Mosslanda: Denton Road - under the wires…

A small but massive step forwards on Denton Road this week has seen the approximation of the overhead catenary installed…

When I conceived the project the front platform was always electrified. A truncated route, but the wiring a sign that prosperity and mainline expresses departed in a different direction. I shopped around for off the shelf options but nothing offered me the style or robustness I was looking for - so scratch building seemed the best option - and the results are all soldered up in nickel silver and brass, rail and rod.

The masts have been made for some time but with the ballast down I could look at stringing them up. A 0.5mm nickel silver wire makes up the contact wire and 0.3 brass the support. I omitted the support wires between them, better to leave them off than have them bent, mis-shaped, damaged or un-even. Slivers of plastic wire insulation make up the insulators and the lot is painted in pale grey for the masts, slate grey for the wires and brick red for the insulators.

There are still steps to tackle on the finish of this small layout and whilst it looks finished I’m sure there are still weeks worth of procrastination ahead on rubbish, detritus, weathering and signage! For now, I’m enjoying seeing the 90 under the wires, imagining the noises, the ticking and popping of this mainline workhorse and standing once more, on the platforms at Crewe over 30 years ago… until next time, more soon…

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