Jump to content
 

GWR Lineside Fencing


Recommended Posts

This may (or may not) be the best place to put this discussion but ...

 

I want to install some line side fencing on my layout Modbury.  The fencing I want to make is post and wire, unfortunately I cannot find any specific information on the nature of GWR post and wire line side fencing.  I have in the back of my head that the posts were at 6'0" centres, and there were 7 wires (not equally spaced - those nearer the ground being closer together than the ones at the top).

 

So to the questions...

Were the posts at 6'0" centres?

How tall (above ground) were the posts?

What were the wire spacings up the post?

How often were diagonal supports provided at the posts? (I am assuming old bridge rail supports)

Anything else I might need to know?!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Ian

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

This may (or may not) be the best place to put this discussion but ...

 

I want to install some line side fencing on my layout Modbury.  The fencing I want to make is post and wire, unfortunately I cannot find any specific information on the nature of GWR post and wire line side fencing.  I have in the back of my head that the posts were at 6'0" centres, and there were 7 wires (not equally spaced - those nearer the ground being closer together than the ones at the top).

 

So to the questions...

Were the posts at 6'0" centres?

How tall (above ground) were the posts?

What were the wire spacings up the post?

How often were diagonal supports provided at the posts? (I am assuming old bridge rail supports)

Anything else I might need to know?!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Ian

 There are details of GWR post and wire fencing in GWR Journal No. 56.

If you can't get hold of a copy, the info you asked for is as follws:

Posts at 6'0" centres, 5'0" above ground level

Spacing from ground  in inches 4 4 4 5 6 7 10 12

Diagonal supports and straining posts were from Bridge Rail. Unfortunately, no mention of centres at which they were placed but in concrete post and wire fencing, they were at 360'0" centres.

Hope that helps.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Straight straining posts every 100 posts ones with a single brace at the ends and double braced where there's a severe change of direction. At least that's how they're arranged on the East Somerset Railway, I know, I counted 'em all.

 

Edit, I added an extra 0 by mistake.

Edited by Siberian Snooper
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Ratio GWR Lineside Fencing (423) has 36 posts and wire made from styrene. I tried installing this but had trouble sticking the wire to the posts, and in any case needed more than 36 posts and live in the US. My solution was to make posts from suitable square section styrene, drilled using a little jig and then planted and painted. For wire I used dark brown cotton threaded through the holes. To make threading easier I stiffened the end of the cotton with superglue.

 

I'm not sure if lineside fencing is drilled or has the wire stapled to the posts but wire and post fences used as station fencing is drilled.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The wire is held to the post with a staple through a hole in the post and the ends bent out. The wires are on the non railway side. I just plant the posts, from a normal blindside view you don't tend to notice the wires, ditto for telephone/telegraph wires.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

While I was at the GWS on Saturday I notice this dismantled tensioner along side the stop blocks at the far end of the Transfer Shed.

 

The top

post-5204-0-69426000-1530125694_thumb.jpg

 

The bottom, note that the angled piece as a bend at this end too, and a cross rail

post-5204-0-47621900-1530125717_thumb.jpg

 

November 1883?

post-5204-0-97689200-1530125727_thumb.jpg

 

I'd like to find a source for 4mm scale rail like this as there is so much [still] around for GWR and BR (WR) modellers to represent in minature. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

While I was at the GWS on Saturday I notice this dismantled tensioner along side the stop blocks at the far end of the Transfer Shed.

 

The top

attachicon.gif166.JPG

 

The bottom, note that the angled piece as a bend at this end too, and a cross rail

attachicon.gif167.JPG

 

November 1883?

attachicon.gif167b.jpg

 

I'd like to find a source for 4mm scale rail like this as there is so much [still] around for GWR and BR (WR) modellers to represent in minature.

 

Years ago I got a couple of lengths from a member of the Broad Gauge Society, I don't know if they still make it, as I could use a few more lengths.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 There are details of GWR post and wire fencing in GWR Journal No. 56.

If you can't get hold of a copy, the info you asked for is as follws:

Posts at 6'0" centres, 5'0" above ground level

Spacing from ground  in inches 4 4 4 5 6 7 10 12

Diagonal supports and straining posts were from Bridge Rail. Unfortunately, no mention of centres at which they were placed but in concrete post and wire fencing, they were at 360'0" centres.

Hope that helps.

 

That all makes perfect sense to my understanding of the subject :)

Though when you read it as a spec you could almost wonder what the GWR were thinking would try to get through the fence? It is certainly built to last!

 

Field fences are (nearly almost) always stapled from the field side, it stops the beasts in the field breaking through by pushing against it; fences make good scratching posts.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for all of the replies everyone.  

 

Because I model in 2mmFS I have done a bit of experimenting - I decided to model just the top 5 wires, so made a little jig that takes 2 brass posts spaced at 36mm (i.e. 18'0") with a view to adding 2 plastic intermediate posts once installed.  Horizontal lines were scribed on the tufnol jig at the wire spacing, holes were drilled at one end of these lines to accept pegs around which the wires looped so that one length of wire provided 2 fencing wires. Fine slots were sawn at the other end of the scribed lines so that the wires could be secured parallel to each other while being soldered in place.

 

0.05mm wire was soldered to the posts, the assembly moved along the jig so that another post could be inserted and the process repeated.  I ended up with a length of fencing about 10" long.  

 

What I discovered was that even when keeping the wire under tension as it was soldered on I still ended up with the odd slightly slack wire.  Seeing the wire while trying to keep everything on the jig was a bit of an issue too!  So in retrospect I have decided to abandon the idea of having wires on my fencing and will just be planting posts at 6'0" intervals.  I have however made up a couple of straining posts from 2mm Association Flat Bottom rail - Firstly the rail head was removed by draw filing (and sanding) to leave me with a "bridge rail" section.  The upright part of the straining post is simply a length of this rail, the diagonal support has a slot sawn through the upright part of this rail section to allow it to be bent through 45 degrees.  A little jig was made to hold the upright post and the diagonal support in the correct alignment while the pair were soldered together.

 

For info, the original fencing jig looks like this :

post-12089-0-67363400-1530305389_thumb.jpg

 

The resultant length of fencing loos like this (after painting the posts) :

post-12089-0-20590900-1530305374_thumb.jpg

 

I forgot to take a photo of the straining posts but I will rectify that soon.

 

Thanks again for your assistance.

Ian

Link to post
Share on other sites

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have abandoned the idea of having wires on my 2mm scale fencing.  So I ended up making the posts from 1mm square Evergreen plastic strip, cut into ~15mm lengths with a point cut onto one end.  These were painted with Precision Paints Track Colour (Weathered Sleepers) - a grey colour, then a wash of PP Sleeper Grime was applied almost as a water colour wash to vary the colour of the posts slightly.  I will eventually apply a wash of green to the foot of the posts too with the posts in place, again to provide a bit of variety.

 

To provide the strainer posts of bridge rail, I have taken some 2mm Association Flat Bottom rail :

post-12089-0-68963800-1530616669_thumb.jpg

 

And after a bit of draw filing and sanding I produced some lengths of Bridge Rail by removing the head of the rail :

post-12089-0-80436100-1530616727_thumb.jpg

 

A saw cut was made in the rail-head of the bridge rail section to allow a 45 degree bend to be made so that a support could be fabricated for the strainer post, this was soldered in place on the strainer post upright (the pair were held together in a jig of bits of spring steel wire in the end of a piece of balsa - evident in photo below) :

post-12089-0-23848700-1530616915_thumb.jpg

 

These strainer posts were painted in Precision Paints Rust, again with Sleeper Grime washes to vary the colour.

 

The final effect of putting these posts in position on the layout can be seen in this photo :

post-12089-0-42957900-1530617083_thumb.jpg

 

I'm quite pleased with the effect, although I intend to progress the effect further by painting a green wash on some of the posts, adding some taller dry grass around the posts and along the fence line, and obviously adding some vegetation growing up some of the posts will hopefully improve and vary the effect too.

 

Ian

Edited by Ian Smith
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

If I may make a suggestion. A top wire would allow some vegetation to be represented growing up the fence, ie very stretched out Woodland Scenics foliage mats. A bit late now they have been positioned, but....Looks good anyway, at that distance the wires would not be visible anyway as you have obviously deduced!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...