So I’ve been thinking out the upcoming improvements to train suspension and thought maybe in the future an update could be made to improve the relationship between the train body, pantograph and OHLE. Part 1. Pantograph improvements (complicated/complex) As it currently stands the only movement that the pantograph experiences is from the trains body and as far as I’m aware the only movement the pan does is animation based and not physics based meaning the pan (pantograph) exerts no actual force on the the catenary. In real life, the pan maintains a connection with the contact wire via primary suspension on the frame taking a constant supply of air from the main reservoir creating an uplift on the wire, whilst this is particularly implemented it’s not fully realistic as the pan has no effect on the wire. Furthermore, (on a per pantograph basis) the secondary suspension would need to be then handle correctly. For example: the Class 700 uses the Bracknell Willis (floating head) high speed Mk 2 pan with vertical spring plungers, if it handled how it does in real life the primary suspension would manage the large changes in wire height as well as trains suspension whilst the secondary suspension would manage the smaller changes in wire height. (Less important it the floating head part of the pan simply means the shape of the head isn’t fixed, essentially is the wire is on the left side of the pan head it will dip and the right side will rise up slightly.) Part 2. Catenary improvements (slightly more straight forward) When ever the pan is under the wire whether stationary or in movement the pan exerts a constant force just enough to keep in contact but not too much to break the wire. During movement the pan will leave behind a wave that pounces the wire up and down slightly, the faster the trains goes the more obvious the effect will look. (If the train has more than one pan up at a time such as the Class 700 then the back pan will experience from movement). A physics update like this would do nicely with the updated suspension.
