Details of and general information on the catenary used on the RRVT line скачать в хорошем качестве

Details of and general information on the catenary used on the RRVT line

Before we begin, an important disclaimer about hobby electric railways: This method of powering your railway can be dangerous and you must be aware of the fact that you can be seriously injured or even killed instantly if you contact an energized catenary wire while another part of your body is grounded!! Electricity must always be fully respected as it does not discriminate- like any other electrical device, use at your own risk!! This is NOT a toy, and is operated by trained professionals who work daily with high voltage electrical machinery. You must always be aware of your surroundings and expect any wire to be energized with lethal potential. Following strict safety guidelines has kept the RRVT operating injury free for nearly 73 years, or 26,442 days as of 12/1/23. We wish anyone who sets out on a mission to build their own scale electric railway to have the same spotless safety record that we have had. With that said, on to the meat and potatoes of the presentation- I have finally made a video showing some of the details about the catenary system that is used on the RRVT. As a refresher, the catenary wire is powered by 240VAC 60Hz power, with the rail being at ground potential. There are 3 somewhat evenly spaced substations along the route to ensure somewhat stable power throughout the length of the line. Power arrives from the utility company in a 240V 100 amp service and is stepped up to 480V for distribution to the substations. At each substation the voltage is returned to 240V for supply to the catenary. The incoming supply from the utility company is fused at 100 amps and each substation is equipped with a 30 amp breaker between the transformer and the catenary for protection against downed wires or other ground faults. Below is a time stamp for the sub sections of the video in case you don't want to hear me ramble on for the full 38 minutes: 0:00 to 2:30 - Trackwork in progress during the summer, shown because I happened to be standing near it at the start of the video. 2:30 to 4:25 - Poles and crossarms. 4:25 to 13:38 - Catenary wire type, tensioning, V hangers, messenger wires, wire height. 13:38 to 21:08 - Catenary support and tensioning around curves. 21:08 to 23:40 - Catenary wire splices. 23:40 to 26:30 - Trolley shoe design. 26:30 to 29:20 - Trolley pole tensioner design used on the equipment. 29:20 to 32:30 - Power feed connection from the substation to the catenary. 32:30 to 35:50 - Powered catenary frog. 35:50 to end - Non powered catenary frog I hope someone finds this information useful for their own build or just to satisfy curiosity as I get a lot of questions about how the catenary is constructed. Its quite simple to build and very easy to maintain once you have it installed and properly adjusted. Some 3/8" diameter galvanized wire rope, 3/32" diameter copperweld wire for V hangers, steel fence wire for the messengers (or better yet use the copperweld for those messenger wires as well) and then poles and crossarms to support the wire and you are all set! Yes I am aware most of this looks very crudely constructed- because it is! I do not have a budget of tens of thousands of dollars to just go buy new equipment with so we use what we can find in junkyards, abandoned industrial sites, and available 2nd hand materials found by word of mouth or online sources. Networking and resourcefulness in repurposing is key to building your own railway with next to no funds and for us this makes it more enjoyable! Congratulations if you make it through this whole video without falling asleep :) Apologies in advance for the sound quality, I probably need to get a microphone so you can hear me better over the sounds of nature present at the site.