How to Electrify a railroad

[Green_Elite_Cab]

To be honest, the stuff I've got is incomplete and ugly. No way around it.

that said, I've finally got the parts i need to build some realistic catenary. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to build a jig, but once that is out of the way, I'm going to attempt to put up a nicer system. I have several feet (in three foot lengths) of H-column of various prototypical sizes.

Hopefully, i'll be able to just take my time. I rushed myself with that contest, so now i think i should try building something better to complete my layout.

Here is a brain dumping of my generic knowledge of how a PRR catenary pole set goes together. I thought about making diagrams of the basic kinds, but in reality, there are SO many different styles of catenary. Some areas used H-column, some use circular metal poles, other lattice structures, and out west there was even some wooden PRR catenary poles. They all have different kinds of arms and things attached to them, and different hangar versions.

For simplicity, for now i have posted a diagram i have made of a generic catenary pole with cross wire, and a K-braced one. The poles, no matter how they vary, rougly follow the same patterns.

Feel free to ask questions if i missed something.

[Ralph]

Wow! I'm impressed! I admire your desire to create realistic catenary. Best wishes! Take it slow as you've said. The results will be worth the time, I'm sure!

Ralph

[BR60103]

Are there really transmission lines on both sides of the track? Is it all power for the trains or does it do something else as well?

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Wow! I'm impressed! I admire your desire to create realistic catenary. Best wishes! Take it slow as you've said. The results will be worth the time, I'm sure!

Ralph

Yeah, it turns out the only real way to get this stuff is to order direct. That said, Special Shapes Company was VERY fast in shipping, so i'm starting to wish i went with them earlier!

I can't say i didn't get good experience with the cheap and easy way to do it, but realistic is better than stand-in

Are there really transmission lines on both sides of the track?

It depends on the location. the Majority of the time, there is at least one pair of transmission lines on each catenary pole (or side of the track), and on the Northeast Corridor its much like diagrammed above, with two pairs per pole. That said, they come in all sorts of configurations, and there is no standard way of doing it. Sometimes, an arm is offset towards the middle of the structure and carries two wires within the poles (usually done on curves with what i suppose are tight clearances).

I have seen areas where only one pole carries the transmission lines (the other is short, if there at all), but this seems to be dependent upon traffic density, numbers of tracks, and the line's relative "importance". For example, many small branches don't even HAVE a transmission lines in many places. However, a good rule of thumb on a heavily used route seems to be a pair of transmission lines per track.

there are a couple exceptions. the NEC near the old "Manhattan Transfer" (Harrison station) does not appear to have any transmission poles over it, and some PRR photos around Merion, PA on the "Main line" appear to be just short wood poles with nothing else on them other than signal lines and some wire cross spans holding the catenary up.

Is it all power for the trains or does it do something else as well?

The majority of these lines do in fact 132,000 volt AC meant for the trains. It is occasionally stepped down at substations to the usable 11,000 volt AC power used by the electric equipment. At the same time however, I've seen what look like regular power lines also strung up on the right of way. The area of the Northeast Corridor around New Brunswick, NJ, definitely appears to have several wires added atop the catenary structures (note the silver appearance over the old PRR brown) that I'm fairly certain are regular power lines not tied into the trains.

It really depends on where you are modeling, and if you are interested in a particular area, i could probably find out the answer.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Updating this thread, i tore out the stuff i built for the contest, and i think i've come up with a better way to make the jig i was planning, so i hope I'll have that together soon. I have 4 packs of the tichy insulators, which means i have 96 "4" petticoat insulators.

In truth, i am happy they come in 4s. Many will notice that PRR insulators are only three petticoats, but if you look closer, the pull off wires on turnouts actually have 4. I suppose its easier to clip off than to add on!

I also received a load of books and photographs of several catenary structures around Metuchen, so i've got additional info to work with.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, i started building a new jig today. In the past, i just had some brads lined up that only lined up some corners. , but i tried to improve upon that. now i'm using track nails, but these are aligned so that they will hold various sizes of the brass H-column stock. the one length of nails will hold the H-5 (the vertical columns of the PRR catenary tower), and others oriented at right angles will hold either the H-3 or the H-4 crossbeam sizes (H-5 crossbeams match up, so i don't think i'll need to make a separat jig for that.).

the only two things i need to work on is determing my sag brace requirements, so i can make an additional jig section for them. the sag brace might be a different angles depending on the width of the structure (which will vary between 2-4 tracks). I have yet to determine what these actually are. I would say that the distance on the vertical pole from the sag brace to the crossbeam is the same, but i might be wrong, and i don't feel good eye-balling it. I'll have to study more photos.

I will also need to come up with shims to prop the pieces up so they are centered on the Vertical H Columns. I found a good one for the H-3(3/32), but i need to get some that will hold the sag brace (1/16") and the H-4 (1/8") centered with the H-5 (5/32"), as well as the small verticle "T" sections (3/64") that connect the sag brace to the horizontal crosspan halfway from the center. These i think will be about the same size, and I'll probably make just one "sag brace" jig that has staggered track nails with the same shim, allowing me to do all the sag braces in one spot.

Here is a Photo of the jig.



This plastic sheet seesm to be thick enough to hold the H-3 even with the H-5 center.





I also took a page from Bill Kachel in my Wire jig. He sues a far simpler route than Andy rubbo's suggested method of making catneary wire (which requires you to know the distances between poles and build the messenger wire with teh rest of it). It is essentially a scrap board laeft over from my layout's benchwork (never waste anything!) with straigh pins aligned so that it holds two wirs at a unifrom distance. One only needs to go down the line and solder between the two. later on, you can file this down (or you can use small bits of wire to ensure the solder stays uniform).

You can actually see Bill kachel's layout over at this thread- <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2110">viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2110</a><!-- l -->

Bill Kachel also released an article online in PDF form on how he built his catneary, but it is a bit dated, and doesn't necessarily give you a protoypical system, and many of the suggested wire connections are not entirely correct. Also, some construction techniques are in my opinion, easiuer done on the work bench than in the air. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://kc.pennsyrr.com/model/downloads/catenary.pdf">http://kc.pennsyrr.com/model/downloads/catenary.pdf</a><!-- m -->

Here is my jig, which is essential the same one as detailed in the PDF above.



You can see that it has already been scorched from use. I might add additional pins to do the curvesd messenger wire, but i am not entirely confident in my catenary span placement just yet, so i want to figure that out before i commit to any jig. for now, the trolley and auxiliary wires will be fine, as the messenger can be added later.



One of the issues of building catenary is space requirements. While some people mays say, "its your railroad, run whatever space you want!", I find that there is often a legitmate reason for different distance requirements. One is the distance between the center line of the track and the catenary pole. that should be between 12 to 15 feet. While i have seen exceptions (tracks at the strasburg railroad appear to cut it close to the catenary poles), this seems to clsoe.



as a result, i've actually removed the track with the Pan AM boxcar, i've deemed it unecsessary. It would have been possible for me to build a single pole catenary structure (in fact, i did in the mockups) that spanned the two tracks, such a structure would break the uniformity of the catenary, and it might have a tendancy to "swivel", which is not good for keeping the tension going. (note i painted one of my E44s conrail blue. gotta add decals sometime this week).



thats it for now, hopefully i can get back and update this thread with some real progress.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, i've begun work on my more realistic, super-detailed catenary. THIS is what i wanted to do for that contest, but could not.

I basically only have one pole mostly done, as it is TEDIOUS adding some of the details, mainly the grab iron ladders. The transmission arms are on, as are the insulators. All this pole will need is possibly a signal line, and it will need various braces, but these parts can wait until the overall Catenary structure is built to be installed. On Friday, i hope to begin a few more poles, so that i can roughly complete about three or four catenary bridges.


I basically started with a three foot piece of 5/32 brass H-column stock, and a pair of scale 13 foot long brass "A1" angles (smallest angles you can get from special shapes, i think). I went ahead and marked their location on the pole, which is a little lower in the case of the catenary along Perth Amboy, NJ, which is where i draw my inspiration from. As such, i am only adding one set of arms per pole, rather than two like on the Northeast Corridor. After carefully lining them up, i soldered the two angles back -to- back on the pole, and then pulled the tips together and soldered them as well.



I then used a dremel drill press and a small high-speed cutter to make little dimples in the side of the pole for the support wires that hold each arm up. I soldered a length of wire into the dimple, and used flush cutters to cut the wire just as it reaches the tip of the transmission arms. I then soldered this loose end of the wires to the tips. I then put the pole into a grabber-stand (not sure what they are really called, roll with it! ), and put a VERY small right angle bend at the end of the wire. I then soldered this more or less in between the angle pieces. These wires are the transmission line hangers, and they will hold the insulators later. I cut each of these hangers a little longer than needed, so that when i installed the insulators later, i could be sure to have enough to make a hook on the bottom for the transmission lines themselves. I then cut off the excess.




Next, i began the most tedious part of pole construction i have encountered so far. Each pole, as i mention above, has a grab iron ladder. These ladders start just above the horizontal cross-brace (which is about 30 feet above the rails), and continue up to just below the highest transmission arm, if such a thing is present. These grab irons need to be cut and shaped to fit. I have no special jig to do this, so i literally sat here all day bending, cutting, and installing them. The one i built is also taller than normal to reach over the Highway bridges on my layout, so it took ALL DAY to cut, form, and CA the grabs in. It isn't hard, but it does take time.

When i finished this, I installed 11-disk insulators onto the transmission hangars. these are cut from the Tichy PRR Catenary Insulator parts. You will need to cut one petticoat (disk) from one of the castings (they are made of 4 petticoats each). Save this single petticoat, since it can be used for the signal power lines and other details later. Once i slid these on (they are pre-cored), i just bent a little right angle in the bottom, partly to keep the insulators from sliding off, and also so eventually a transmission line could be hung.



Finally, i made final measurements for the pole length. I started from the top, and made sure my pole was high enough for the transmission lines to reach the height requirement, while also reaching an inch under my bench work where they will be anchored in.



This project is going to take me a while. I'll update the thread when things get finished, or if I'm constructing something new, but there will likely be a long time of a lot of the same work being done before wires can be hung.

[tetters]

Awesome. Really looking forward to how this progresses.

[nkp_174]

[sgtcarl1]

Great outcome!! You are an awesome modeler, with exceptional skills and patience!!

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I've completed 3 more poles, except for the grab-iron ladders. a member of my club says he has a tool that can make these for me very quickly. I figured out a more accurate method of making them, but it still takes time.

anyway, with these 4 poles i can begin to make two catenary bridges. I'll probably build the next 4 poles when i get a chance to get to a local hobby shop for a "H4" h-column, which i figure I'd need more of. Now that I think about it, i could build another bridge, but I'll start that tomorrow.

[Ralph]

Ohmigosh! That is so impressive! Great meticulous work!
Ralph

[Gary S]

I haven't been watching this thread, but THIS is some serious dedication to the hobby. Terrific!

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Here are some additional construction photos

I built a few more poles, and I'll probably have a couple bridges done sometime in the coming weeks.



Using a high speed ball-shaped cutter and a dremel press, i can make small dimples in the metal that keep the wires in one place. it also fills in with the excess solder, so that it doesn't protrude on the surface as much.



I still prefer a razor saw and a miter box for cutting the poles though. I feel this cuts more straightly, and besides, i don't have any power tool that could cut these three-foot pieced of h-column stock easily.

[Howie1632]

Very nice work,looks like you have done your Homework.I also like the rungs,the poles on the main line have the rungs about 18"apart.It makes it a Bugger to climb.Can't wait to see the finished product.Keep up the Great work. Harold Cole