RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted September 15, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 15, 2011 RAILWAY OF THE MONTH GRUSCH to St.NIKLAUS A different twist on the usual size RhB Swiss HOm layout with a room size layout. The only minor point is that this is the third RhB layout recently where a lot of the locos have pantographs down yet the caternary is modelled, even if just for the photo shoot it would be worth making sure they are up as it does detract from the illusion. Scenically superb. PLAN OF THE MONTH RS TOWER Rmweb’s GloriousNSE tells the story and a superb set of photos of the USA layout SCALE DRAWINGS MAEKLONG RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES CORRUGATED IRON SANTA BARBARA American N layout, closely based on a real location. SOMEWHERE in FRANCE Metre gauge layout, modelled in 1:160 scale on 6.5mm gauge track (Nm) 30 YEARS of the WEK Narrow gauge railway which operates in HOe with animated figures. SRODA MIASTO HOe Polish narrow gauge layout WAR DEPARTMENT STOCK Nice bit of modelling of loaded rolling stock for a First World War OO9 layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swisspeat Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 I agree with you Paul. Why bother to erect catenary if you are not going to take the extra minute to raise the pantographs for a photo shoot that is going to give your handiwork coverage in a commercial magazine. Some modellers in Switzerland don't even think its important to erect catenary or even if they do they don't always see the need to include the wires. I confess to catenary putting me off making a Swiss layout for a decade or so but I actually find it quite fun now! swisspeat Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben racey Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 For anyone interested, my layout 'Sroda' will be operating at the Warrington Show - 22nd and 23rd October. Info here: http://www.warrington-mrc.co.uk/exhibition_09.html Hope to see you there! Regards Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted September 19, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 19, 2011 Santa Barbara will be at the Loddon Vale show this Saturday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 And Santa Barbara and RS Tower should both be at the NMRA convention in Bournmouth this weekend... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 And Santa Barbara and RS Tower should both be at the NMRA convention in Bournmouth this weekend... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 I agree with you Paul. Why bother to erect catenary if you are not going to take the extra minute to raise the pantographs for a photo shoot that is going to give your handiwork coverage in a commercial magazine..... What's the point of having catenary if it's not going to supply 12v DC to the engines? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 What's the point of having catenary if it's not going to supply 12v DC to the engines? Why is it absolutely necessary for model catenary to be energised...?? Even though they may only be powered through the rails, your little models of real electric locomotives are still powered by electricity. Try saying the same for steam or diesel... (Rant over, but I might just have to add something to an article I'm currently writing for CM...). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted November 13, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2011 Plus if you want to go DCC then you can have a lot of problems with signal interference to the dcc signal and arcing has evidently melted the wire in a couple of cases with scale catenary due to the relatively high currents to the wire size if you have a big system. I would always be happy with the compromise of non powered overhead. As model wire is so delicate in absolute scale even omitting the wires and just modelling the masts with pantographs tied up slightly looks ok especially in N. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Why is it absolutely necessary for model catenary to be energised...?? Even though they may only be powered through the rails, your little models of real electric locomotives are still powered by electricity. .... I only asked, because a lot of the Continental-outline engines have a built-in switch (e.g. Roco, Bemo, etc.) allowing power to be picked up via the pantographs. Why not make use of this facility? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 I only asked, because a lot of the Continental-outline engines have a built-in switch (e.g. Roco, Bemo, etc.) allowing power to be picked up via the pantographs. Why not make use of this facility? Alternatively i'd ask - why *should* you make use of this facility? What *advantages* do you get from making it work like that? My experience is that the advantages are few and minor, and the disadvantages are numerous and major! Back in analogue there were some *potential* advantages in terms of additional pickups or allowing two loco's into one electrical block if you were modelling (for instance) a major station where you did loco changes. There were also disadvantages, like the loco having to be put on the layout the right way round or else it shorts everything out. For layouts with staging it is also a pain in the neck - being able to put your trains on the track without having to reach under catenary (try doing that in the middle of a 10 road staging yard!) is a major advantage - and i'm not sure there is really such a thing as "easy to use" catenary, so not applying that to more track than you need to is a big advantage!! Nowadays with DCC in widespread off-the-peg use there is no problem with controlling two loco's on an electrical block so the first has ceased to be a problem, and with most loco's now blessed with all wheel drive and pickup then reliable current collection shouldn't be a huge issue either - if you had (for instance) one of those tiny continental electric shunters then it *might* still help a little I guess...but finding room for a stay-alive is probably a more reliable route? I can *kinda* understand some folk saying 'it's more prototypical' - but this hobby for most people is about primarily a *sensual* (you could read that as visual but these days many are adding an audio element) recreation of a real railway and not a *technical* one. Or to put it another way we're generally modelling how a railway *looks* and how it *operates*, not attempting to accurately model how each piece of equipment works. There's some very good reasons for not having the catenary 'live' - but it still doesn't mean you can't model it to look exactly like it is - many years back I was on the team for a layout called New Annington, a large current (well it was then!) exhibition roundy layout with a modern WCML theme - we had catenary that looked right-ish, the pantographs ran along the wire and looked just like the real thing did, except that round the back in the fiddle yard there was just a 'ramp' to drop the raised pantograph underneath the wire as it entered the scenic section. I know Andy (298) comes from a *very* similar background layout-wise to that, and you can also see the same thing on other current exhibition layouts (take a look at Furness MRS's 'Coppell' for instance which works in exactly the same way!) In the scenario's where we're coming from, powering it from the wire gives you near zero functional improvement in how your layout looks or works, and lots of technical "gotcha's" plus additional work to acheive it in the process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 I only asked, because a lot of the Continental-outline engines have a built-in switch (e.g. Roco, Bemo, etc.) allowing power to be picked up via the pantographs. Why not make use of this facility? It's entirely down to the individual, but you can either use it as an additional pickup when wired directly to one of the rails (which means no reverse loops and having all of your stock the same way round every time), using it as overhead only means having to keep the pan head and wire clean and also compromising the appearance of the wires (just look at how un-scale HO proprietry catenary systems are with overly rigid thick shiny wires). Quite a few tram layouts use this, and the results speak for themselves. One advantage is it does make wiring complicated junctions easier, but then there are the added issues when using DCC as explained above. It may sound like I have an axe to grind, but having built and exhibited quite a few layouts featuring OHLE, I sometimes get annoyed when punters ask "Is the overhead live", then go away disgruntled when you tell them it isn't. You really have to try it to know it really isn't worth doing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted November 15, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2011 For layouts with staging it is also a pain in the neck - being able to put your trains on the track without having to reach under catenary Exactly why Rhatia doesn't have live catenary, more removable sections would be required and it would make setting up and packing stock away a nightmare. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Apologies for missing Martyn's comprehensive post before writing my own, don't know what happend there....? Similarly to Martyn's experiences, the WCML layout "Carstairs" that I'm involved with has full catenary in the fiddle yards, not for current collection, but because the scratchbuilt GEC Cross-arm and B-W Highspeed pans have swivelling heads that need to be kept in contact with the wire to stop the heads rolling. Taking stock on and off is indeed a pain, but unlike Martyn, I've yet to see sense and still keep modelling electrified railways. Just to bring the subject back on topic, I'm told Continental Modeller will feature quite a bit of electrification over the next few months.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 ... having built and exhibited quite a few layouts featuring OHLE, I sometimes get annoyed when punters ask "Is the overhead live", then go away disgruntled when you tell them it isn't. ... You could always fib a little bit.... or would that lead to more awkward questions..?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 You could always fib a little bit.... or would that lead to more awkward questions..?! Tried that once....but then got found out when the pole came off and the loco continued on its merry way. It just occured to me that I've never tried overhead only with Wiley. It was a good reminder that DCC can give quite a kick.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Harrap Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 What I think is a missed oppotunity is the tramway layouts that are wired with live overhead and the running rails bonded together 'because its prototypical' denying the possibility of ever running a steam tram or somthing similar on the layout. All my O/H is live by the way. Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 You could always fib a little bit.... or would that lead to more awkward questions..?! We used to find on New Annington that if you told them the wires were 25kv they would immediately stop touching it... (Having said that, we also had a woman go away in a right state muttering about 'well I never' and 'shouldn't be allowed' when she asked what that cute little train was and was told it was for transporting nuclear waste...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 We used to find on New Annington that if you told them the wires were 25kv they would immediately stop touching it... ...These days they'd be back with an Oxford Diecast van and some cutting equipment to nick the copper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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