Pondering some long range planning here. It will be awhile before we get to actually detailing this part of the layout, but it’s nice to have some actual info to put into the pot that’s simmering on the back burner. We’ll have a short trolley line in a city. Leaning heavily towards Nn3 running on Z scale track, so the streets appear wider relative to the track. Depending on how high up the city’s hill we run the trolley, the grade could get as steep as 6.2% and curves down to a 3" radius, or tighter to take as a sharp street corner if we can. And with sharper corners, we could ease the grade on those corners and allow a steeper grade on the straightaways. It would just be a single car, not pulling anything else. For best visual effect, we want it running as high up the hill as we can. If we take the chassis and motor from a Micro Trains Z scale diesel, is that likely to work in this application? And how long are the those chassis for when it comes time to fit the trolley body? Anyone here tested Z engines that could work swapped into a trolley for grade and curve limitations – what are the maximum grades and tighest curves you have found that work? Thanks!
While there are not a lot of Z Scale traction folks at the forum – At N Cat Live Catanary – about 2/3 down the page there’s a “conversion” article that may be helpful – let alone the rest of the website.
Another quite useful website is N Scale Traction at Yahoo Groups – If Nn3 has been done with Z Scale track – this will be the place to find the answer.
N Scale Traction is where the (4) major N Cat Manuals (plus newsletters) are archived – freely available to N Scale Traction members. A couple hours browsing + downloading here is time well-spent.
If it weren’t for the guidance found at N Cat & Yahoo N Scale Traction – I would not be proceeding with the N Scale Conemaugh Road & Traction. All traction layouts regardless of scale require scratchbuilding, and more so for N Scale.
CR&T is still considering adding Pennsy Catanary to run those new PRR GG1s on the Pennsy mainline that interchanges with CR&T. It is really a matter of creating the right template that only comes from trial & error. For live overhead, N Cat single-wire standards (for CR&T) are much different than the PRR catanary suitable for high-speed pantograph running.
It was prototypical for a single-unit interurban traction to travel steeper grades. Example: Trolley line parallel to the Class I mainline, up the grade to an overpass at an angle, and then down the other side of the Class I mainline.
As for Z Scale track + Nn3 – You may be going into semi-uncharted territory – And you may be the one who writes that “how to article” for Model Railroader. A few years ago, Model Railroader ran a Z Scale coupler-conversion for N Scale
Thanks, Searching the N Scale Traction messages, it looks like some folks may be doing Nn3 conversions, I’ll ask over there if anyone’s tested the envelope on trackwork.