By looking around the forums this morning, I saw that there was trolly (trolley) cars that run in the different gauges. I run ho gauge and I am thinking of somehow incorperating them into my layout. I have not started to build the layout yet.
So i have a few questions and i am sure someone may know. I noticed that on some of the cars they have the thing overhead for a power supply. Do they get the power that way and we need to have the lines running above? Do they get power from the tracks like a regular model rainroad? Any information in this area would be great.
The Bachmann Peter Witt trolley has a switch on the bottom that will let you select either track or catenary as the power source.
Although some modelers do run their trolleys “from the wire,” it’s tricky to maintain good power that way. There’s no reason you can’t model the wire but still draw power from the rails.
Trolleys & traction can be as complex or as simple as want to make it – Along with how much you decide to use Ready-To-Run or scratchbuilding. HO Scale does have the best selection of R-T-R trolleys, box motors, overhead poles, etc. For simplicity, you can also run your traction/trolleys like the Japanese mostly do without any live overhead wires – Meaning traditional 2-rail like typical HO Scale train layouts. Caveat – R-T-R can become expensive if you don’t plan ahead for simplicity.
For some perspective, my CR&T’s dual purpose library/traction room has just been remodeled – With the layout now being readjusted (before benchwork construction) since layout space is known. CR&T is a free-lanced N Scale circa 1956 layout with 2 portions…
Portion #1 – CR&T interurban – A combination of PCC/passenger between neighborhoods (with depots) plus short-haul industrial freight – Using single wire live overhead – Scratchbuilt with a template for line pole consistency. DCC is the planned electronics – PCCs will use a single pole and box motors will use pantographs.
Portion #2 – Pennsy GG1 – CR&T will interchange once with the Pennsy mainline, running around the CR&T with GG1s alongside E7 passenger diesel – Using PRR-catenary wire live overhead – Which will be scratchbuilt with a template for prototype-construction consistency.
Note: CR&T operations is between neighborhoods while Pennsy GG1s run between more distant towns. Also, CR&T is not my first layout, and; I have decided to take a 5-year+ construction timeframe. The biggest chall
First, to correct a slight misconception. All prototype trolleys run off overhead wire, but not all overhead wire is catenary. Streetcar systems usually used single contact wires supported by pole brackets or span wires. Catenary is that system that looks like miniature suspension bridges between support points, and is usually found where speeds are higher or loads are heavier (i.e., heavy locomotives or long commuter EMU.)
Electrified lines, whether streetcar, commuter rail or (in Japan) almost everything, tend to run to extremely dense traffic. Pictures from the WWI era often showed three, four or half a dozen streetcars at a single Grand Junction intersection. In present-day Tokyo, it is possible to get stopped at a grade crossing for as much as an hour while 10-car EMU trains (and the occasional long distance train) fly by in both directions on the multiple tracks. A description of the area I model (paraphrased from Wikipedia:)
This is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Japan. Passenger service is limited to AS LITTLE AS one limited express and two stopping local trains PER HOUR in each direction…
Back to model practice. If you are planning to run both electric units and conventional locos on the same rails, it makes sense to run both with 2-rail power. In addition, it is a common practice to have ‘virtual’ overhead wire - the support structures, line tensioners, power substsations etc… are modeled, but there’s no spiderweb to interfere with overhead access to the tracks. Since I run steam, diesel and electric power, and since one place where catenary motors and EMU operate includes a puzzle palace of multiple double slip switches, I have virtual catenary and use 2-rail power distribution.
I also operate to a prototype timetable that schedules over 100 trains through Tomikawa on a slow day…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - incredible traffic density in
IIRC the streetcars of one of the boroughs of New York ran on a third rail that was below street level between the regular rails. The cars had a pick-up shoe that went down to contact the rail for power.
As far as gauges, some cities dictated that streetcar lines could not be standard gauge, they had to be narrower or broader by a few inches. This was to ensure that freight cars could not be run on the street trackage, a concern for many taxpayers / voters.
I recently bought a Con-Cor PCC streetcar and it runs on HO track power. Bowser has recently released a post WWII PCC streetcar and I believe it also runs on track power right out of the box.
Having said that, I think you can also convert the Con-Cor over to run off of an overhead wire if you want to.
Also, some PCC cars and others apparently have fairly recently been converted to diesel electric with the trolley pole being removed and the engine exhaust run through the fairing on the PCC cars. So, with a similar mod, possibly many types of model trolley cars could be run in a modern town without using the poles or overhead wire or catenary. Never tried overhead wire myself, but I’ve read that keeping the trolley slider shoe on the wire can be tricky if he wire isn’t near perfect. Pantogrphs with the sliding spring loaded plate are somewhat more reliable.
And there were a few electric lines that had some diesel switchers fitted with trolley poles to enable the operation of the signaling system on the electrified portions of the route.
Many of the model trolleys just get their power from the rails the way the rest of our trains in HO scale do. Was that what you wanted to know? And the overhead lines called “catenary lines” are just for looks like telephone/telegraph poles are and sometimes a modeler will actually string miniature wire up there to add to the realism.
Real trolleys either got their power {usually 600 volts DC, IIRC} from the overhead Catenary or from a thrid rail along side or inside the tracks on the ground, and some would get power from both sources.
YOu can have a model trolley roaming your model streets of your model town if you like on a line separate from your model freight and/or passenger trains. BAchmann makes several kinds and models in HO scale.