Kato 23-062 Catenary poles.

[Sascha]

How do you set them the right way? There are two different types A and B. Do you go A,B,A,B,A,B or A,A,A,A,B,B,B,B or A,A,B,B,A,A,B,B?Going A on one side and B on the other seem weird. Please help.

[Welshbloke]

Are the arms slightly different lengths?

 

Real catenary masts hold the wire in a continuous gentle s-curve over the rails - it appears to move from side to side if you watch it from a moving train. They do it so the pantographs don't end up with a groove worn in one place. If the Kato masts replicate that then you should install them A-B-A-B and so on.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Welshbloke

[Sascha]

Thanks a bunch. They are different lengths.

[Sascha]

Are the arms slightly different lengths?

 

Real catenary masts hold the wire in a continuous gentle s-curve over the rails - it appears to move from side to side if you watch it from a moving train. They do it so the pantographs don't end up with a groove worn in one place. If the Kato masts replicate that then you should install them A-B-A-B and so on.

Another question. How does it come that the arms in A have different heights, as you can see in the attached Thumbnail?

[inobu]

I would guess that there is a subtle prototypical variance that is occurring that we cannot see (Because we know nothing about the dynamics).

It has me wondering to.

 

It has the mated tension poles. I'm not sure if I have the 23-062.......

 

Inobu

Edited April 16, 2016 by inobu

[inobu]

I don't have the 062's but the 057 seems to be the same thing just narrower base.

 

Looking at it, I would guess that the style A should be on the tension side of the track and style B would be on the non tension side. Taking into consideration that the high side matches the inner or outer tracks depending on how you configure it.

 

Just a guess on the comparison.

 

It seems like style A is more robust with the bracing in order to work with the tensions system.

 

Inobu

Edited April 16, 2016 by inobu

[Sascha]

Hmmm. Does this mean that each track has a different tension every 10 meter or so?

In the Picture you can see how the left side is higher.

[katoftw]

In real life, the bracket that holds the A-frame to the center pole has to be in different location.  One on top of the other.  The bracket cannot be in the same location.  So one will be 50mm higher than the other.

[kvp]

The brackets are at different heights, but the wires are at the same height, thankd to the arms on the bottom.

[Sascha]

Aha. That clears things.Thanks a bunch.

[EH500 (12)]

Sorry for highjacking this thread, but how far apart are the catenary poles in Japan in reality?

Also, how to do the wiring?

[kvp]

Varying. Curves tend to more dense while straights less so. On aerial photos of Shinbashi, Tokyo they are around 1.5 cars apart or roughly 30 meters on a very gentle curve. The HJMTC ttrak uses one for every 31 cm or 46 meters. Tomix/Kato viaduct tracks use 280-248 mm (42-38 m).

[railsquid]

Varying. Curves tend to more dense while straights less so. On aerial photos of Shinbashi, Tokyo they are around 1.5 cars apart or roughly 30 meters on a very gentle curve.

 

Ca. 1.5 cars about what I've estimated visually. As for actual wiring, I get the impression most people in Japan don't bother; it's certainly very rare to see it in layout pictures or videos.

[EH500 (12)]

Ca. 1.5 cars about what I've estimated visually. As for actual wiring, I get the impression most people in Japan don't bother; it's certainly very rare to see it in layout pictures or videos.

Do you perhaps have some of those rare pictures?

[kvp]

I've posted some on the jam2015 thread. Mostly micro layouts with rubbery strings. The main reason they are omitted is that they are not temporary layout friendly. To allow running without a catenary, japanese models have springless pantographs, that could be set to any height. These models look odd with real wires as they are clearly not touching.

 

On the other hand most european train models have spring loaded pantographs, so on a catenaryless layout, they have to be kept down to avoid sticking out of the loading gauge. With a real metal catenary, they can be raised and follow the height correctly. I only have two Z scale european electrics and both have working pantographs and allows you to switch between rail and overhead pickup.

 

For a working japanese catenary, you'll have to add wires, that would need strong metal poles and all pantographs must be swapped to spring loaded full metal ones. Japanese model makers choose instead of this finer, better looking, non operational pantographs with no wires between the finer, better looking masts. (The wires should be nearly invisible at most viewing distances anyway.)

[bill937ca]

Do you perhaps have some of those rare pictures?

 

 

Try this blog. Question is how do you clean the inner tracks or rearrange station details? What might be more practical is a small section or module duplicating a layout scene for photography.

[bill937ca]

More N gauge overhead. This appears to be a modular layout with 6 sections.  How long is the overhead? It could be as short as tunnel portal to tunnel portal.

 

 

 

 

His web site:  http://ryouyu.jp/

Edited May 13, 2016 by bill937ca

[katoftw]

One of the third party manufacturers made kit form overhead wire that were etched brass.  Someone like DDF etc.  A search on Hobby Search would probably find said product.

[bill937ca]

One of the third party manufacturers made kit form overhead wire that were etched brass.  Someone like DDF etc.  A search on Hobby Search would probably find said product.

 I think it was Katsumi.  The problem with N gauge catenary is that its either way over scale or very brittle and very expensive at 2-248mm pieces for $10. 

Edited May 13, 2016 by bill937ca