Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

Its p!ssing down, not heavy but constant and by the looks of the garden it has been for quite a while. They'll be no gardening done today, instead i'll put my latest purchases into storage until they are needed.

 

Jamie. Be very careful with 3 phase supplies. Although the UK started using EU harmonised  colours some years back, I'm not sure what colours were used by the EU before then.

As for supply voltages, (they may be very similar) but here in the UK, between any single phase and neutral is 220 volts, between ANY 2 phases is 415 volts. 

 

The colours used here in the UK are:

 

        UK colour          EU harmonised colour

L1    Red                   Brown

L2    Yellow                Grey

L3    Blue                  Black

N      Black                Blue

E      Yellow/Green    Yellow/Green

 

If you haven't got a good voltage tester (and I don't mean multi meter) I would suggest buying one, if only for safety reasons.

 

Back later

Edited July 29, 2018 by BSW01

[Rugd1022]

Apparently you can find a poor millionaire. Katie Price, down on her heels had to reveal her bazoombas to make some dosh

 

The best way to make a small fortune.... start with a large one!

[Gwiwer]

Good morning from the Hill of Strawberries

 

It has been persisterating down since the small hours though has currently eased off.  The seaweed app on the phone suggests that there is a greater than 95% chance (but not 100%) of heavy rain commencing any moment now and lasting until 20 o'clock.  Foresight saw the uniform washed last night and hung inside to dry which it has almost achieved.

 

French toast and bacon with maple syrup was enjoyed earlier accompanied by mugzatee, several.  SWMBO is currently at her computer doing something related to her PhD.  I am currently at mine doing something which is unlikely to ever result in gaining any academic award  I have received confirmation that the custom-built pointwork will go in the mail tomorrow and should therefore be fitted and maybe powered within a few more days.  A new layout thread has been opened and my signature updated accordingly.

 

Today is the annual Strawberry Hill House Music and Fun Day.  They have been really unlucky with the weather.  After weeks of blazing sun it could have held on for another day ...... as it is I suspect the attendance and attractions on offer will both be somewhat diminished.  Last year's event was worth a few hours though I was suffering severely with gout at the time which didn't help the enjoyment too much.

 

Mrs. S. and all others suffering from sickness or injury are in my thoughts.  All travellers previously discussed have finally reached their respective destinations.  A certain family will not be troubling Singapore Airlines again.  Back in 1997 when I was first taken to Australia as the new hubby they were the airline of choice.  SWMBO suffered a violent attack of food poisoning on the Singapore - Melbourne leg putting her in bed for a week of our three week's holiday.  The airline at first refused to accept responsibility as no-one else had complained.  It took a GP and the local Member of Federal Parliament (who happened to be a family friend) to weigh in and get them to agree that such a thing could occur given a single item of infected cutlery or one single piece of contaminated food in a single dish.  Their response?  No apology, that was for sure.  We were presented with a large box of chocolates upon boarding the flight home.  That was it.  Since then Emirates has been our airline of choice and we have only once again flown Singapore and only then at a time when exchange rates made their fare significantly cheaper than the Emirates offering.

 

Have a good Sunday ladies and gents.  Take care in the wet.  Roads WILL be slippery.  Dried grass and bare earth can become dangerous too with a film of water on top.  And for those attending Didcot please say Hi from me.

[Purley Oaks]

Afternoon all

 

Popped downstairs to find eldest son watching touring car racing on ITV4; anyone else see the World of Sport wrestling on ITV at 5pm yesterday? Took us back to the '70s, except the acting was better then. Even went to the Fairfield Halls to see some live bouts, great fun!

 

Yep, Rick, how firms treat you when they've done something wrong is as, if not more, important than how they treat you in the first place, and word of mouth is often the best way to spread good or bad things about it. I'll now think twice about flying with them, that's for sure.

 

Brian, thanks for posting the pics. A rather elegant restaurant car. I'm waiting for the BR(SR) one. Still very niche, though. Were Hornby in better financial shape I would've put money on them doing  4COR/BUF/variants because they seem to be so good at replicating Maunsell coaches. Anyway, will stop this now to avoid infuriating her Debness and any others who have no whit what a COR might be.

 

Raining here now, had some blue sky yesterday afternoon, and dawn this morning was bright. Think it's set to last the day.

 

Hope your days go well, whether at Didcot or watching the TdF.

 

Mal

[Simon G]

Put a photo on here Simon. It will be named in seconds.

Ok, here goes!

 

 

It is about 2 feet high at present. Every tree/plant identifier I have tried has so far failed, so let’s see if ERs are better than the “experts”!

 

Still persisting down here, and showing no sign of stopping.

[Purley Oaks]

It is about 2 feet high at present. Every tree/plant identifier I have tried has so far failed, so let’s see if ERs are better than the “experts”!

 

Love the British measuring system, imperial alongside a metric rule!

[AndyID]

Ok, here goes!

5507CB17-06A6-49FB-BCBB-1C4251F48FDB.jpeg

56A9D70B-64E7-4FC0-9038-FC071C2D6B8F.jpeg

It is about 2 feet high at present. Every tree/plant identifier I have tried has so far failed, so let’s see if ERs are better than the “experts”!

Still persisting down here, and showing no sign of stopping.

I think it's a beech tree.

[AndyID]

Love the British measuring system, imperial alongside a metric rule!

Fifty years ago the Metrication Board (or whatever they were called) ran an ad in the papers saying how easy the switchover to the metric system was going to be. It pointed out that model railway enthusiasts had been using the metric system for many years because they were using a scale of four millimeters to the foot. I thought at the time this was not going to go too well

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon from Estuary-Land. Simon, AndyID could well be right in his identification as a Beech tree. I'm pretty sure that if you sent a bit of it to Kew they would identify it for you (I'm sure Rick will be able to fill you in on where to send it and any fees that have to be paid). If it is a Beech tree it could be well worth keeping.

[The Stationmaster]

SAfternoon all,

 

From Didcot I am returned, the two Bobs (GDB & 81C) and i retired slightly early - about 8 engine lengths to be precise - as we were all feeling the effects of being on our feet for several hours albeit in different places according to which of us you asked.  In my case it was simply tiredness of back and feet but for the two Bobs it was rather more serious strain on various parts of their mature bodies (note, we are not old, simply 'well matured').   A good day and the new signalling display is interesting and we had a train ride being cheerfully pushed along in an autotrailer propelled by the SRM, yes acronyms have invaded the Edwardian railway scene and it seems that the steam railmotor is a recent victim of this new cult.

 

Good day there but the getting to was not so pleasant - the roads appeared to be in habited by top grade motoring cockwombles of the dimmest variety who apparently though that driving (excruciatingly) slowly for the road conditions was the answer to wet weather whereas driving through water filled potholes and large puddles without reducing speed or subsequently testing their brakes obviously didn't matter.  The ultimate pair were encountered, with policewombles in attendance, a couple of miles west of Root One on the well known Sotwell bends - facing each other head on on the same side of the road but with no damage on the fronyt of one but a very serious dent in much of its nearside from the leading passenger door backwards.  The police wombles dealing the event seemed more interested in writing in their notebooks than doing anything to control the traffic at a site approached in both directions by a blind bend.  if they had been dealing with a casualty or helping people it would have been one thing but writing in their notebooks while in the middle of a major traffic hazards which could legitimately be approached at 60 mph from one direction struck me as not quite playing the game.  Quite how the two vehicles had collided I really don't know but can only assume that one of them might have spun or very seriously understeered somehow.

 

the return trip was a bit better but again slow moving hazards cars appeared to be out and about for no real reason as there was bags of grip everywhere as the roads were beginning to dry out.

 

On the home front Mrs Stationmaster seems to have managed about half a dizen shirts but not much else and is currently consuming tea & toast provided by her returned dearest.

[BSW01]

 

Brian, thanks for posting the pics. A rather elegant restaurant car. I'm waiting for the BR(SR) one. Still very niche, though. Were Hornby in better financial shape I would've put money on them doing  4COR/BUF/variants because they seem to be so good at replicating Maunsell coaches. Anyway, will stop this now to avoid infuriating her Debness and any others who have no whit what a COR might be.

 

Mal. According to what I’ve read, both the new restaurant coaches are built to different diagram numbers.

 

The SR one was diagram 2656

The BR one was diagram 2651

 

I gave both of them a good look on Friday, I couldn’t see any difference in them at all. So I looked in one of my reference books and found that the only difference is down to the type of stove used in the kitchen, externally, they were identical.

[BSW01]

Further to my post this morning, readings that you should expect to get testing voltages here in the UK are as follows;

L1 - L2 415 volts

L1 - L3 415 volts

L2 - L3 415 volts

L1 - N 230 volts

L2 - N 230 volts

L3 - N 230 volts

L1 - E 230 volts

L2 - E 230 volts

L3 - E 230 volts

N - E 0 volts*

 

*Any voltage other than 0 on the neutral, would indicate that there is some sort of earth or neutral fault and should be looked into with some urgency, preferably by a professional electrician.

[lightengine]

Love the British measuring system, imperial alongside a metric rule!

Thats for us old uns that learnt imperial in school and have never really had to use metric in anger during our working lives. I still prefer imperial. I know instantly what a "2 inch 8" is or a "4×2". I've decided I won't bother learning now.

I've only just learnt that 30° is pretty hot. I used to know that 90° was hot

Edited July 29, 2018 by lightengine

[AndyID]

Further to my post this morning, readings that you should expect to get testing voltages here in the UK are as follows;

L1 - L2 415 volts

L1 - L3 415 volts

L2 - L3 415 volts

L1 - N 230 volts

L2 - N 230 volts

L3 - N 230 volts

L1 - E 230 volts

L2 - E 230 volts

L3 - E 230 volts

N - E 0 volts*

 

*Any voltage other than 0 on the neutral, would indicate that there is some sort of earth or neutral fault and should be looked into with some urgency, preferably by a professional electrician.

 

Sound advice.

 

The wimpy 120 volts we have here is bad enough. 230 volts (we have that too) is really horrible and four times as lethal. 415 volts is twelve times more lethal than 120 volts.

 

(It's the power dissipated in your body that does you in, and power goes with the square of the voltage.)

[AndyID]

Thats for us old uns that learnt imperial in school and have never really had to use metric in anger during our working lives. I still prefer imperial. I know instantly what a "2 inch 8" is or a "4×2". I've decided I won't bother learning now.

 

4 x 2's here are only 3.5" x 1.5". We was robbed!

 

4 x 2 refers to the size before planing. It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on, but that was before The Internet.

[lightengine]

4 x 2's here are only 3.5" x 1.5". We was robbed!

 

4 x 2 refers to the size before planing. It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on, but that was before The Internet.

I guess my carpenter father had to plane or machine to size whatever he used

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Having changed 3phase contacters while live, I know how to be cautious!

 

Shifting the boat over went well, after the morning service, we went up and set the course, 3 races were held in increasing wind but reducing rain. One boat a laser capsized and broke it's mast the other rescue Boat was nearer and did the necessary.

 

After racing there was the berry shield, a rescue dory handling competition, for juniors or, non experts. Just as we set up I spied 3 canoes likely to get in the way, so I just started up when one capsized. Full throttle time, waving a 45ft tourist boat to not go round the corner. I got to one of the occupants and was hauling him in, when aonther rescue boat arrived and went to the one one now hanging off the side of a moored boat. Once they were recovered, we recovered the canoe and took the lot to the club. Where they used the club facilties, the club phoned the hire yard from where they'd got the canoe. Later they turned up in a motorboat, collected canoe and men and took them away.

I've now had a Chinese meal, and am about to return to the motorboat, multimeter time..

[jamie92208]

Further to my post this morning, readings that you should expect to get testing voltages here in the UK are as follows;

L1 - L2 415 volts

L1 - L3 415 volts

L2 - L3 415 volts

L1 - N 230 volts

L2 - N 230 volts

L3 - N 230 volts

L1 - E 230 volts

L2 - E 230 volts

L3 - E 230 volts

N - E 0 volts*

 

*Any voltage other than 0 on the neutral, would indicate that there is some sort of earth or neutral fault and should be looked into with some urgency, preferably by a professional electrician.

Thanks very much for that Brian. I have very great respect for Electrickery and have no intention of starting any work on the wiring until my sparky has disconnected things. All I'm doing at present is testing each outlet with the AVO meter to see if it's live or not and then trying to work out what cables go where. At the moment a 3 Phase spur with three power leads and an earth, heads off across the suspended ceiling and then goes down and the only outlet below the ceiling are a single phase lead to a 3Kw wall heater and a conduit down to a 220v plug. I need to move a ceiling panel to look at what is hiding behind the rafter out of sight. Once I've finished my survey then I can sit down and talk with my sparky. However thanks very much for the advice, it is much appreciated.

 

Jamie

Edited July 29, 2018 by jamie92208

[Gwiwer]

I have asked SWMBO about the plant in question.  She is reluctant to identify anything from a picture alone.  If it matters by all means ask the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  They get enquiries like this all the time.

[bbishop]

Ok, here goes!

 

5507CB17-06A6-49FB-BCBB-1C4251F48FDB.jpeg

56A9D70B-64E7-4FC0-9038-FC071C2D6B8F.jpeg

 

It is about 2 feet high at present. Every tree/plant identifier I have tried has so far failed, so let’s see if ERs are better than the “experts”!

 

Still persisting down here, and showing no sign of stopping.

 

It's a triffid.

 

Bill

[Happy Hippo]

As Rick says, identification by picture alone is difficult.

 

It's certainly not Crack Willow, one of which I was helping to dismantle earlier this evening.

 

 

 I'm minded towards suggesting it is an English Elm due to the colour and shape of the leaves as well as the serrations along their edges.

[New Haven Neil]

An inch of rain this morning - most of it down my neck at the agricultural show.  Basically a total wash-out, many stands not manned or gone home, but a stiff upper lip atmosphere of carrying on regardless.  Some great meat bargains, enough sirloin steak for months for twenty quid.

[jamie92208]

It's a triffid.

 

Bill

In that case has someone taken a cutting from Chrisf's garden.

 

 

Jamie

[Horsetan]

It's a triffid.

For when you want to say it with flowers.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I've just remembered, after the car hit the pothole yesterday there was a strong smell of petrol that disappeared after about a minute or so. I haven't noticed any change in fuel consumption but with Motorway driving and use of the air conditioning it is difficult to judge. Hopefully I can get it fixed before the Southwold show next weekend as I wouldn't risk driving that far with a potential engine fault.