The LNER Encyclopedia

I have a box of 65 pieces of mixed "O" gauge two rail track mostly by Hornby but with some other companies track mixed in. I purchased all this a couple of years ago with the idea of making a start on recreating a Hornby train set I possessed as a boy.

When I got all the pieces out last night for oiling and cleaning, I made a few discoveries. Some of the track is of one foot radius, some is two foot in radius. I also found that the two points I have were made by Hornby, one left hand the other right hand but constructed of the two different radii. I also discovered a nice crossover or "X" junction.

The real issue in my mind though were the several lengths of straight Hornby track with the sleepers higher on one side than the other (wedge shaped). They were manufactured like this and the only other difference from the "normal" straight Hornby track is that each sleeper has two small parallel slots alongside the usual two small Hornby holes.

What purpose was this tilted straight track meant to serve?

The only ideas I came up with were that this was track designed to be run into and parallel with a model station (to avoid clipping the station roof) or to get the train into tilt mode before a curve. The fact that the curves themselves sit flat probably precludes the second explanation. I have six pieces made in this way.

Any help would be appreciated??

Hi, I don`t know why the track is like this, but I recall something about it being made like this when first produced, I have the Hornby clockwork book so can look it up for you if you want.

Thanks Keith,

Any light you can shed on the question would be most welcome, perhaps I ought to get a Hornby clockwork book too, it sounds like it may be useful for me.

Cheers

hi, the sloping sleepers are pre war , the excuse given by Meccano was that the locos would hold the road better! after the WW2 they had slower running motors and went over to parallel sleepers,

Keith,

Thanks for that, who would have believed it eh? I thought there must be something rather strange in having straight but canted track lengths.

The models ran in both directions, therefore the track would throw the model hard against the lower side, Hornby's argument according to your sources would be be that it would aid the tracking more. I cannot see it doing that myself, it would certainly work well on curved track, but straight?

I also wondered about the effect it would have on friction? just a few idle thoughts on a Friday afternoon as I wile away the time until my weekend begins.

Cheers

Hi John, thats exactly as it comes from the book more or less, Meccano had some really strange ideas over the years but it didn`t seem to do them any harm probably cause there wasn`t much in the way of competition.
I would highly recommend the Hornby O gaoge and Dublo books as well as the Meccano story, they are expensive but the mail order book clubs have them on offer from time to time at bargain prices.