OT - SG electified

Hi,

Here's a thought for the photographers here on the board. Have you ever tried to get a good photo of an overhead catanary wire?



Most photographers take shots of the train or the track and the overhead is incidental. I had to focus on the catanary shooting up into the sky.

Why would someone want detailed photos of catanary?

In the late 1970's I wanted to build a section of catanary to understand what I saw but could not put together. I assembled a small platform about 1' x 4' with a sheet of plywood for the tabletop.

I put in a HO double track with crossover and a siding so that I could build the counterweights and wire crossings and so forth to understand what the photos I had were trying to tell me. I used channel brass and round brass and 30 gauge nickle silver wire and built the overhead in place. I used springs to provide tension when the prototype could use weights on vertically hanging wires. I had a small demo layout where I could run two GG1's (AHM) independently by using one track rail for one GG1 and the other track rail for the other GG1 and used the overhead as the common return.

It was a fascinating project. I learned a lot about the building and use of catanary.

It was similar to my owning a 1.5" scale 4.75" gauge 2-6-2 steamer when I really started understanding the operations of a steam locomotive.

FWIW

Doug vV

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Instant gratification takes too long.

I was street smart, but unfortunately the street was Rodeo Drive.

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Luna Lovelace (Harry Potter):

I sleepwalk you know that's why I wear shoes to bed.