Current Collection from an Overhead Contact System Applied to Railroad Operation

This paper discusses, from a non-mathematical standpoint, certain factors which should enter into the design of an overhead contact system on an electrified railroad. It emphasizes desirable features, mechanical and structural, and indicates practical limits which conditions will permit in the attainment of these features. Tests made by the Pennsylvania Railroad with slow-motion photography are outlined. These tests were made to determine operating conditions of the catenary construction with two different types of supporting attachments, over both curved and tangent track. Deflections and oscillations were studied in order to bring out the most productive sources for future study and improvement of the design in respect both to elimination of wear and to maintenance of uniformly good current collecting qualities.