Sparks on my railway

You're easily pleased! Put some lights in the coaches and it's much better.

Your easily pleased, pour some Meths over the tracks and it's much, much better (I've still got the photo's somewhere).

Children *don't* try this at home!

Bit late for that, C.W., if you don't want a child to do something then don't tell them not to do it in the first place!

They then won't know what not to do, assuming it's something you don't want them to do anyway.... if you comprehend??

Colin.

Don't ever clean your track or wheels - you could reduce your fun drastically that way!

Regards, Greg.P.

"Children *don't* try this at home!"

must be the reason why the critical upgrade thread will run and run and run and........

cheers david a. pritchard

p.s

is err.... seeing blue electric sparks (in the dark) the same as err...... seeing electric blue videos (in the dark) hmmm..... i mean well err....... is IT ????

i need to know.. well err.. it not for me it's for my mate.......... you understand

Col>

As a youngster I found that wire wool placed across the track caused a spectacle. It was a sod getting it off Tri-ang Magnadhesion locos though.

Got a spectacular spark in trying in to make the battlespace propeller driven thing go really fast. Two 12 year olds whose electrical knowledge was dangerously just beyond The Ladybird book on magnets,bulbs and batteries had a vain notion that we might get a sonic boom if we pooled all our straight track and raised the voltage. The local dump yealded some old TV line output transformers which were connected in series and Dads wartime vintage battery charger on the end to rectify. We got a sonic boom. from mother whose afternoon entertainment from the light programme was overwhelmed by the interference of electricity escaping from various bits. Fortunately we did not kill ourselves but living in the Southwest had seen SWEBs live line team in action. the use of long GRP sticks had been noted . A long piece of plastic pipe was used to work the switch.

G.Harman

This is a fantastic story...

What voltage do you reckon you got it up to???

Having recently converted my layout to DCC, I have not got used to the new

*safety procedures* and regularly get sparks during track cutting operations. I'm used to testing the track using an analog controller, turning it to zero and then using wire cutters and files to cut and shape track.

Now with DCC, I still stop the loco and go to do the same type of work with shocking results! DCC leaves 16VAC on the track whether anything is running or not. It should really be turned off before I leave metal objects shorting the rails : )

Mike No layout pictures yet but some info on N gauge DCC at...

Looking at a Fire Service video of wire-wool having dropped and shorted across the terminals of a fully-charged battery in a garage.......sadly, neither the battery, garage nor the house remained.....!! Colin.

"Colin" wrote

You don't need that much oomph to set wire wool on fire, a 1 Amp supply can do the job. So be careful when cleaning track with Brillo Pads.

Colin.

I quite agree....think the video was referring to the *easy* dangers of the use of general products in and around the home.

Colin.

Not a good idea in the first place. Brillo pads/wire wool leave scratches that attract more gunk.

In article , Colin writes

The implication is *not* to use wire wool as a scenic material. Pity, makes damn fine trees but not worth the risk. yes I've seen a demonstration of wire wool set alight by an H&M Safety Minor.

Not to mention what happens when the loose pieces get picked up by the motor magnet... or get into the motor itself.

No idea really. The local dump was full of old telly bits as there was a repair business in the village. he had innocently told us the input and output wires and what were other bits such as Rectifiers etc when we asked him for one for another experiment. Home made arc lamp with pencils I think.

Assuming an old bush output transformer gave about 15kV then feeding that into the next ones 240 input would give 937500kV . Of course all the wiring and the 2nd transformers insulation broke down way before that. Thats what made it spectacular. I do remember that we had laid the track on the lawn and my mate who lived in a large ex rectory had a lot,so there was about 30 ft. laid. Though the current did not last long it did result in earthworms rising to the surface all around it.

Living in the country we too far from Cinemas etc we had to make our own entertainment. Its wonder we survived some of it. Any one for a flying saucer made from a milk churn ,sparkplug, a drop of petrol and an old magneto.

G.Harman

You could use Fiberglas® and risk dying of lung cancer instead.