Catenary

[Jbdaws]

Thanks David,

Yes, I did mean rail.

Unfortunately I made a couple of ebay purchases years ago when LGB went bankrupt and before MARKLIN. I finally had the opportunity to unbox the tram masts and found them to be LGBs first edition, without the clips. The figure 8 wire is quite difficult to find here in Australia but the clips are available. I had been multitasking how can I make LGB 6000 masts work with the 56204 & 56203 clips when I was referred to your post by someone who had come across your post.

Do the rails fit snugly in the clips or do they move around? Do they need to be soldered in place?

Thanks
Bill

 

[Jbdaws]

Hi David.

I’m looking forward to photos from Guildford to see the overall effect. Would you comment on the fit of the rail into the LGB CLIP and whether soldering is required. Is the rail brass or nickel-silver and whether there is an oxidation issue.

Cheers
Bill

 

[korm kormsen]

Would you comment on the fit of the rail into the LGB CLIP and whether soldering is required.

LGB used to sell catenary connectors made of brass and isolated catenary connectors of plastic. (just like the two types of railconnectors)
if you use those, no soldering is required.

 

[dunnyrail]

Thanks David,

Yes, I did mean rail.

Unfortunately I made a couple of ebay purchases years ago when LGB went bankrupt and before MARKLIN. I finally had the opportunity to unbox the tram masts and found them to be LGBs first edition, without the clips. The figure 8 wire is quite difficult to find here in Australia but the clips are available. I had been multitasking how can I make LGB 6000 masts work with the 56204 & 56203 clips when I was referred to your post by someone who had come across your post.

Do the rails fit snugly in the clips or do they move around? Do they need to be soldered in place?

Thanks
Bill

LGB catenary is made to be dismantable so thus does not need to be soldered. If bodgelling rail to the LGB clips I can imagine some soldering may be required, possibly a bitbof an issue outside with heat expansion/contraction etc.

 

[Mohawk Valley]

The Mohawk Valley RR, which is an indoor loft railway, currently under construction will be using live overhead, courtesy of LGB and live 2 rail both running DC through two seperate controllers. I’ve found that this works extremely well and is quite prototypical. The majority of train/trams will be on the overhead, but there are a couple of diesel and steam engines that will use the rails for their power.
I used to run DCC sound in O gauge, but the change to G gauge and overhead has made me convert back to DC operations, mainly due to cost, but also to the many electrical problems that I would encounter with a dual powered system.

Cheers
Martin

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

I’m looking forward to photos from Guildford to see the overall effect. Would you comment on the fit of the rail into the LGB CLIP and whether soldering is required. Is the rail brass or nickel-silver and whether there is an oxidation issue.

My OLE expert writes "It is Peco code 83 nickel silver flat bottom rail, as shown in the attached picture. Also included in the picture is an LGB clip with the rail fitted. The foot of the rail goes into the clip as you assumed. The rail is a loose fit so one end of the clip has to be gently nipped up to give a sliding fit".



The Whiteleaf layout is modular, so is likely to be exhibited in a different format on each outing. The smallest layout is two modules, the largest might use five modules (and, in each case, these may be augmented by straight sections/bridges./viaducts). Each module is made up of between three and six boards. Each board has it's own "catenary section" where the rail is soldered onto the catenary clips on between 6 and 8 masts. Because the catenary clips rotate on the cross-wire of the mast, the "catenary section" will lie flat for transport (with four to six "catenary sections" in each tray). It is where two "catenary sections" are connected that the rail is just slid into the "nipped up" catenary clip. As we are not putting power through the catenary (since we normally use DCC), the only requirement is that the rail doesn't slide out of the catenary clip as trains/trams pass by (and, in practice, this only happens when the overhead wires are caught by an operator's sleeve, while reaching under to manually uncouple a train, or whatever).

As it is the FOOT of the rail that slides into the LGB catenary clips (and it is the HEAD of the upsede-down rail that the pantographs press against), other types of rail might work too. A recent visit to a fellow forumite suggested that a particular Peco rail intended for O gauge (maybe code 125 bullhead rail? but I haven't verified this myself)) is another possibility, and maybe without the "nipping up".

Best wishes

David