DON’T FORGET TO INSPECT YOUR ELECTRICS

Chris Leigh says: It’s popular to deride health and safety, but complacency can be dangerous. Where mains electricity is concerned, prevention is much better than cure. Our railway rooms or workshops may have a number of electrical appliances, apart from the transformer/controller for the layout itself. We may also have a work light or two, perhaps a fan heater and a soldering iron. Such devices require a power outlet and it’s very easy to fall into the habit of adding another multi-way plug or extension lead. Once such things are installed under a layout they tend to be forgotten about. If this sounds like your railway room, it’s worth having an inspection now and then, just to check that nothing has deteriorated over time. If you’ve had your layout for 20 years it may well be that some of your electric cables are 20 years old. The plug and cable in this picture (right) were part of an extension lead providing power to a PA system and electric piano in a local church. Nobody could remember when it was installed, how long it had been there or when it had last been checked. It has clearly been overheating and the insulation has melted, or is completely missing. It was dangerous to anyone who touched it and presented a fire risk. Fortunately, for much of the week, the power was switched off at a master switch. In this hobby we think nothing of using controllers that we’ve owned for decades. We have layouts that have taken many years to build and the electrics may have been fine when they were installed. Time may have taken its toll and we may have sockets and plugs which are not easily accessible. These are the ones where a problem such as my melted cable can go undetected for a long time. Carry out a check and, if in doubt about any appliance or cable, replace it.