Easy telephone wires.
Posted
#232540
(In Topic #12734)
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He turned white and said "Noooooooo, you will be for ever breaking them and they will restrict your access to the track"
He was, as ever, quite right, so I had to get my thinking cap on. After much thought and consideration, plus a fair bit of planning, I came up with the following solution.
I would only fix the cables in a couple of places then loop and leave loose all the other connections, that way the 'wire' would fall off when knocked.
Wilf had kindly given me a reel of invisible thread that he had found at his local haberdashery store, it is a little stretchy so gives if knocked so is ideal for what I wanted.
The following is a little 'How To' which I hope will help and encourage this addition to any ones lay out who may otherwise not think it worth the constant repairing.
John :)
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
I planned to run my lines to both my station and goods shed so this dictated to a degree their position. I also wanted them to exit the lay out in a way that would suggest a continuation of the telephone net work.
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
My goods shed was already fixed in place, however I had left my station loose and this proved idea because it will move if the wires are knocked, again preventing brakeage and allowing the wire to just unloop from around the fixing pin.
I drilled a small hole in the roof of the station and of the goods shed. Next I cut down two track pins which were glued into the holes (see what a cheep skate I am).
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
Then I took the thread to the station fixing pin and just looped it around. The thread was then taken to and looped around one of the Porcelain Insulators (the white bits on the pole) and taken to the final pole, resting the thread inside of one of the Porcelain Insulators and finally into a tree so I could pull the thread through and attach it to the bottom of my base board, thus securing it and making it look like it was going off into the distance.
I added a second line, this one going into the ground, up onto the first pole then over to the last pole, again just looped. This too was taken into a tree and fixed to the underside of the base board.
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
The whole process took less than two hours. I also used the invisible thread to add fishing line to my fishermen's rods, plus a dab of paint for a float on one and a little ball of Milliput for the other guys float.
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
Both of these scenarios are very quick and easy to rectify.
So in short, I think this is a simple and durable system that will add a little more to a lay out.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, all the best,
John :)
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
I have seen somewhere that an elasticated thread has been used that is black in colour. Will try to remember where I saw it.
Last edit: by Bob K
Posted
Site staff
I have used that Bob in my Charde station - will get a photo later. If John doesn't mind me adding it to his thread ?It is good to have wires on the layout and I like the way you have made them nice and tight. Getting the colour right and the scale thickness is a challenge though. Your wires look about right scale wise.
I have seen somewhere that an elasticated thread has been used that is black in colour. Will try to remember where I saw it.
Ron
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
Posted
Full Member
I don't mind at all :)[user=11]Bob K[/user] wrote:I have used that Bob in my Charde station - will get a photo later. If John doesn't mind me adding it to his thread ?It is good to have wires on the layout and I like the way you have made them nice and tight. Getting the colour right and the scale thickness is a challenge though. Your wires look about right scale wise.
I have seen somewhere that an elasticated thread has been used that is black in colour. Will try to remember where I saw it.
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Inactive Member
Max
Port Elderley
Port Elderley
Posted
Site staff
http://www.modellers-warehouse.com.au/product-detail.php?d=EZ%20Line%20Black%20Heavy&c=18
Mine was from Modellers Warehouse called oingo boingo before they changed the name.
Ron
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
Posted
Site staff
Ron
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
Posted
Full Member
I'm no expert on any of this, but are these telephone or telegraph wires? I have read that the average branch line had a minimum of 5-7 lines for block control (telegraph) and railway telephone. A small station would probably not be directly connected to the GPO. I suspect the telephone line to the station would have gone through the signal cabin (the switchboard would be on the ground level).
One other thing I've noticed is that not all insulators were on the tops of the cross bars, many were underneath. I have no idea why.
Nigel
©Nigel C. Phillips
Posted
Full Member
MaxSouthOz they look excellent to, lots of modelling uses which is a bonus.
Nigel They could represent either, my station doubled up has a Home Guard HQ during the war so they may have had an extra phone line installed ;-)
Great feed back and help thank you all :thumbs
John.
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Full Member
Nice storyline. You must have a concrete pillbox lurking somewhere. Up until the late 1950's and early 1960's on branch lines telephone communication was still carried over the telegraph lines, which carried the sacrosanct block control. The GWR had a system where 8 way stations could be called on the one line. Check out samhallas.co.uk for a nice history of railway telecommunications. Interesting reading.
Nigel
©Nigel C. Phillips
Posted
Full Member
"Nice storyline. You must have a concrete pillbox lurking somewhere."
It just so happens I have ;-) I need to weather it a little more and make the hooks rusty.
Oh, Dr Beeching what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
There once were lots of trains to catch, but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car.
Oh, Dr Beeching what a naughty man you are!
Posted
Legacy Member
I think it was a magician accesories web page. Take a look see if is as required.
reg
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reg
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