Hornby Catenary - Advice Sought

[Amelia Grove]

G'Day from Australia,

I have been given some Hornby Catenary components and want to install them on my 7' by 4' layout. I have some questions about the system as unfortunatley there was no instruction sheets with the items I was given.

Does anyone know where I can acquire more mast links?

Also is there a substitute for the Hornby wire supplied as the contact wire - I was thinking of using 1.25mm copper wire but I am not certain if this is a good idea - the cantenary is to be unenergized but I want the pans to follow the wire.

Also what is the recommended spacing between the OHLE posts - The layout I am building uses mainly set track - the outer loop has 3rd radius corners whilst the inner loop uses Atlas 18 inch radius curves.

Many thanks in advance for your assistance

All the best

Ben Barnes

[BR60103]

Ben

Mast links -- are these the little plastic droppers?

I used this about the time it came out as single wire. I think a one-foot spacing might be right. Hornby's suspension bridge has 6 supports in about 4 1/2 feet.

Replacement wire should be something that doesn't kink; copper probably is too giving.

Marklin catenary wires nearly fit. Main problem is the lower hole where the tensioning wire goes lets it be too low and the tensioning wire snags.

[Amelia Grove]

Thanks to both of you for your advice - I should clarify - I am using a mixture of the older Hornby equipment made at Margate with the Cream coloured masts along with some Triang Hornby Green overhead masts  and a single overhead wire.

David you are correct that the mast links are the small plastic droppers

[ThaneofFife]

This is the problem with model rtp catenary.if 36cm is the longest piece this a) looks totally toy like in terms of short runs and b) by there nature you need more masts on the layout.

 

I can understand close masts on typical model railway or train set curves but not on the straighter sections.

 

Maybe there is too much upper flex on wires longer than around 400mm with pantographs pushing up onto them??? Stiffer wire is one way around it but then it would probably need to be thicker gauge wire which then looks terrible.

[Titan]

Yes, unfortunately model OLE does not allow the kind of space compression we get away with on the track. As a guide to mast spacing on set-track, if you want to avoid the dreaded curved wire bodge to go around corners, you will need a mast at every joint between the curves, If you have double length curves you will need one in the middle too. Basically it means 8 masts for a half circle. This puts the masts quite close together, especially if you are using 1st radius. The trouble is that if you put the masts at a more realistic spacing on the straights, the contrast between straight and curved spacing is so great it just looks silly. So a compromise is to have shorter spans on the straights so the difference is not so marked. You will probably find that the longer wire lengths used by Triang/Hornby correspond to their set-track straights, or a multiple of them just to make life a little easier when installing them.

[GoingUnderground]

Apart from the terrible white I beam masts, the Hornby system was a reissue of the Tri-ang one.

 

In the UK, the cost effective substitute for the standard Tri-ang wire was piano wire, available in 36 inch lengths from many model shops at the time. The piano wire was stiffer, but on a permanent layout that didn't matter. Just measure the diameter of the Hornby catenary wires and buy piano wire of the same diameter.

 

As regards mast spacing, do what looks right. With the stiffer piano wire you can space the masts further apart as there is less upward deflection of the wire by the pantograph.

 

You will have trouble with modern pantographs catching on the wire connecting clips that you use to join the catenary wire end to end.  These worked without any problems with the rounded tops of the Triang box pantographs used on the Steeple Cab, Transcontinental Electric loco, EM2 (Class 77) & Sydney Suburban (Red Rattlers) or the single arm type used on the AL1 (Class 81). or the Trix EM1 (Class 76) box pantograph. The cure is to "angle" the ends of the wire connecting clips, and make sure that the long side is on the top of the wire. That way the modern pan rides over the angled cut end and doesn't catch on the vertical edge of the clip.  

 

If I were you, I'd collect current from the catenary. It does have one advantage in that if the pan dewires on a curve, the loco will stop, unless the side of the pan still makes contact by touching the catenary wire. If you use just track power then the loco will carry on even if it dewires and the catenary wire will either derail the loco, or the pan will run into the next mast. It also allows you independent control of 2 locos on the same track. You would need independent DC supplies, one for the track, one for the overhead. The old H&M Duette is ideal for that, it's what I use, but that is with older Tri-ang and Trix locos.

 

For more of the white nylon mast links, you're looking at finding them at swapmeets or specialist retailers who deal in secondhand Triang/TriangHornby/Hornby Railways items. They can be hard to find, and I'm not aware of any substitutes/copies. You could solder fine gauge wire to the top of the catenary wire, and loop the end if the fine wire round the top of the mast, or buy the "Ears" used by tramway modellers and use those, with some modification.