BelugaLab
WikiTrain System Utilities

Pantograph

Pantograph

A current-collecting device mounted on the roof of a train car. While running under a wire, it auto-contacts and transfers FE / Create energy to the car's buffer.

Installation

  1. Hold the pantograph in your hand and right-click the roof (top face) of a train car to install it.
  2. Mount it on the car's roof before assembling it into a Create train (once assembled, it moves together with the train).
  3. The pantograph is a Geckolib animation model that moves up and down (extend / retract).
  4. While the train runs, it auto-extends when it enters under a wire and retracts when it leaves.

Manually extending / retracting

When you right-click a placed pantograph with an empty hand, you can manually toggle between extended and folded ("Pantograph: Extended / Folded" is shown on the action bar). Useful for effects such as lowering the pantograph only while stopped at a station.

When you want to operate the whole train's pantographs at once, you can select the train from the Trains tab of the management computer and use "Extend All Pantographs" / "Fold All Pantographs" in the electrification details.

Power principle

[Wire]
     ↓ contact (while moving)
[Pantograph]
     ↓ FE transfer
[Any car's buffer on the same train]
     - Own car's buffer (pantograph-equipped)
     - Other cars' FE Inverters (coupled cars)
     - Onboard Create machines

Connection diagram (overall)

[FE power source / Create energy]
     ↓
[Substation Cubicle] (FE → wire feed)
     ↓ insulator connection
[Wire]
     ↓ contact
[Train Pantograph]
     ↓
[FE Inverter]
     ↓
[Create machines / other-mod electrical mechanisms]

Multi-car behavior

  • Even if only one car has a pantograph, FE is shared across the entire train
  • Put FE Inverters on other cars to also feed their buffers
  • Even after the train leaves the wire, it can run a certain distance on remaining buffer FE
  • Train pool-level electrification check (isTrainElectrified) — if one car is under a wire, the entire train counts as electrified

Chunk-load independence

Even when the train sits at a station outside loaded chunks, its buffer doesn't decay, and re-contact continues when it returns. The substation side keeps feeding power chunk-independently via SubstationRegistry (SavedData).