Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

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philipy
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Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by philipy » Thu May 16, 2019 3:28 pm

One of the things I've always been meaning to do is add lineside fencing, but apart from a couple of small sections, good intent is as far as it got. Re-instatement of the Halt, next to the bridge over my stream inspired me to address various maintenance issues at the same time, and fencing in the area is one of them.

Years ago I bought a pack of 100, 8x8x600mm stripwood, to use for fence posts but it's been sitting unopened until now.
I was reluctant to simply plant posts in the ground, knowing they would soon move and rot, as the ground and wildlife did their thing, and I didn't want to drill holes in the trackbase for much the same reasons. So I designed two different types of push fit sockets. One to be glued to the top of the trackbase and the other to be fixed to the side as necessary. These were then 3D printed in batches of 9 at a time, taking just under 3 hours per batch. I needed 6 batches in total.
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The sockets were separated, painted and glued to the trackbase using Stixall. The top-mounted ones were then additionally ballasted in, using SBR.
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The side-mounted ones were subsequently buried in a cast mortar stone retaining wall.
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The posts were cut to length and marked for the positions of the wires. The simplest way to fix the wires to the post is of course simply to drill holes right through and thread the wires, but to do this the holes have to be relatively large and anyway real post and wire fences aren't generally constructed like that, the wires are stapled to the face of the posts. To simulate this I bought some 1mm diam x 6mm long, split pins. Holes were then drilled into each post at the required spacings. Diagonal strain posts were added to the two end posts and a couple of centre ones, and they were all dunked in Creocote ( Creosote substitute) for 24 hours and left outside to dry for a few days.

For the fence wires I used grey coloured, woven, 100lb fishing line, which is 0.55mm diameter and looks reasonably like twisted strand fence wire. I cut 3 lengths of line slightly longer than the length of fencing and tied a knot in both ends of each ( Most important, you'll see why shortly). Next comes the fiddly bit, getting the line through the split rings. It's virtually impossible to actually thread them, but by using a pair of fine foreceps and putting one point into the 'eye', it's possible to lodge the longer leg on top of the line and by pushing down, it springs onto the line and can then be pushed right on. It's easier to do than to describe, honestly!
The longest section of fencing worked out at 24 posts long, which requires 24 split pins on each wire and you do NOT want them to start falling off the end of the line before you've finished, hence the need for the knot at each end!

The posts were retrieved from the garden and assembly began by squeezing a small quantity of Gorilla glue onto an old pot lid. The first split pin on the first wire was touched into the glue and then pushed into the top hole in the first post. This was then repeated on subsequent posts, all the way to the end of the section. The second and third wires were then attached in the same way. The wires were tied off at one end only, a dab of glue was applied to fix each knot and the whole lot was left to set overnight.
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It is then simply a case of starting at the knotted end, pushing each post into a socket and easing them along the wires until you come to the far end with, if you get it right, a few inches of each wire left free at the last post. These can then be gently pulled tight, tied off and glued.
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Philip

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by ge_rik » Thu May 16, 2019 4:25 pm

Wow! That looks good, Philip. Amazing what a difference it makes.

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by Peter Butler » Thu May 16, 2019 8:08 pm

Simple and elegant, looks most convincing, nice work.
I'm sure there is a market for those sockets.
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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by Andrew » Fri May 17, 2019 8:34 am

That's brilliant!

A little maintenance of my lineside fencing is on the (lengthy!) summer "to do" list. On mine the wire currently goes through the post, but you're quite right that this is much more realistic. If the posts can take another set of holes being drilled I'll give your way a go, thanks for the idea!

Andrew.

PS, I don't think I ever got round to commenting on your final posts about your stream - wonderful! And another one for the "inspiration for future plans" folder...

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by FWLR » Tue May 21, 2019 8:23 am

Nice job on the fence Phillip, they look just like the real thing.

How much would a batch cost to make ?

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by philipy » Tue May 21, 2019 9:02 am

FWLR wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 8:23 am Nice job on the fence Phillip, they look just like the real thing.

How much would a batch cost to make ?
Thanks.
A batch of 9 of the top mounted sockets would cost about 50pence
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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by DonW » Tue Jul 30, 2019 12:59 pm

Excellent result very effective.
BTW The fencing on the Isle of Wight Railways used concrete posts with holes in them. The wires were not threaded through the holes but something described as a staple was fixed round the wire and through the hole very much like your use of split pins. If you are on the Island many of the old lines are now cycle/walking paths and you can see lots of the old fencing.
In the Forest of Dean they used old pieces of Bridge rail to make the end posts where the wires were attached drilling through the flanges. Possibly a use for spare bits of FB rail if the flange is big enough.

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by -steves- » Tue Jul 30, 2019 2:12 pm

They look absolutely amazing, brilliant job. Honestly can't believe how good they look :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
The buck stops here .......

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by idlemarvel » Tue Jul 30, 2019 2:33 pm

Most impressive. Simple (if you have mastered 3D printing) and very effective.
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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by philipy » Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:17 pm

Thanks chaps. I've actually found an accidental advantage of this system as well. Originally I was intending to glue the posts into the sockets, but before I got around to it, I found that the local wildlife keeps blundering into the fences and/or trying to perch on them, but because they are a push fit, the posts simply get pulled out rather than anything actually getting broken. Then its a 2 second job to push the posts back into their sockets. :D
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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by RobRossington » Tue Jul 30, 2019 10:32 pm

Oh, now I really like that a lot! You’ve got me thinking about where I could use some!

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by philipy » Sun May 29, 2022 12:01 pm

Some of you may remember this thread on my lineside fencing from a couple of years ago.

Time for an update:
Yesterday I was looking round the garden and wishing my back would allow me to get in and push some of the fence posts back into their sockets where the weather and the birds had dislodged them.

This morning I went to look again... guess what? A whole SIX foot long section of fencing has gone, vanished, is no more!!! We've had pigeons in the garden jumping each other for the last couple of days, so I can only assume that one of them has half-inched my fence! They won't break the 'wires', they are braided 100lb nylon fishing line, so presumably there is nest with a nice safety fence, somewhere nearby!

I would have loved to see it flying though!
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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by ge_rik » Sun May 29, 2022 3:17 pm

Love to see a pigeon's nest with safety fencing around it. I suggest you start climbing ladders with camera in hand imediately ...... :lol:

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by Andrew » Sun May 29, 2022 5:27 pm

It's clearly a pigeon with taste - yours is (was...) some of the best fencing I've seen on a garden line...

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by FWLR » Mon May 30, 2022 7:16 am

Now that would have been a sight to behold. a pigeon with six foot fences post dangling from it's feet. It would look like some kind of prehistoric dinosaur. :lol:

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by markoteal » Mon May 30, 2022 9:37 pm

Perhaps the pigeon’s have a ‘fence’ they are using to sell on your line side equipment…………… (give it a moment to allow the tumbleweed to move across your mind :D ) ok I’ll get my coat
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by philipy » Tue May 31, 2022 5:26 am

:lol
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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by ge_rik » Tue May 31, 2022 8:20 am

markoteal wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 9:37 pm Perhaps the pigeon’s have a ‘fence’ they are using to sell on your line side equipment…………… (give it a moment to allow the tumbleweed to move across your mind :D ) ok I’ll get my coat
Or you might take offence ......

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by Andrew » Tue May 31, 2022 8:48 am

That theiving pigeon's going to find itself up before the beak...

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Re: Lineside fencing for the Elderbury & District

Post by markoteal » Tue May 31, 2022 9:17 pm

What have I started???? :lol:
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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