putting up catanary over 4 bridges:
as per picture from big daddy, unless you have pylons, you most probably can't secure the wires to your bridges.
you have a few options:
a.) use extended Märklin wires (the ones you can slide into each other.
b.) use a cross span wire and secure it into the bridge structure and connect the wire(s) to it.

John

Hello,

I’m in the final design phase of my permanent layout and am about to start construction. It’s a modular three level system. Modular so it can grow easily and move between rooms. The top level at ~1 meter will be K-track. While in theory hidden, the two lower levels (~1/3 and ~2/3 meters) are designed for viewing and more importantly easy modification to the track layouts. Both will be C track. The bottom level is digital only. The middle level is analog only. The top level is switchable between digital and analog. All three levels are interconnected by helixes.

My final design decision is what to do about centenary. While I consider it mandatory on the top level where I will have scenery, I cannot think of any good reason to have it on the lower hidden levels or the helixes. So I’m extremely interested in people’s experiences with only using centenary on viewable areas.

How do you transition safely from areas with cantenary to sections with no cantenary? I assume there must be some form of transition wire that gently extends or compresses an engine’s pantographs. How long should this be? How shallow an angle is required for this transition?

Thank you in advance for your advice and help.

If i shall use german electric locomotivs i use Sommerfeldt catenary.
With swedish models i prefer Entec catenary...but Entec is queit sensitive catenary models...exactly scale 1:87...!!!

Hi everyone;

I have a question??

Do all those who use catenary stagger it slightly along straight stretches as this should aid in keeping the panto clean.
They do it on prototype railways

Can we add: "Catenary masts but no wires, I run with pantos up"

Hello everyone;

Thanks to those who replied

As a kid I always wondered why they did that on prototypes until my dad told me why and then it made sense.

And when they started to run very high speed trains they found the single arm pantos melted and went back to using double arm.

Hello,
Bought some masts and wire. Reading and learning. Planning a mixed layout, as my old analog layout was all diesel and steam. Always wanted a krokodile, so I have to set up for el ops on some lines/loops. Planning on running my electric locomotives with rail feed and pantographs up.

ulf

I had forgotten about this article Tom,
Now finally reading it, and so thankful for the head's up.
I recommend this link to anyone else who likes, or is installing, catenary....



And while you are at it, this is worth seeing too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_railway

- Mark

you've made some valid points and have raised some important unanswered questions.

Maintenance on an overhead system is more or less not existing compared with middle contacts from the track,.
It would be advisable to add the catenary before the scenery but it depends which part of the scenery. for instance tunnels or you build a hill or mountain, after you've covered the mountain it will be very hard to build or construct an overhead system under it.
station platforms should be erected before hand, scenery next to the line should or could be done before hand, its up to you which way you prefer before or after so long it doesn't interfere with the construction either way = scenery = catenary.

on straight lines I use masts every 500 mm and a good overhead system should have tension to avoid any movement of the wire sideways.

Sommerfeldt has a few gadgets to determine where the mast or wire and wire supports should be placed and soldered and these limits are crucial to erect a solid overhead system.

SBB locos use a narrow wiper and some of the Austrian locos as well, I would recommend use your loco with a narrow wiper to see if the wiper is within the limits.

plastic masts can not take any tension necessary and the construction of an overhead system should be as close as the prototype.
if you have signal modules with acceleration and braking sections all wires have to be isolated from the adjoining wire including traversing masts.
if you use switching track leave the slider under the locomotive to be able to activate other routes or solenoids.

signal modules with braking and acceleration sections:

you have to isolate the braking and acceleration mode section and this depends if you use 1 or 2 pantographs (usually it is one) and also separate the wire at the other end (isolate it)

if you use a double or triple consist I would suggest to use electrical couplings, remove the slider from the locos behind the first loco and set the power connection to track. this way you have the first loco getting power from the overhead, activating the switching track with the wiper and the remaining locos are powered as slaves through the ekelectrical coupling (1 wire = red).

Having a loco at the end of a freight train is more difficult or more expensive. how do you get power to the end loco without interfering with

a.) late activation of the acceleration and braking mode section. I can be done again by a single contact electrical coupling.

passenger trains with a trailing loco are easier to achieve as all my passenger carriages have a 4 pin electrical coupling and therefore a red wire can go through the whole train and be connected to the end loco(s).

for some this set up could be to difficult or the locos are available aren't enough to a.) change them over to be able to run as a consist.

My indication is merely it can be done but at an other cost being added (electrical couplings)

regards.,

John