02-08-2012, 10:40 AM
Gary S Wrote:Thanks for all that info on the fences. Right now, I am using Walthers fencing modified by drilling holes in the posts for the upper and lower horizontal pipes. I'm pleased with my results so far, but trying to decide what to use for the barbed wire. Your use of the wire is intriguing. I was figuring to use thread. Gotta say, your results sure look good!
Gary, have you got Lance Mindheim's new book How To Operate A Modern Era Switching Layout? I ordered a copy from Amazon and I think it is excellent. His main message is that industries should take as long to switch on a model as they do in the prototype. One point he makes is that most industries have fences and gates that the switch crew has to unlock and open to switch an industry, and then must close and lock behind them after they have finished the job. He has a couple of illustrations of a chain link gate where a small brass rod is "planted" in the scenery and a gate made with a brass tube frame is slid over the top of the rod so that it can be opened and closed. If you replicate that on your layout with either one or two gates at each industry, I would use wire for the barbed wire on top for extra strength. Just use a bamboo skewer to open and close the gate.