Jumper Cables - stooopid question

[notascoobie]

G'day,

I've been working on a couple of GNR carriages in 4mm scale. One, a GNR Clerestory open third from Bill's etches, features gas lighting. The other is a Gresley non-corridor lav compo from John Fozard etches. While I was working on the lav compo underfame, I fitted the battery boxes etc and then looked to see which end the jumper cables went. I couldn't find any drawings or photos showing jumper cables. Mystified.

Obviously, later electically lit carriages featured jumper cables. But when I thought why? that was more difficult. Each carriage has it's own dynamo to recharge the batteries and, if the communication chord is pulled, the carriage end tell-tale will indicate the source carriage. I could only think that the cables allow the carriage lighting to be switched on remotely.

I'm sure everyone else knows all about this, so someone please tell me.

Regards,

Vernon

[jwealleans]

I think you've pretty much worked it out, Vernon. Remote lighting control. Jumpers would be fitted both ends.

[Trestrol]

Yes the Guard has a master switch in his van and can switch them on and off.

[notascoobie]

Thanks for those replies chaps.

Regards,

Vernon

[65447]

Yup - through lighting control - came in during the second half of the 1920s after Grouping, so any pre-Grouping or early electrically-lit Grouping carriages were retro-fitted with the jumper cables - one to each side on the end and to both ends.

I'm sure that there are various prototype photographs floating around on the forum that show them, and some modellers actually connect them together in their formations as they do the vacuum (Westinghouse) and steam heating pipes.

Worth noting that the big lump at the bottom end of the cable as seen in end views is not the connector itself (which is a smaller lump) but the housing that the connector sits in when the cables are not plugged together.

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

This type of jumper is still in use on BR and, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, are used for multiple working.

[JASd17]

Jonathan W and 65447 are correct, however if one is modelling the first decade of the LNER, not likely for most I know, forget bothering with the jumper cables for ordinary stock. Each carriage would have required its own switch/valve, electric or gas.


John

[notascoobie]

Thanks for your replies chaps. The carriages are destined for a GNR paint job and so jumper cables will be one job I won't have to do.

Vernon

[Dave]

Further to 65447's comments on the block housing for the plug/socket, here is a pic for those interested.

[melton]

Yes, RCH (Railway Clearing House) jumpers. They were used for the TDM (Time Division Multiplex) control with class 86 and mk2’s between Lv St and Norwich. Not completely foolproof however but then never designed for that. Talking of through connections, you didn’t want to have your electric shaver plugged in when going through a neutral section – Manningtree comes to mind – when the coach’s alternator banged back in you must have had about 400v going through your shaver, by the sound it made.

[1H was 2E]

Yes the Guard has a master switch in his van and can switch them on and off.

In the case of later LMS and BR coaches, there was a switch box in the end vestibule (of gangwayed vehicles) with 'on' and 'off' push button to control lights in that vehicle, presumably intended for the passenger to use, and the ability to control lights in the whole train using a T key to restrict use to a railway 'official'.

A couple of other points; the 'Wolverton system' was used, I think, in LNW days and certainly by the LMS; this became the BR standard system, replacing that used by the other railways. If indeed introduced by the LNW this would predate the ones mentioned above, I think. I'm not sure how they differed but, from what an ex Wolverton electrician told me, it may have been the manufacturer. He alleges that Wolverton made the electrical equipment for all the BR carriage works.

He also mentioned, I recall, that some coaches arrived from the LT&S line with dynamo and battery on only one of a pair of coaches, though I am not sure of the origin of these coaches. Did the LNER artic sets have a similar economy, I wonder? Or did he indeed mean those?

[sawdust]

LNER vehicles have an individual lighting control in them, it is usually concealed in a small cupboard often in the centre of the corridor or near one end in open carriages. Suburban vehicles had the switches mounted externally on one end.

When the through control is used all of the relays in the connected carriages are activated by the battery in the carriage where the control is used. With the BR controls the guard can control the lights even if the battery in the van were flat.

The relay on a Wolverton regulator stays on till the battery is ruined unless turned off and can be manually switched off by a button on the underside if there isn't enough power to switch it off. The Stone's equipment used by the LNER will disconnect the lights when there is not enough power to keep the relay in.

When were the through control jumpers introduced?

Sawdust.

[Bill Bedford]

When were the through control jumpers introduced?

Mid to late 30s.