Does every bit of track need catenaries?

[sonic7]

I've laid down a couple of miles of track and I'm ready to add catenaries. Does every piece of track need them? I'm using the Android Trainz app and there is a limited choice of catenary, and when I notice that the catenary posts are very close together. It just doesn't look right. But I have seen some catenaries d their posts on Youtube videos and they are a good distance apart and look better.

And what are the little blue power box things that go on the side of the track? I don't think I have them in Android.

 

[Vern]

Although electric trains will run perfectly okay without catenary in Trainz, in real life there is continuous wiring - just think about it logically, where is the pantograph going to end up? Sticking in the air at maximum height and bringing down the first section of OHLE it comes to next.

Re blue boxes - pictures? Could be the neutral section aka phase break. Quote from Wikipedia: "In countries such as France, South Africa and the United Kingdom, permanent magnets beside the rails at either side of the neutral section operate a bogie-mounted transducer on the train which causes a large electrical circuit-breaker to open and close when the locomotive or the pantograph vehicle of a multiple unit passes them."

 

[JackClare1995]

Overhead supports/gantries should be about 50m apart, I think. I know literally nothing about the Android version but do you have the UKCat assets?

Also, I've never seen little blue power boxes... If you mean the purple/green thing attached to the third mast in this image, that is a Booster Transformer and the role of this is to collect the return current from the rails and ensure it flows to the return conductor without touching other, harmful pieces of metal and reducing the risk of interference to communication and electronic systems.

Jack

 

[PerRock]

it depends on what your doing. If part of the line isn't going to be served by electric trains, then no you don't need catenaries.

peter

 

[sonic7]

it depends on what your doing. If part of the line isn't going to be served by electric trains, then no you don't need catenaries.

peter

My Trainz will all be electric. Should every piece of track have a catenary? I've seen some electric trainz video examples that have no catenaries. Seems odd to have miles and miles of catenary - imagine what the cost would be?

 

[ColPrice2002]

The alternative to overhead power is to have the "third rail" system.

The East coast mainline (UK) is overhead gantry powered for electric trains; the SE commuter network is mostly 3rd rail.
Both systems have pros & cons, but to run an electric locomotive unit, it must get the power somehow...

Colin

 

[sonic7]

The alternative to overhead power is to have the "third rail" system.

The East coast mainline (UK) is overhead gantry powered for electric trains; the SE commuter network is mostly 3rd rail.
Both systems have pros & cons, but to run an electric locomotive unit, it must get the power somehow...

Colin

A third rail is just a strip of metal at the side of the track, which carries volts of electricity. Is that right?

 

[ColPrice2002]

The third rail is "just a strip of metal" in the same way that the rails are "just a strip of metal".
The profile is similar to the rails, but it's supported on ceramic insulators at regular intervals, in turn these are fixed to the sleepers.
They are arranged so that at sensitive locations the power rail is furthest from the public (stations) and not continuous across level crossings. Obviously, there are similar breaks at switches and crossovers.

IIRC, the voltages are different for 3rd rail and overhead.

Colon

 

[PWeiser]

Gaps

Though it is not common, a few short stretches may not have overhead wire (if that's the system you're using) - the usual reason is moveable track, particularly (short) drawbridges. The pantographs will go all the way up (unless locked down by the driver) and he will either lower and raise them again when overhead resumes, or an angled contact wire will guide them down to normal again. The train coasts across the unwired section. If the train has a current bus connected from car to car (some locomotives and MUs have this) and the train is long enough, power is not lost.

If your railroad uses third rail and you can find matching track with and without third rail included, you can carefully lay segments of the the "without" version at switches, etc. and run the track spline the "wrong" way when necessary to keep the third rail away from platforms. Like perfectly continuous catenary wire, this is one of those things only you (who built it) and a very few nit-pickers will notice (g) .