Hello all, my HO Bachmann GG1 pantographs have slide switches inside the cabs to activate them. According to my multimeter they are not connected to the motor. How do I pop the shell? Not clear in the exploded whether it is screwed on or just a spread and pop like the Protos. Thanks!
Hi, you just manually pull them up with your fingers. They lock in place by default. Theyre rather stubborn, but you shouldnt break them. To close them again just push them down till you hear two clicks.
Charles
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Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
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Mister MikadoThanks Charles but I asked how to pop the body shell not the pantos.
From your heading I was also under the impression that you wanted to be able to collect power from the overhead pantograph
From the Model Railroader review:
Into the depths. To remove the body shell, I removed four screws in the frame between the power trucks and pilot trucks. Then I spread the center of the body, allowing it to lift free of the frame.
The pantograph switch is located at one end of the motherboard next to the headlight LED.
Good Luck, Ed
Thanks Ed theres my answer u r a great help! Thanks again Charles.
Mister Mikadopost a link if u have it
https://www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/reviews/staff-reviews/bachmann-ho-scale-sound-value-gg1/
In the photo you can see the switch on the far right, upper half of the PC board.
Hope that helps,
Ed
oops sorry that's my bad!
Unless you're running DC, why would you want to draw power from a pantograph? Continuing to use track power while raising the pantograph under dummy wires would be more reliable and you still maintain independent control of the locomotive with DCC.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Trainman440 oops sorry that's my bad!
No need to apologize Charles. You were considerately trying to help and gave everyone valuable info on how to raise those pantographs which can be challenging to those unfamiliar with them. Better safe than break 'em.
PS MisterBeasley--appreciate the input, I'm running DC. I'd probably never electrify any overheads--the GG1 runs fine with track power so why bother. It would be for realism but seems like an awful lot of stringing IMO.
Anyway Ed clued me in on those 4 screws so i'm good to go. -Rob
Mister MikadoIt would be for realism but seems like an awful lot of stringing IMO.
Do a search on "catenary" on this site. There are several HO manufacturers that offer lines of catenary you can install, so it's not all scratch building. The impression I have is that installation is about equal in effort to laying track. Of course, it can get expensive - but, hey, that's prototypical! It >IS<European prototype, but how many catenary experts are wandering around out there to say you're wrong? One thing apparently common in Japan is to model the support structure (transformer yards, switching stations, etc) and poles, but not to install wires. A lot less "stringing" and you still have access if something goes terribly wrong like a derailment. Best of luck!
Just for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary? I'm sure someone has tried it. I have two trolleys and my GG-1, but running overhead wire seems like a daunting task, even if it's just for show.
MisterBeasleyJust for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary?
I've seen trolley layouts, mostly O scale, run from trolley wire but I don't recall seeing any large electric models run on overhead.
This Andy Rubbo fellow has been featured for his amazing representation of PRR's heavy 11,000 volt catenary in HO:
Even he runs with "pans down" because of fears of snagging the wire. I recall he was working on "break-away" pantographs but dont remember hearing if he went ahead with that concept.
I think you'll find more "strung" layouts in UK and Europe where overhead wire is more common. I like to run lots of big "motors" but having all that wire in the way would really get bothersome after a while.
Regards, Ed
MisterBeasley Just for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary? I'm sure someone has tried it. I have two trolleys and my GG-1, but running overhead wire seems like a daunting task, even if it's just for show.
Yes I did for many years on my old Marklin layout. It was three rail so the wiring allowed independent control of the overhead loco from the locos using track pick up. I used both Marklin catenary and scratchbuilt american trolley wire.
Scratch building the wire is not for the faint of heart but it did work quite well.
Have fun,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
MisterBeasleyJust for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary? I'm sure someone has tried it. I have two trolleys and my GG-1, but running overhead wire seems like a daunting task, even if it's just for show.
There is a trolley club in Pennsylvania that runs overhead wire. They usually have a display at the train shows here.
Billwiz MisterBeasley Just for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary? I'm sure someone has tried it. I have two trolleys and my GG-1, but running overhead wire seems like a daunting task, even if it's just for show. There is a trolley club in Pennsylvania that runs overhead wire. They usually have a display at the train shows here.
It a rather impressive one too, with handlaid track. Got no clue how they managed to make a transportable layout with working catenary. That stuff is so fragile! Probably the reason why the catenary system on that layout looks kinda janky and uneven, but hey it works!
running all that live catenary might be worth it just to see the sparks especially in dim light. does that happen on these layouts? -rob
MisterBeasley Just for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary? I'm sure someone has tried it.
Just for curiosity, has anyone here actually run locomotives, or even trolleys, from live catenary? I'm sure someone has tried it.
I did it, for 32 years. Only the engines were 1:1. The catenary was indeed live unless you pulled it down or the pantograph broke. Did that a few times. But I don't remember getting tangled up so badly that we couldn't change pans and keep going.
Actually I got to run O-scale Lionel GG-1's under live catenary, when I was about 12 years old. I was in Junior High and there was a young lady in class who said her father had trains running around his attic. So I asked to see them, and got to visit.
It was a good sized colonial with a BIG attic and her dad had a Lionel railroad running all around the edges of the rafters. It had catenary and GG-1's that drew power from the overhead.
I made several more trips over there, as much to run the trains as mess with the girl.
Her dad's name was actually "Lionel", too. Several years later, he went up to become president of the Mt. Washington Cog Railroad. Too bad I didn't get a job up there running his steam trains...
gmpullmanEven he runs with "pans down" because of fears of snagging the wire.
Snagging was a problem on the 12 inch to 1 foot scale PRR too. It's why they ran their motors with the rear pans up. If it snagged some wire and was damaged or, God forbid, tore down some of the overhead, they could limp home on the front pan. BTW, in order to avoid wearing holes in the contact shoe, it was a roller rather than a slider, and to spread the wear on it from friction with the overhead, the trolley wire zig-zagged back and forth instead of going straight down the center of the track
The turn this thread has taken has me chuckling a bit. Back in the olden days (decades before DCC) I actually played around with getting that 'spark show' prototype experience from "PRR style" catenary by putting appropriate loading coils attached to very-well-insulated and isolated pans and using a homemade Tesla coil to energize the 'overhead' to make the sparks fly. The primary AC was coordinated with the track voltage and could be 'turned on and off' so the sparks would only occur at desired times and places.
Whether the spark RFI would induce critical problems with modern equipment, I can't say. But some of the testing (with AHM and Rivarossi GG1s IIRC) was pretty fun...
(No, I don't have pictures, this being just before the advent of good VCRs and camcorders. But it's easy to take a toilet-paper or paper-towel core, put about 10 turns of #12 on for the primary, and wind on the thin magnet wire... test by hooking it up to that 18VAC accessory tap and watch it go! )