Add some detail to your OHLE fitted trackwork with these Red BondsOO GaugePack of 6 Red Bonds (unpainted) - 4... Read more
£4.95
Add some detail to your OHLE fitted trackwork with these Red Bonds
OO Gauge
Pack of 6 Red Bonds (unpainted) - 4 x Connection Anchor Boxes and 2 x Post Termination Anchors (SET E5-4)
Add a small but realistic detail to your electrified layout with this set of six OHLE red bond anchors in OO gauge.
Where you’ll find them
Red bonds appear all along Britain’s 25 kV AC overhead electrified main lines, such as the West Coast, East Coast and Great Western routes. Look along the cess side of the track near the overhead line masts and you’ll see red-sheathed cables running from the rail up to the return conductor wire on the mast. Each cable run is held in place by a cable anchor housing with a bright red cover like these.
What they’re used for
When an electric train draws power through its pantograph, the current goes back through its wheels into the running rail. Red bonds carry that return current from the rail up to the mast-mounted return conductor, which takes it back to the feeder station. They’re painted red because if one is disconnected, the bond or the equipment it’s connected to could rise to a dangerously high voltage. That’s why many of them carry a “RED BOND” warning triangle, which is reproduced on these models. You may also see them called structure bonds, the term now used in the Rule Book.
What’s in the pack
Modelling tip
Put them on the outside (cess) side of the track next to your OHLE masts. On the real railway the return rail is normally the cess rail, which keeps the bond cables short. Spacing a few along a stretch of electrified line adds a convincing bit of lineside detail.
They Bond Cables from the running rail and the Connection Anchors are always painted Red to make them easily distinguishable for track workers.
