Lineside concrete cable troughing.

[adeshers]

My railway is DC and will require several wires/cables located along the length of the permanent way. Being of practical mind (I hope) I decided to emulate the big boys, (and my employers!) Britain's Railways and try to model practical lineside concrete troughing to accommodate the multifarious wires required :wits: (my choice ).
I chose to use the smallest available electrical cable trunking I could find (18mm x 18mm). Each 'lid' is 35mm long and is scribed using a junior hacksaw. The cable trunking as bought is so very white that it needs to be toned down. To achieve this and make the scribed joints more prominent I used a wash of Humbrol matt black 'watered down' with white spirit wiped off with a piece of kitchen towel. A couple of photographs to illustrate what I am trying to achieve -

The first, is one section 'scribed' and painted alongside others only scribed (but dirty because they were outside overnight and it rained).

The second is in position alongside the track (but not yet ballasted).

 

[Madman]

Excellent idea, and nice workmanship. Any conduit calculated for size will be too small in the future. Not meant as a criticism.

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

But will it stop the cable theaves? It certainly dosen't here in Sheffield lol..............

 

[Dave Hub]

It looks really good, though I fear that you will have to smash sections with a hammer, to emulate the usual damaged parts next to signals that us drivers fall into in the dark, when signallers have fallen asleep. (no offence to Duncan1984)

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

oy! you could possibly have had another early finish if you'd been on 4e01 today. they just did crew releif at barrowhill with 4o54.

 

[mike]

looks good, i hope its sealed well at the ends.. otherwise the cables will be in a nice bath..

 

[Woderwick]

Drill oles in da bottem den.

 

[Philbahn]

Sinplest thinks work well. Howcome nobody else thought of it.

10/ 10

 

[Bram]

Cracking idea, how do you go around curves especially R1's????

 

[adeshers]

Cracking idea, how do you go around curves especially R1's????

I've not gone round any R1's as yet but the trunking is slightly flexible and can be coaxed around gentle curves. Anything sharper (R5's or less) then the only was is to cut it at an angle ending up with a series of 'tangents' taking it round the curve. Too late for a photo now but I'll post one tomorrow and show what I've done so far. I'll try and ballast a section as well so we can all see how it looks.

 

[mike]

Drill oles in da bottem den.

silly billy ..that will let more in!!!

 

[Madman]

Don't worry about the cables getting wet or even sitting in water. The rubber insulation protects them, and every connection to the track, switch motor, etc., gets wet anyway. I've seen electrical cables pulled out of underground conduits soaking wet, which means that the conduits are full of water.

 

[Aljosha]

That looks so much like the original! Well done.

One question though (no criticism): Why do the 'big' railways go for such a elaborate way of hiding their cables? And we're talking hundreds of miles here. All meticulously done with those small concrete troughs incl. lid. Isn't there an easier way to keep the cables covered and have access, i.e. plastic tubes of 10yrds length, with slid? Perhaps a stupid question...

 

[adeshers]

As promised a couple of photos to show the troughing in position (but not yet ballasted - the weather was too horrid).

The first shows the troughing alongside a gentle curve (Peco flexitrack).

The second shows the troughing next to a compound curve made from LGB R2's and R5's.

 

[stockers]

You could cut each peice nearly through and just lay them with a curve - like the real ones.
Will let the water in and out at the same time.

 

[Bram]

I think I agree with Stockers on that idea and it would give a neat finish

 

[pugwash]

This trunking usually has holes in for fixing with screws or wiv'n'ammer'nails. They have the same in France and I used to see Kms of it with the capping stacked to one side... but after all, that is France and not Chapel-en-le-Frith

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

One question though (no criticism): Why do the 'big' railways go for such a elaborate way of hiding their cables? And we're talking hundreds of miles here. All meticulously done with those small concrete troughs incl. lid. Isn't there an easier way to keep the cables covered and have access, i.e. plastic tubes of 10yrds length, with slid? Perhaps a stupid question...

It just so they can gain easy access when we have signaling failures etc, so that they can get to it quickly. the s&t have however started burrying the cable due to the little gypsy scrotes stealing the copper cable. only thing is then, when it genuinely goes wrong, they have to dig up the whole lot to find a cable fault.

 

[viaEstrecha]

Useful stuff, that conduit - and very clever of you to use it with wires inside! I have used in wireless mode, as bridge parapet - distressed a little with a Stanley knife:

 

[adeshers]

Bit of an update now I've done a little ballasting.