Model Railway Forum

All lines, telegraph or power come down to earth level at some point, usually to some kind of box to be transported further by underground means. How about this sort of arrangement at the edge of baseboards with them coming out of another box on the other side up to poles again?

I saw a demo set up of that ezline on a trade stand at the Kings Lynn show recently inviting one to try it and it is very very elastic indeed, quite impressive. If you do string up the poles remember that there is a natural droop between them caused by the weight of the cable. I remember finding it quite hypnotic watching them though a train window as they raised and fell as we went along.

In the end I went for two black washes and one brown and added some colour to the steps and arm stays.
Now to work out the route for the poles and wires around the layout and any non-standard poles that may have to be made.

20190806_121145 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Just saw your post TWD, certainly they disappear underground these days as all the poles around here seem to be there purely to distribute the lines to individual buildings. Not so sure how it would have been in the 50’s - my memory seems to remember their being a lot more wires and poles back when I were a lad.

In days of old the wires went straight into the exchange or house at roof level. Open copper wire is a trite difficult to bury.

You could have a cable strung between the poles. They replaced open wires but they usually left the arms on the poles.

No photos tonight (hooray I hear you cry). But I have kept busy placing the 'standard' poles on the layout, then building another ten or so 'non-standard' ones - a mixture of one arm, four arm, extra tall and an 'A post' as suggested by WTD.
The idea of actually adding the wires is definitely on hold though as I'd need over 200' of thread!

Finished the second batch of poles today, now trying them out around the layout.
Apart from the A-pole on the bridge embankment, they are all stuck in blobs of blu-tac so are a bit high at present.

20190807_182010 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

The ones around the level crossing look a little confused without wires so I may have to rethink this bit as you can’t tell which poles are linked together.

20190807_182343 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Looks good to my untrained eye.

JohnSmithUK wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:36 pm Looks good to my untrained eye.

The expert will be along later.
Thanks John, I’m pleased - total cost £3.50 for 23 poles.

Looks good to me. Like the A pole.

Steve M wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:38 pm

JohnSmithUK wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:36 pm Looks good to my untrained eye.

The expert will be along later.
Thanks John, I’m pleased - total cost £3.50 for 23 poles.

My type of spend.

Opinions sought.
Trying to establish how to add wires to the poles that are able to cope with board joints.

Same view as before but I have put two poles back to back at the board joint - the idea being that the eye will ‘see’ only one pole.

20190808_113732 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

However, in this version I have placed the poles about 3” apart across the board joint and this small section simply won’t be wired at all.

20190808_115430 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

What do you reckon?