How high is a double-rail handrail?

[aardvark]

HI all:

 

I'm a beginner, researching my first layout, which will be of Banff, Scotland.  I'm trying to estimate the size of things using some old photos, but not being a UK resident, I sometimes struggle to find something of a known size to scale things from.  In this case, I have photos of the seawall at Banff, which is topped by a double-rail railing.

 

 

It would be enormously helpful if someone could tell me the height of the prototypical railing, especially in the 1950's - the era of my future layout.  Knowing that, I could guestimate the height of the seawall, and hence what height my baseboards need to be raised to.

 

An internet search has yielded AS Supplies as a supplier of modern handrail stanchions, thereby suggesting that the railing could be 1100mm (3' 7").  With WH&S, modern railings could well be taller than vintage railings - I would simply have no clue.

 

best regards to anyone reading this!

 

[Mim]

3'7" sounds about right. They seem to fall around elbow height on an average height (5'8") or so person. I know they tend to be taller these days if cyclists are going to be using a bridge for example. I have seen lower walls in older places, Georgian walls on some canals, rather than Victorian, but by Victorian days, 1840's, 50's and later, they seemed to think it a good idea that walls and fences were high enough so people didn't easily topple over the top. And this is the Victorians mind, long before Ealth-n-Safety was invented! A fence on a harbour wall is going to be replaced fairly often, wood, or metal, what with salt, wind and impact damage from men working, so by the 1950's, it is going to be a reasonable height I reckon.

 

Mim

Edited October 14, 2017 by Mim

[Dunsignalling]

In the 1950s, they wouldn't have been metric so probably 3'6" - so the commercial ones should be OK.

 

Prototypically, anything much lower wouldn't protect taller people and anything much higher would need a third rail to prevent children slipping through. It's not, therefore, something that will have varied much over time.

 

I've used 15mm (nominal) ones in the past to Anglicise a Heljan turntable (which, being HO, comes with lower ones) and they do look right.

 

John

[aardvark]

Absolutely awesome!

 

Perhaps I can venture something more challenging: the Banff goods yard gates.

 

 

Could these also be elbow-height?

 

cheers!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Those gates are going to be 'man height +' in my estimation, as they are for security to prevent unauthorised access and potential pilferage from the goods yard. Look at the lock arrangement at the far end, that's probably at the 3' to 4' off the ground position.

[Bernard Lamb]

Those gates are going to be 'man height +' in my estimation, as they are for security to prevent unauthorised access and potential pilferage from the goods yard. Look at the lock arrangement at the far end, that's probably at the 3' to 4' off the ground position.

I would go with that. My way and your way come out fairly close to each other.

My rough guide is to think in terms of 4" x 4" and 6" x 4"  nominal sizes for the timbers and go from there.

That probably gives a post of around 16" x 16".

Bernard

[N15class]

I would put the gate around 5 foot high, and the post.would be no more than 12 X 12.

[LBRJ]

I would put the gate around 5 foot high, and the post.would be no more than 12 X 12.

 

That is more like it - though probably the gate is about 4ft 6" max in height

 

The "braces" (for want of a better word) on the gate look to be 4" x 2" if the proportions are right, which would make the gate post about 12 x 8"

 

It looks fit for the bonfire though, I cant imagine many railways would have accepted that even when it was new!

[Vespa]

I remember gates like that in my area in NW UK. They were around 5 foot high and you could just see over them. Try looking at preserved railway sites as I am sure these were fairly standard around UK depots and yards.