LGB 8 wheel streetcars

Melbournesparks who is on here occasionally makes his own trolly poles and pantographs with fully working overhead. If you look up "Eltham South Electric Tramway" you should be able to find most of the resources to build something similar.
 
Tropic Blunder1 said:
Melbournesparks who is on here occasionally makes his own trolly poles and pantographs with fully working overhead. If you look up "Eltham South Electric Tramway" you should be able to find most of the resources to build something similar.
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This was the layout I was thinking of suggesting as well. He has a mess of video and info out there about how he runs his wire and does his trolley poles. I think he makes most of his stuff from scratch.
 
Djjerme said:
This was the layout I was thinking of suggesting as well. He has a mess of video and info out there about how he runs his wire and does his trolley poles. I think he makes most of his stuff from scratch.
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All of it is scratch built except for the very much modified LGB and Kiss (?) Swiss M cars. I believe he started out with the Bachmann trolly poles but prefers to scratch build his own now.
 
Software Tools said:
The ABe 4/4 IIl was made by Scheba.

View attachment 319673
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It's an unusual unit, I still have found barely any information about the model. Really heavy all metal construction, though it is not really a scale model of the prototype. I've heard anecdotally that only a small number were made.


The bachmann trolley poles need a bit of work to be made operational. The main problem is that they're just glued together so you have to take them apart and solder them so they actually conduct electricity. The head is made from some sort of very soft metal that doesn't contact the wire very well too. I tried a few different metals and found that hard steel or phosphor bronze is the best, you want it to be as hard as possible so it isn't pitted too much by the arcing. An old steel bolt cut to shape with a dremel cutting disk works well.

I actually tried a graphite insert made from a little bit of pencil graphite, it works really well for conductivity and also lubricates the wire! The design needs to be refined a bit to make it easier to replace though.
 
Melbournesparks said:
It's an unusual unit, I still have found barely any information about the model. Really heavy all metal construction, though it is not really a scale model of the prototype. I've heard anecdotally that only a small number were made.


The bachmann trolley poles need a bit of work to be made operational. The main problem is that they're just glued together so you have to take them apart and solder them so they actually conduct electricity. The head is made from some sort of very soft metal that doesn't contact the wire very well too. I tried a few different metals and found that hard steel or phosphor bronze is the best, you want it to be as hard as possible so it isn't pitted too much by the arcing. An old steel bolt cut to shape with a dremel cutting disk works well.

I actually tried a graphite insert made from a little bit of pencil graphite, it works really well for conductivity and also lubricates the wire! The design needs to be refined a bit to make it easier to replace though.
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I’ve just tried one connected to a test light and it does conduct electricity, though for how long is anyone’s guess. Graphene from a pencil would conduct electricity and clean the wires exceedingly well as you say, but fashioning a collector might be a problem.

Im intrigued by your old steel bolt comment and I’m trying to picture how that would work, or even be made?

I have to say that your line and videos on YouTube are outstanding, it all seems so natural, especially the blue tongued dragons! I’m using the LGB wires or rods, so as much as a working trolly pole is very desirable, actually getting one to work might be another question…suggestions gratefully recieved.

Cheers

Martin
 
There is something that is used in Prague to allow a heritage trolley pole equipped tram to operate on trolley wire arranged for the otherwise pantograph equipped normal traffic fleet. This involves locking the trolley pole base so it can't rotate horizontally, then fitting a T-bar trolley pan to the head of the trolley pole.

IMG_5926.jpeg

This approach is quite popular with European tram modellers in H0 scale.
 
Alternatively, you could bite the bullet and fit a pantograph to the Perley Thomas car. The photo below shows a former Third Avenue Railway System (TARS) car from New York (that is of generally similar appearance to the Perley Thomas cars) in Lima Peru....

IMG_5927.jpeg
 
Mohawk Valley said:
I’ve just tried one connected to a test light and it does conduct electricity, though for how long is anyone’s guess. Graphene from a pencil would conduct electricity and clean the wires exceedingly well as you say, but fashioning a collector might be a problem.

Im intrigued by your old steel bolt comment and I’m trying to picture how that would work, or even be made?

I have to say that your line and videos on YouTube are outstanding, it all seems so natural, especially the blue tongued dragons! I’m using the LGB wires or rods, so as much as a working trolly pole is very desirable, actually getting one to work might be another question…suggestions gratefully recieved.

Cheers

Martin
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They tend to break pretty quickly in use without soldering, guess how I know!

A bit of carbon motor brush would probably also be worth a try for trolley pole heads, I haven't gotten around to finding some and seeing how well works yet though.

The bolt is just a handy source of a small piece of scrap steel, which is then cut and ground to more or less the same shape as the bachmann trolley pole head. I make the groove a bit wider though so it can have a greater sideways misalignment with the wire without coming off.

Yes there's certainly wildlife! I don't know enough about the LGB system to say how feasible it would be to modify for trolley poles, Making your own wire isn't that hard and is definitely cheaper though, mine is just untwisted copper mains wire.

Software Tools said:
FWIW, there are several for sale, with different running numbers, on GrootSpoor at the moment.
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So there is, I've never seen so many for sale at once!
 
Melbournesparks said:
They tend to break pretty quickly in use without soldering, guess how I know!

A bit of carbon motor brush would probably also be worth a try for trolley pole heads, I haven't gotten around to finding some and seeing how well works yet though.

The bolt is just a handy source of a small piece of scrap steel, which is then cut and ground to more or less the same shape as the bachmann trolley pole head. I make the groove a bit wider though so it can have a greater sideways misalignment with the wire without coming off.

Yes there's certainly wildlife! I don't know enough about the LGB system to say how feasible it would be to modify for trolley poles, Making your own wire isn't that hard and is definitely cheaper though, mine is just untwisted copper mains wire.



So there is, I've never seen so many for sale at once!
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I’ll take your word for it…

The pole with a skate on it seems very interesting and quite possibly the way I will go as my line uses the LGB system and there is no provision for fitting frogs, so it’s pantos all the way. It’s expensive, but I bought a job lot of it fairly cheaply so I will stick with that. It’s also pretty robust, which it needs to be with my wayward elbows and it being in a small space.

As it look as if I’m going to have to solder the pole, I might as well go the whole hog and make a skate to fit on the end…one day!

Cheers

Martin
 
Software Tools said:
There is something that is used in Prague to allow a heritage trolley pole equipped tram to operate on trolley wire arranged for the otherwise pantograph equipped normal traffic fleet. This involves locking the trolley pole base so it can't rotate horizontally, then fitting a T-bar trolley pan to the head of the trolley pole.

View attachment 319821

This approach is quite popular with European tram modellers in H0 scale.
Click to expand...
This seems to be the way I will go for any trolley pole usage…

Cheers

Martin
 
The other alternative is you go for the same "always the present" era as the tramway. That means that Bendigo birney tram 11 was originally built with a trolley pole, but now has an austbreck pantograph.

PXL_20231018_025345689.jpg
 
Melbournesparks said:
The other alternative is you go for the same "always the present" era as the tramway. That means that Bendigo birney tram 11 was originally built with a trolley pole, but now has an austbreck pantograph.
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Have you named this one Pedro? :giggle:
It’s probably the way I will be going, I’m a bit reluctant to change the collectors on the streetcars though as they are brand new…and expensive. All the other trams/locos bar one will have pantos, I’d think I’d like to keep one as a pole though, just to be different.

Cheers

Martin
 
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