Upgrading pantographs?

[Sheffie]

I am expecting delivery of a Kato EF510-500 locomotive which should have a single arm pantograph made, I think, out of plastic. I very much prefer the look of the double arm pantographs. Even if I'm not upgrading from plastic to metal, I would still be far happier with that style.

 

But I'm confused by what's out there. Kato offers at the very least two items (11-401 and 11-420), and that's just from a cursory search. I don't see information on the listings that says which locomotives these parts might fit.

 

Does anyone have experience with this?

[railsquid]

Unlikely, as the EF510 is a fairly new design and has only ever had single-arm pantographs.

 

Many parts are common to a range of models aInformation about which part fits which loco will be included on the loco's parts sheet.

 

FWIW the two you have listed are for DC locos.

[Kamome]

11-401 is the PS14 pantograph used on older JNR locos such as the EF57 and EF58.

 

11-420 is the PS16B type used on EF65-500 as well as a number of EMUs such as 157系 and 211系.

 

As Kato produce a vast array of locos they tend to produce a limited run of model specific parts.

 

Essentially you could change the pantograph if you wanted  but the peg on pantograph and hole on loco configuration may be different so they’d need to be glued. Most of the newer locos use the single arm pantographs so perhaps a change of loco would be better. If you wanted to keep it modern freight , look at the EF210 which came with both types. If you really dislike the look of the EF510 it would be better to try and sell it without an “artistic” pantograph added.

[Sheffie]

Thanks for the information, folks. 

 

I think I’m going to stick with the EF510 and the single arm for now, though I might yet change it to a double in future. 

 

I wasn’t aware that single arm pantographs were more modern. I suppose I hadn’t really given it any thought. But that makes me more happy with the single. 

 

I was considering the EF210 for a while, and I do like the look of both. But I can’t see myself trading just for something so minor, and I prefer the 510 overall 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Sheffie

[railsquid]

Welcome to a world of arcane detail 😉

 

AFAIK the EH500s only have cross-arm pantographs.

 

Just for the record - and this is something I was unaware of until relatively recently - when running on DC, locos will have both pantographs raised, on AC only the rearmost one.

 

And just to confuse things 😉

 

MicroAce 115-300 series (dual pantograph car) by Rail Squid, on Flickr