops of the trucks, it shouldn't be difficult to create all wheel pick up. The phophor bronze is "springy" as well, so I can rely on it to maintain contact.
They will be done much like CNW1961's GP20 switcher, though I intend to run the pick-ups on the backs of the wheels, as opposed to over the top (unless there is a good reason to do it the other way).
<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4754">viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4754</a><!-- l -->
I also nabbed some NJ transit decals (for ALP46 and P40DC locomotives) and Electriclines Magazines, as well as an IMW "GSI 70 ton" truck, which is supposed to replace the Walthers trucks on the bottoms of it's commuter cars. I stil have tried to mount it yet, but we'll see how it goes.
Ever.
Buy phosphur Bronze wire in a "loop". It does not end well. That was the mistake I made at this year's Mass Transit & Trolley Modelers Convention.
After spending a few hours untangling the most glorius metallic knot known to man, I now have a probably endless source of .020" wire. I had originally intended to use it to build Catenary Structures, though now there are a few bends and kinks that might prevent me from really using it in any useful capacit as overhead wire and Cross catenary.
I figured the phosphor bronze will do a better job than Steel wire, which has begun rusting around the insulator details on the current towers. I'm thinking I better add the catenary hangers now and just paint the steel wire and the catenary structures now to prevent corrosion.
I can also use this wire to finally make good contacts on my E44 Electrics, which have not been functioning well with the Tomar shoes. Though the addition of tomar pick up shoes did do much to increase reliability of the E44s, they got easily caught on obstructions, and since the truck is a rigid metal block, one could not rely on the truck to stay "even" on the tracks. As a result, if the truck tilted in such a way that the tomar shoes lifted off the rails, power could become lost.
by running phosphur bronze wires across the tops of the trucks, it shouldn't be difficult to create all wheel pick up. The phophor bronze is "springy" as well, so I can rely on it to maintain contact.
They will be done much like CNW1961's GP20 switcher, though I intend to run the pick-ups on the backs of the wheels, as opposed to over the top (unless there is a good reason to do it the other way).
<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4754">viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4754</a><!-- l -->
I also nabbed some NJ transit decals (for ALP46 and P40DC locomotives) and Electriclines Magazines, as well as an IMW "GSI 70 ton" truck, which is supposed to replace the Walthers trucks on the bottoms of it's commuter cars. I stil have tried to mount it yet, but we'll see how it goes.
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.
![[Image: logosmall.png]](http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg445/CAB_IV/Model%20Trains%202013/logosmall.png)