CARBARN CONSTRUCTION 2 (updated 5 July 2023)
I have installed the poles for the overhead in the carbarn. The poles are integral to the structure and will be hidden in the walls of the carbarn. The poles are brass rod that is threaded for the bottom 1 1/2". After drilling a slightly undersized hole, I chuck the poles up in the drill and drill them into the holes. A small amount of thread is exposed under the layout where a solderless crimp connector ring can be attached with a 6/32 nut to provide overhead electrical power.
I do not use overhead "troughs" or upside down C channel. I use regular overhead attached to a brass "trolleyboard". To construct this I will install a small brass C channel between span poles (open end up). The "trolley board", which is a 1/2" brass C channel (open end down) with the overhead attached, is then soldered to the cross C channels over the center of the track. Properly soldered straight overhead is very immune to dewirements. There are 20 blocks in this carbarn (4 per track). In the carbarn I switch from "gapped overhead - solid track" to "solid overhead - gapped track" to prevent the possibility of cars stalling on an overhead insulator.
After the poles have been installed, the next phase was to install the cross pieces that will support the overhead "trolleyboard". I used 3/8" x 1/8" "C" channel for the cross pieces. I notched the poles at the height for the "C" channel and cut the "C" channel to slightly more than the distance between the poles. The channel fit into the notches and then was soldered in place. I started with Track #5 which is the furthest from the aisle so I don't have to lean over completed work.
