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I made a “line stringing tool”. It is made from a triangular piece of plastic with adjustable tripod type legs (for uneven terrain). The bobbin is also plastic from a sewing store. The legs, eyelets, and bobbin support were bent from #14 house wire. The alligator clip was from Radio Shack and was soldered on the 2nd eyelet leg.
It can be used for just about any scale, and using the tool for stringing line is very easy. Just thread the line thru the eyelets, move the tool up to a pole, and pull it to the next pole in line. Glue the free end of the line to the 1st pole, place the line on top of the 2nd pole, attach the alligator clip to the line and then move the tool back a touch to get the right amount of tension between the poles (it looks better with a little sag). Glue line to 2nd pole, release alligator clip, and you are ready for the next pole in line. Piece of cake!
Very slick little tool. You may want to try just a small section of layout with the lines between the poles and see if you really like it. I've strung poles before and, although they look great, one grab for an engine about to derail or reaching across the layout to make one little adjustment and you'll find your hard work is gone in a heartbeat. In N scale, where the lines are even harder to see, it's really easy to miss them and plow right into them. After several attempts at wired poles, I finally gave up on the idea as more trouble than it was worth.
Hi Jim. I strung my entire layout using EZline from berkshirejunction.com. It is an elastic line, hangs realisticly with no kinks, and is not fuzzy like thread. Since it is elastic, when bumped, it just stretches. No damage yet in 3 years, and I have bumped it several times
Gary - thanks for sharing that link to berkshirejunction.com, I was wondering where I'd be able to find replacement cable for what I just had to tear out - now I know!
... I've strung poles before and, although they look great, one grab for an engine about to derail or reaching across the layout to make one little adjustment and you'll find your hard work is gone in a heartbeat. ...
Jim - I hear ya! I don't know how many times I've snagged my "power lines" reaching into my so-called commercial district. One lesson I've learned from this is: When I rebuild my layout, any "strung" utility poles will go inside the perimeter of the right-of-way, beyond the reach zone.
Wow, that EZ Line looks pretty impressive, Gary. What kind of glue did you use to secure it to the poles?
Ken, I routed all my telegraph poles so they's be on the inside portion of the mainline and out of the way of my paws when I was rerailing cars and such, just in case I wanted to try real "wires" again. I don't have any power lines, which use a considerably different pole and insulator systems than the typical telegraph poles sold for model railroads. If the EZ-line works out for the telegraph lines, I may try modeling some power lines as well.
Thanks, Gary. I've always used AC and I think that may be part of my problem. The AC works fine but the resulting joint is brittle and, with normal thread, it's not hard to break the joint when you hit it. A combination of the EZ Line and a more flexible cement may be the way to go.
