OHW/Catenary

         HO scale Overhead wiring/Catenary..

The very mention of it amongst modellers here in Australia brings raised eyebrows and the age old " it's too hard to install isn't it, and you'll snag it with something, just have the poles with no wires".

I decided from the start to have a complete catenary setup with wires,poles and gantry's.

Several European brands of HO catenary are available, but none of them match the type we have here in Sydney. Some are close, but not the same. Therefore all parts will be scratchbuilt to suit the layout.

Cronulla, and most of the cronulla branch line had telegraph(wooden) masts holding the overhead wiring from the start, some of these wooden masts were still in use up until the 90's in addition to the later metal replacements. Below are the first few masts I've built.

The HO representation of the wooden mast(single).  Made from 4mm dowel, piano wire, thin chain and sommerfeldt resistors.

The metal gantry type mast. Made from 4mm Plastruct profile, piano wire ,chain and Sommerfeldt resistors.

There are several different types I have to make, including more metal masts(both singles & gantry), plus tensioner poles and pull offs.