Lift-out bridge rail clamps

Had 2 sets of the Glendale junction ones on ebay no one wanted any so after being relisted twice I took them off so still available if any one is intrested if not I will take them with some other odds and s*** to the garden railway show at Bressingham in August
 
Interesting, now the site is closed, I cannot confirm, but I was sure the picture on Glendale Junction was of the Hillman bridge clamps, with the spring loaded ball bearing.

index.jpg


This picture clearly shows the spring loaded ball bearing. In my communication I was told that these were Genuine Hillman bridge clamps.

In any case, if what was sold was just a solid screw, that would explain why some people had issues, they don't work worth a darn without the "spring" that snaps the rail in place.

Greg
 
The Glendale ones are quite sevicable so long as you are hapyy with them just to locate the rails. As a "belt and braces" measure I have added bonded cables with singled plug type "mini chock block "connectors" to safeguard the power situation. I have seen on some lines bridges where the rail alignment is just down to friction between a bridge's base plates at the ends and a couple of well seated pads - ok these are on 16 mm scale/45 mm gauge lines where battery and live steam are exclusively/predominantly in use - In one instance they did have "by-pass" electrical wiring too - a set of leads bonded from the mainline to the bridge rails at one end and from the mainline also a pair of "jumpers" buried in the ground connecting to the track at the other end - but no bridge clamps or any physical way of fixing the alignment. Never seen a derailment at any of those lines, even with multiple operators on the line. Max

20190702_183350.jpg
 
I could never see how there was enough 'meat' in the Hillman clamps to get a ball, spring, and adjustment screw in that much metal?
 
I toyed with the idea of clamps when I put the lift out over the path,I just used guides on the lift out to position it when it goes in and simply used sliding rail joiners(with LGB paste)to properly align the track and for good conductivity,works fine,the joiners stay on the lift out rails to protect them when not on use but i`m just a cheapskate!!!
 
Ralphmp said:
That is a good description of the clamps I bought. Unfortunately, I could never get things to align correctly and securely. No doubt it was me being cack-handed.
Click to expand...
Ah that probably means that mine must be original Hillman ones but bought from Glendale before he started producing his own after the lack of Hillman availability.

My lifting (living bloody auto correction!) section is a link into my Tin Shed and 2 Tracks have Hillman Bridge Clamps, for the other end Sliding Loose Fit Hillman are used for the 4 Tracks. Electrically a single long wire just flops behind the baseboard and splits to provide Power to all 4 Rails. The single Wire is then split to feed each Track, being DCC I have no worries or need for Track Sectioning in this area. No worries about cutting out for safety either as it will not fit in place if the Shed Door is not open.
Pic 1 you can see the long wire at the rear of the Lifting Section.
402571CD-E9C0-41D2-8CCF-3841BDBB1ECE.jpeg
Pic 2 shows the Split of Wires to feed the 4 Rails. All now redundant now that I only play with live Steam or Battery.
03CCE6AC-5AA4-453D-8D9D-28620951090F.jpeg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom