Hello from Philip

[Philip Sharp]

Welcome Phiip.
On the treatment of wood sleepers....



We have a '5 star' treatment made by Cuprinol and Ronseal which is spirit based and counteracts all types of rot and insect infestation. It is clear, soaks in really well (due to being spirit based) treats all types of wood and dries quick.
It comes in up to 5 litre cans and costs about £45 for the 5 litres over here, but one can will do all of our decking area with the fencing and balustrades and the arbour, the layout buildings, bridges and trestles. So not bad value at all.
I tend to do the decking, fencing, balustrades and arbour once every two years and the layout buildings about every three years. This is probably not necessary (as it should last for a minimum of 5 years) but I like to make sure that all is well especially as the original treatment for the decking, arbour wood etc was only guaranteed for 10 years.
I have used it on all of my layout's wooden buildings, trestles, bridges (I use western red cedar for the construction), and also our arbour seating and decking/pergola area. My layout buildings have been out all year round for up to 11 years and the decking, pergola and the arbour seating has been in situ for 14 years. So far so good (I hate tempting providence).
I am sure that you can find the equivalent over there.

Thanks for this. I clearly will need to check more about what readily available product we have that is suitable for sleepers.

 

[Philip Sharp]

Welcome to the Forum Philip.

I think your choice of motive power (track-powered, battery, live steam) may have a bearing on how well you get on with the dual-gauge track??

I would have thought you could get some suitable timber 'down there', probably something we have never heard of!

I thought of another possibility while walking to the local Tesco 20 or so minutes ago - Yellow Cedar. There is someone in NZ who imports it and sells it retail to model railroaders.

Up to now I have been assuming imported or non-native NZ wood. There are a few native NZ species that are suitable. The sheep farms I was raised on had plenty of Totara fence posts. Pine is used almost exclusively for fence posts now and has been for decades but Totara fence posts are occasionally for sale. I'm unsure how easy it would be cut these down to sleeper size and whether they would split too much.

Philip

 

[Rhinochugger]

I thought of another possibility while walking to the local Tesco 20 or so minutes ago - Yellow Cedar. There is someone in NZ who imports it and sells it retail to model railroaders.

Up to now I have been assuming imported or non-native NZ wood. There are a few native NZ species that are suitable. The sheep farms I was raised on had plenty of Totara fence posts. Pine is used almost exclusively for fence posts now and has been for decades but Totara fence posts are occasionally for sale. I'm unsure how easy it would be cut these down to sleeper size and whether they would split too much.

Philip

Which branch of Tesco sells yellow cedar?

 

[David1226]

Welcome to the Forum Philip.

I think your choice of motive power (track-powered, battery, live steam) may have a bearing on how well you get on with the dual-gauge track??

I would have thought you could get some suitable timber 'down there', probably something we have never heard of!

Last time I had timber 'down there' it was called a splint.....

David

 

[Zerogee]

Last time I had timber 'down there' it was called a splint.....

David

Jon.

 

[Philip Sharp]

Which branch of Tesco sells yellow cedar?

Cute! The one at Highams Park. It's a special order and you have to order in person. There is a pass phrase - "Well yo cared".

More seriously, I see I did not answer a question in your previous email about what motive power I plan to use. Eventually, I would like to try live steam but that would be years down the road (track). And I prefer battery power over track-powered.

Philip

 

[Frank Gallagher]

You get little blue tablets for that now (or so I'm told)

 

[Zerogee]

Cute! The one at Highams Park. It's a special order and you have to order in person. There is a pass phrase - "Well yo cared".

More seriously, I see I did not answer a question in your previous email about what motive power I plan to use. Eventually, I would like to try live steam but that would be years down the road (track). And I prefer battery power over track-powered.

Philip

Well, if you're not having track power then that should make things a little easier when building dual-gauge pointwork, you won't have to worry about electrical insulation at all!

Jon.

 

[Philip Sharp]

Well, if you're not having track power then that should make things a little easier when building dual-gauge pointwork, you won't have to worry about electrical insulation at all!

Jon.

That's a good point. I was preferring battery power over track power because it would simplify the electrical work on the layout as a whole. I did not specifically think about how battery power simplifies the pointwork. That would be enough for me to definitely go with battery power.

Philip

 

[David1226]

Track power, battery power, steam power..... who needs it....



David

 

[Gizzy]

Track power, battery power, steam power..... who needs it....

View attachment 226445

David

Are you stringing us along David,,,,

 

[Philip Sharp]

Track power, battery power, steam power..... who needs it....

View attachment 226445

David

Err, actually, I do. I intend using the pointwork to meet some requirements of the NMRA Civil certificate and locomotives that do not run under their own power are not allowed, such a pity.

Philip

 

[Zerogee]

Track power, battery power, steam power..... who needs it....

View attachment 226445

David

Bit of a KoF you've got there, David....

Jon.

 

[Rhinochugger]

That's a good point. I was preferring battery power over track power because it would simplify the electrical work on the layout as a whole. I did not specifically think about how battery power simplifies the pointwork. That would be enough for me to definitely go with battery power.

Philip

I have a bit of all three, track, steam and battery, but battery can be easy if you go that way from the start.

 

[stockers]

I like the string . Could catch on. No track cleaning and no batteries to charge - and its cheap.

 

[Rhinochugger]

I like the string . Could catch on. No track cleaning and no batteries to charge - and its cheap.

So what happens when the string breaks

 

[David1226]

So what happens when the string breaks

Get knotted

David

 

[PhilP]

So what happens when the string breaks

Better than piston broke!


Enough of this.. OP will think we are a bunch of "chuffin' nutters!"

 

[Philip Sharp]

Better than piston broke!


Enough of this.. OP will think we are a bunch of "chuffin' nutters!"

It's good to see off topic postings are permitted!

 

[stockers]

It's good to see off topic postings are permitted!

This forum is legendary for its 'Thread Drift'. We do try to get the subject matter dealt with first (and often fail) but a bit of humour or just moving to a completely different topic seems normal!