MichaelE

Thanks for the additional photos. Overall, it seems to have survived pretty well. I did not know the RhB had sensors placed in various locations to warn of a rock fall or avalanche. Good idea in that kind of terrain.

I wonder which Allegra that was?

A short video with the snowshed installed and the cat wire attached. You can see the pan duck under just a bit as the heights didn't match exactly. It works though.

Cab ride videos are how I got hooked on RhB. I love to watch 'em. Thanks for the links.

This is the small snowshed I've been working on for a couple of weeks. It's only 15" long with an open side and is loosely based on a snowshed found on the Berninabahn portion. I abandoned the use of a piece of rail for the catenary under the shed roof. Instead, I mounted registration arms from the underside of the beams supporting the roof and used the B string from a string change on one of my guitars for the catenary wire. I soldered this to the underside of the registration arms at the same height as the normal catenary wire on the masts. All I have to do now is tie it into the rest of the catenary as the masts come around. In the position the shed is in now, I think two more masts will be required to reach the shed. I'll tackle this on Wednesday after painting the roof supports. I started to paint them silver, but as can be seen in the photo, it did not flow very well and coverage is spotty. I'm going to paint them green instead. The long shot is to show the shed in relation to the rest of the mountain side and surrounding area. I still have to scenic this area though.

I completed the catenary around the curve up to where the train(s) will enter the snow shed. I visited Northeast Scale Lumber on line and ordered the material I need to replicate one of the snow sheds on the Bernina Bahn portion. It will be roughly 480-500mm in length. H beams will be used for support and the roof is corrugated aluminium. I'm going to suspend a piece of code 83 rail under the roof for the catenary for continuity.

He certainly has. It looks great. I agree about the wire. Yes, it's usually not to scale, but it gives purpose for the pans. Knowing that you are supposed to be seeing it makes it neccesary for me. Especially on the RhB.

Chocolate chips?

There have been additions to this since it was built, but this is the original drawing;

A short video showing the RhB under the wire I have installed so far.

That allowed me to install three masts to get back to the solid roadbed (green painted plywood). Installation of this catenary on level sub-roadbed is a breeze. It goes up fast too.

Not thinking about the Rhätischebahn over two years ago while building this railroad, I cut the mountain spur sub-roadbed pretty narrow. Most areas as the grade climbs don't have a spot to locate a mast where needed. This was originally going to be a Diesel spur only. I cut a couple of conformal strips of plywood that will be attached to the side of the sub-roadbed to locate the needed masts to get me back to solid benchwork. These strips will also serve as an anchor point for terrain building using wire screen and plaster cloth. The first photo shows several tabs cut from 5mm Luane plywood and attached to the underside of the existing sub-roadbed using Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue and set in place until dry with C clamps. The second photo shows the wood strips I cut that will rest on these tabs and glued down with Elmer's too. The third photo shows the transition to solid sub-roadbed again (painted green).

I now have about 4 meters of catenary installed. Much of the recent work was attaching plywood to the side of the sub-roadbed so I had somewhere to mount the masts. Particularly the last meter I did yesterday that crosses the mainlines below. A few more attachment points and I'll be on solid benchwork again.

Very nicely done. It does make a difference. I recently removed the front coupler, coupler box, and front skirt on a Roco ÖBB 1014 and replaced it with the included skirt sans coupler slot. It allowed me to install all of the detail parts that came with the model and looks much better.

Great photos! Thanks for posting. Still pisses me off about what the USPS did with my Allegra every time I see one.

Thanks for the answer. I'll have to get that longer coach replaced then.

Question for the RhB experts: Does the RhB use the longer coaches on the Bernina Bahn portion of the RhB? Say from Chur south to Tirano?

I've used wedges on one side of the mast base in cases where it really wanted to lean over and that helped somewhat. As unrealistic as it looks, I sort of like that copper wash on the wires. I may keep it as-is instead of painting. Maybe. Thank you for the kind comments fellas.

This will be my thread I will add too as my RhB line progresses. Yesterday and tonight I installed catenary. This is my first time working with Sommerfeldt, but I didn't find it difficult. The hardest part was trying to get the holes for the masts drilled exactly vertical on a slope. This is a lot harder than it looks, at least for me. Some of the masts are slightly canted, but the casual observer probably won't notice. In a few cases they are canted away from or towards the viewing angle and can't be seen at all from that viewpoint. You will notice in the photos which are not perfectly vertical. The soldering is probably the easiest part once the wire is in position. All of this wire was positioned using the locomotive to make absolutely certain the wire was within the limits of the pantographs. I'm happy to say that even if it doesn't look perfect, it operates perfectly with the pans on the wire. I have about 9' or almost 3 meters finished and many more meters to go. I'm using 380mm wire between the masts on the straights and it has proven to be taut enough that there is no flex in the wire from the pan pressure on the wire. I'm pretty pleased so far.

Those are amazing kits. I think there may be one on the RhB layout in the near future. Thanks for the link. Amazing stuff.

Thanks for all of the great information. I am going to have a look at all of the Kibri offerings and then the rest of the info. Much appreciated!

Is there a mainstream manufacturer that provides Swiss structures specifically? Kibri offers a couple of Swiss stations on the RhB, and they are marked (CH) in the descriptions, but that is about all I have found specific to the RhB. There are also a couple of Swiss-looking Chalets by one manufacturer or another, but nothing really more specific. What are some of the structures you members have purchased for your RhB layouts? Do you have the catalog numbers too so I may look them up?

That looks very good Peter. Definitely on the right track.

Thanks! If anyone was wondering about the front buffer, it has been turned 90° and is now installed properly.

I'm pleased to say that my hand laid third rail for HOm has been a success. The new Bemo equipment ran flawlessly all the way around the layout without a hitch. I had some concern when the first piece I took out of the box immediately derailed after only a couple of inches of movement, but that was due to a wheel set not being correctly seated in the truck bolsters. I guess it happened in transit or was never correctly installed by Bemo. After fixing that it ran beautifully. I am very impressed with the amount of detailing on these models and this won't be my last Bemo. Very nice models. Now I can finally install the catenary and finish the scenery in and around this area. I didn't expect the trackwork to turn out as good as it did. It was actually perfect. Here is a short clip of it running around the layout and a few stills.