Simon Glidewell
Western Thunderer
Thanks for your observations and kind help Howard; I'll certainly put your wiring ideas to the test, and hopefully that will resolve the issue. If all else fails I will let the third rail take the place of polarity switches, etc, as it works very efficiently. The bisection will be wired accordingly. As to the side exit ramps, the reason I use the S4Soc castings is a pragmatic one. The standard SR type you have employed would give the very fragile pick up shoes I use, an unnecessarily hard time! The ramp on the SR version is short and angled with a high chance of snagging the shoes; the ones I use are very gentle in this respect and have worked perfectly for a number of years. I could have easily replaced them and made my own SR type from nickel silver sheet but I could foresee problems with the locos and EMU's. Apart from this I am a firm believer that there is a prototype for everything, if you look hard enough around the SR system. The classic CLAG article on third and fourth rail is good but I would never use it as a "Bble" to all things SR conductor rail, preferring to find evidence through extensive photo research of my own. St. Mary Hoo has always done things differently, being a real backwater location, and such a situation is quite plausible.
All the best
Simon
All the best
Simon