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Home made trunking ?
bloody philistine. tha'ts bespoke cable trunking from c. 100 years ago. VIR insulated singles. installed when we took a pride in the work and didn't need to chuck it in for price. was generally a joiner installed the trunking, then spark would follow with cables.
 
I have a few samples of it in the shed. Cap and casing/case I believe it was called ?

I'm sure I have seen pics of it (maybe on here) where it, or a similar design, was used as a skirting top/architrave to take wires round the house on the surface.
 
bloody philistine. tha'ts bespoke cable trunking from c. 100 years ago. VIR insulated singles. installed when we took a pride in the work and didn't need to chuck it in for price. was generally a joiner installed the trunking, then spark would follow with cables.
Yep this is a circa 1850’s £1 million drum near the seafront down here...
 
personally i prefer the lead sheathed twin with galv. JBs, the cable clamps providing continuity of the lead cpc. again, when work was done to a high standard, not down to a price. (and i just wet my pants :disrelieved: :disrelieved: :disrelieved: ).
 
Have probably done or worked on over 300 rewires and have never seen this type of wooden trunking.
Come across and pulled out plenty of vir and old lead cable but not seen it boxed in trunking like in the picture.
Split tube and wooden back boxes are quite common on most rewires I do.
 
you probably not come across this type of wiring then? note the roof structure is made from real timber, not weak willie trusses.

Got to be impressed with the craftsmanship... 1561139426435 - EletriciansForums.net
 
Casing and capping... it was never called trunking and it wasn't normally 'home made', you could buy all different sizes at the wholesaler, largest was about 6 inches wide. There were fairly standard methods and rules for fitting it, chief among which was that cables of opposite polarity must run in separate grooves. You would never have line and neutral singles in contact anywhere, not even at tee joints. You had to make a flyover so that the branch could get over the run, remaning fully encased on all sides. There were sketches of the proper layouts in wiring handbooks of the day, just as there were sketches of different kinds of cable joints showing how to intertwine the strands, and how to insulate and vulcanise the joint afterwards. Not surprisingly, in dry conditions the insulation resistance of such work could be very high indeed, off the scale of any modern MFT.

Wooden casing did not fare so well in damp conditions, as the wood could wick moisture into contact with the singles, reducing the insulation instead of increasing it. For suspect areas where an all-insulated system was needed (i.e. not lead sheathed or conduit), open porcelain cleats were preferred over casing and capping.

I've been trying to build up a collection but it's scarce, hardly ever removable intact and often in pieces too short to bother with. Anyone coming across good lengths intact can exchange them for beers, or at least gushing praise.
 
I've been trying to build up a collection but it's scarce, hardly ever removable intact and often in pieces too short to bother with. Anyone coming across good lengths intact can exchange them for beers, or at least gushing praise.

I have some short bits as samples in the shed. You don't want to know how many lengths of this I have left in situ on rewires. :(
 
I have some short bits as samples in the shed. You don't want to know how many lengths of this I have left in situ on rewires. :(
Same here , we left loads of it in an old hall for posterity , along with the old servants telegraph system that was an even greater work of art and engineering.
 

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