A question for those forum denizens who may know, did pantograph use by the prototype electric railroads use single wire (a la “trolley” wire) on occasion? I’ve seen many an old photo of pantographs using catenary and I can think of a couple of photos of single wire in use, but I’d like to hear from some of you if you have additional information. I am aware that pantograph usage dictated that the wire “weave” back and forth to avoid wearing out the sliding contacts, unlike trolleys using trolley poles. I’m just thinking it’d be a whole lot easier to string wire without having to go catenary. Especially since pantographs don’t have to use wire frogs, which makes reversing moves and switching SO much smoother. The idea of having to flip the trolley pole constantly wears me out just thinking about it.
I’m no expert here, but will offer my opinion, since I’ve seen plenty of catenary while living in Germany for a few years as a milbrat. Generally, no. Catenary has all the extra wire to hold the wire in place, which the pantagraph pushes up against with considerably more force than a trolley pole would. A trolley pole does have some upward force, but tends to steer itself by the wheel or shoe.
I do vaguely recall a few lines where there was some mixing of pole and pantagraph use, but the overhead was catenary IIRC. So if built for the heavier service, yes, a mix was possible, but no false economies by just running a wire then using it with the pantagraph.
Cat does not use a single wire with some exceptions. There Is a contact wire held with clips to the support wire. The clip generally has a bolt and nut between the wires making them about one inch apart. That way the contact wire can be Changed when it wears. It also zig zags over the rails so the entire pantograph shoe wears equally and not groove.
Thanks for the input, I’ve found some info on the Sacramento Northern and they used both catenary and single wire. As you inferred, single wire was only used for lighter, slower service. Since I don’t plan on modeling high speed lines I think single wire would be appropriate.
Cool, that may have been one of those I was thinking of. I read some on the SN years ago, but with my CRS hard to say if that’s what I remembered vaguely now.
I grew up along the Ft Dodge, Des Moines & Southern electric railroad in central Iowa back in the 1950’s and occassionally rode the interurban from Ankeny to Des Moines. This electric railroad also had freight service using steeple cab engines, usually in tandem. The whole line used single cable overhead wire. I remember times when the trainman had to fish the pole back on the line as the interurban would come to an abrupt stop. So, yes, there where electric railroads that used single line power feed with trolley type pick up. As and aside, I lived with my grandparents for about a year in 1948 in Alleman, Iowa. The entire town received its electricity from the railroad. Whenever a freight was within the power block shared by the town, the lights would dim to about darkness. The town of Alleman converted from DC power in the early 50’s as the Ft D, DM & S was winding down its business.
I grew up along the Ft Dodge, Des Moines & Southern electric railroad in central Iowa back in the 1950’s and occassionally rode the interurban from Ankeny to Des Moines. This electric railroad also had freight service using steeple cab engines, usually in tandem. The whole line used single cable overhead wire. I remember times when the trainman had to fish the pole back on the line as the interurban would come to an abrupt stop. So, yes, there where electric railroads that used single line power feed with trolley type pick up. As and aside, I lived with my grandparents for about a year in 1948 in Alleman, Iowa. The entire town received its electricity from the railroad. Whenever a freight was within the power block shared by the town, the lights would dim to about darkness. The town of Alleman converted from DC power in the early 50’s as the Ft D, DM & S was winding down its business.
Thanks for your input and memories of the Ft.DDM&S. I was aware of them partially through an excellent article by Wm. H. Middleton in Kalmbachs Traction Handbook as well as some stuff on the net. They however, used trolley poles with single suspension line and I’m trying to avoid trolley poles as they require reversal and wire frogs. As I mentioned in my original post, I want to use pantographs for current collection but am frankly too lazy to string catenary. As it turns out, further research has shown that even electric roads with catenary did use single suspension line (on occasion) in yards and for slow switching work. May have been the exception rather than the rule, but I’m all right with that as that’s the kind of RR I plan on making. Happy Modeling,
I ran Marklin pantograph equipped locos with trolley wire. Worked great, probably not prototypical but I liked the look. Installing the wire around curves was quite a bit of work and frustration but it turned out great. Check cutsom traxx for info on how to build the wire.
Unfortunally in photos thee overhead on electric lines can be very difficult to see.
but I dfound a photo of a Sacramento Northern freight using pantographs under single wire on Shafter Ave. in Oakland CA. It is on page 212 of the book Sacramento Northern by Harre W. Demoro.
A lot depends on locomotive power and frequency of service.
The JNR frequently used double contact wires on 1500 VDC catenary where the 10-car EMU trains ran on each other’s yellows during rush hour. The same tracks had to handle 1-Co+Co-1 and 2-Co+Co-2 locos with BIG traction motors. Even with frequent power feeds, I doubt that single wire would have been up to the requirement.
The streetcars I saw in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Fukuoka used single wire, even on those lines which handled some freight. The freight motors were not large or powerful. Passenger equipment used either pans or bow poles (think dual-shaft trolley pole with a pantograph shoe on top.)
Strangest overhead I’ve seen for pantographs was in a Tokyo subway (!) The pans (normal design) rode on a third rail fixed to the tunnel roof at normal contact wire height.
Of course, the strangest pantographs were the micro-pans that NYC passenger motors serving Grand Central Terminal used to contact the overhead third rail above the puzzle palace specialwork of the station throat. Those were third rail motors, and there were really long stretches through the double slips and such where installing third rail was not an option.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with virtual catenary)
Re: “Dave’s Electric Railroads”, wicked cool website. it’s in my fav’s now. Thanks a million. I’ve decided to go pantographs and single wire based on the prototype usage for slow speed and/or switching work. Thanks for your input.
