Early Risers.

[TheSignalEngineer]

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In their defence (see what I did there  ) the contracts specified availability of replacement parts for very long life spans - longer in fact than most of the corporations who signed those contracts. They had to decide whether to pre-manufacture spares or be able to reincarnate short-run manufacturing lines at a later date when the companies might not still be in business.

I remember on signalling projects in the early 1970s the contract would specify a 10% spares level for items that were not common user standard stores stock. Cards in remote control systems in those days were made up using discrete electronic components so not too much of a problem at the time, and most can still actually be repaired or cloned. As failure rates increased l did a job at one of our PSBs which had about a dozen systems to completely replace the remote control to one relay room with a more modern system and get all of the displaced equipment returned to spec for spares. With chip based systems coming in the contracts asked for 15 years manufacturer support. That gets difficult if when a chip goes out of production, to the extent that when I was working for a signalling contractor we got wind that a particular one which NR still had several hundred in use in our equipment would no longer be produced we bought up the whole of the manufacturer's remaining stock on the basis that if we didn't use them on NR orders quite quickly we could still sell them for more than we paid. 

It's interesting to see that relatively modern electronic interlockings are being replaced after a few years when some relay based ones 60 years old are still in use, and have even been recontrolled from modern control centres in some cases.

[simontaylor484]

I watched a documentary on signalling on the New York Subway at the time their system was ancient and very clunky but it worked and parts were repairable.

Some of it is visable in this from you tube

 

[polybear]

49 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

With chip based systems coming in the contracts asked for 15 years manufacturer support. That gets difficult if when a chip goes out of production.....

 

Bear's employer has problems with obsolescence on new products still in development (which is often 5+ years)

 

10 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I watched a documentary on signalling on the New York Subway at the time their system was ancient and very clunky but it worked and parts were repairable.

 

 

Not only that - the guys understand how  it works too; furthermore it doesn't become one of those "the motherboard is bvggered" situations - all because a diode or whatever on the motherboard is blown and it's so minute it just can't be repaired in the field - and not cost-effective to return to the manufacturer for investigation and repair.

 

In other news:

Special Beary thoughts are with Gordon & family, who are really going thru' the mill at the moment:

 

 

A morning of using hole saws to drill three holes in the back panel of the sink base unit - much careful measuring and marking of positions was encountered beforehand.  Seems to have worked as hoped   A couple of notches in the sides this afternoon to clear wall pipework will allow the unit to be fixed to the wall.

Washing done, washing up done, shopping still to do - and it's not looking very favourable out there....

[PhilJ W]

Just received my bank statement this morning. On it were two charges from e-bay totalling £117. I have no idea what they are for and there seems to be no way of getting in touch with them. I only buy on e-bay and pay using pay-pal so I've no idea what these charges are.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Just received my bank statement this morning. On it were two charges from e-bay totalling £117. I have no idea what they are for and there seems to be no way of getting in touch with them. I only buy on e-bay and pay using pay-pal so I've no idea what these charges are.

Case explained, for some reason I'd paid by debit card instead of PayPal. IIRC the vendors  may not have done PayPal.

[Barry O]

Lots of positive thoughts heading towards Gordon and his good lady.

 

Baz

[Barry O]

With modern technology you can work around problems caused by a lack of spares. On the VC10 K2 tanker fleet the big problem was a lack of spare LRU "boxes".. BAe 3D Printed them.. then did the same for the Tornados..

 

The Challenger2 fleet was easy.. just keep stripping "spare" vehicles for parts...must have run out as they have given Rheinmetal a contract to build some new tin turrets for 148 of them.. the rest are scrappers....  strangely one of the major suppliers for the new turret is the self same one who has declared obsolete on some of their existing kit.. so RM must be paying them megabucks for new kit .

 

Baz

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup which is windy and grey but not currently wet.

 

Best wishes to Gordon.

 

Nice to see Pete popping by.

 

The week will unfold in much the same way as others have done recently. Not a lot to report and quite a bit of work to do - but also to try to book the restaurant that Mrs Lurker wants to go to in order to belatedly celebrate her birthday (which was January!) 

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

The rain is lashing against the windows.  I hope the neighbours paint they were applying was quick drying and water resistant as Aditi did me nation to them it was very likely to rain at 3pm, and it did. Aditi only went out to the garden to check for damage. I was summoned to apply a mole wrench to bend a gate latch back into better adjustment. She then retired to the study to produce a spreadsheet for the French group to make the reports from their PayPal account easy for those who still use paper and pen. She is still trying to get the group to agree online access to the bank account. Multitasking was taking place as a goulash for lunch was being prepared. This was going to be interesting as there wasn’t quite enough paprika and Aditi misread the recipe and put a heaped tablespoon rather than teaspoon of caraway seed in. It tasted fine. I repaired the laser on my circular saw. The laser is powered by batteries and they had corroded and also eroded the battery holder. I got a new generic AAA battery holder and wired it in after cleaning out the space in the saw handle. It works now. I had found the saw to lend to a neighbour but he brought one back from his daughters house instead. He needed a saw as he had bought the wrong size fence panels. 
It is now really sunny!
Have a good day. 
Tony
 

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

.......................it just can't be repaired in the field - and not cost-effective to return to the manufacturer for investigation and repair.

I had that problem with a board in a Hot Axle Box Detector on WCML, but in that case it was still under warranty. The part was duly shipped off to the manufacturer in the USA and successfully repaired. Meanwhile Mr S Hussain had invaded Kuwait so when the said part got to the exit point for shipping it was impounded by the US authorities as it used the same technology as heat seeking ground to air missiles. It took us another six months to convince them we weren't building a missile system at Northchurch Tunnel.

[Andrew P]

Thoughts for Gordon and his Family.

[NGT6 1315]

I had no idea Gordon was poorly, so may I just leave my best wishes for a full recovery here! 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The TV remote control I ordered arrived this afternoon. But it was a completely different type and make to the one I ordered. I've e-mailed the vendor and waiting for his reply. I called the surgery and fixed an appointment for my second jab, Thursday week so I'll be ready when the shackles are taken off.

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday.

 

Yesterday again quiet, we did have a very enjoyable walk with Whitney around the Japanese Garden adjacent to one of the city lakes. Always a nice spot for a walk, especially with some evidence of spring now blooming.

Just to freak out the more luddite members, I'll add that I installed and used another "APP" on my smart phone, this one for parking spot payments. We often park on the street at free spots around the lakes area, but more of the parking is becoming pay, so rather than mess around with that money rubbish  I got the APP so I can easily and instantly pay

 

Today the Mrs works her one-day-a-week, so quiet here for a while at least .

 

4 and sunny to start, 14 the expected high.

 

Safe safe and well.

 

[polybear]

 

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

The Challenger2 fleet was easy.. just keep stripping "spare" vehicles for parts...must have run out as they have given Rheinmetal a contract to build some new tin turrets for 148 of them.. the rest are scrappers....  strangely one of the major suppliers for the new turret is the self same one who has declared obsolete on some of their existing kit.. so RM must be paying them megabucks for new kit .

 

 

Bear knew the Royal Mail posties deliver to some rough areas - but I didn't realise things had got that bad.....

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

The Challenger2 fleet was easy.. just keep stripping "spare" vehicles for parts

That was the standard way with old signalling equipment. When I was in the workshops at Crewe I made parts for 100 year old equipment when the supply of old ones ran out.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Thoughts very much with Gordon, his wife, and daughter (and her family), and hoping things will improve for him.  i hope Dave's discussion regarding his dad hada positive outcome.

 

Weather today o is best mixed although we did get one prolonged rain shower, fortunately while I was out this afternoon every attempt at rain resulted in very brief light drizzle which was hardly noticeable.  The surgery was inundated by 'phone calls this morning - presumably a delayed Monday and an extra weekend day for people to come up with a health problem.  In the end I popped into the surgery this afternoon to fix my next INR appointment and  our equivalent (not) of Checkpoint Charlene was very helpful and even asked what time I would like it to be - so goodness only knows what we going on this morning?

 

Last day at school was an even bigger non-event for me than for 'The Q' because i wasn't even there but away at CCF summer camp.  On my return home from Mid Wales I had a couple of days 'relaxing' then off to work in the local brewery in a temporary job followed by a couple of week's break before I started full time on BR.  So I've got m no memories ar all about leaving school or what the last day was like.  None of that graduation nonsense back then but those who had left were invited back for Prizegiving Day in the following September if they had picked up any prizes - and that was the last day I saw the school until a reunion a quarter of a century later.

 

Electronic signalling - I'm not a fan; mechanical might be old hat but you can at least manufacture parts fora lot of it and the old electrical stuff often lasted forever; when Marylebone was resignalled in the 1980s among the stuff recovered, and until then still in daily use was a sheld type relay dated 1913 on the base.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day and stay safe. 

[Tony_S]

I think at school we were told to leave immediately after our last exam and not come back. It didn’t have any things like old boys associations and I think very few would have attended if they did. I got a good education and some of the teachers were outstanding but the headmaster created a very unpleasant place to be a teenager. 
My youngest niece “graduated” from nursery earlier this year. All socially distanced of course but just like a tiny version of a university graduation. 
 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, 

Only 1 of the 5 schools I went to awarded prizes, and they changed the rules so that, I,  personally couldn't win any...

I've seen on the net that some of my ex schools have had year group reunions, but never for any of my years. It used to be that family and old boys could visit on the annual sports days. But these days anyone but immediate family of current pupils is forbidden.

 

Looked up the price of that guitar.. two years sailing money, and that's without delivery, import duties and vat added to the price!!!

 

While a wandering the net, I found, FAY.. no not her , but Falmouth Area Yardstick. That's a sailing handicap system , the article is 12 pages, showing 4 long formula using the various dimensions of a sailing boat to generate a handicap number.

The basis is work by a Professor of Statistics, Linda Wolstenholme. I'm going to type the formula of one version into my Blue Moon spreadsheet. The necessary values for a range of boats are already in the spreadsheet.  So it will be interesting to see the results against the American formula I bodged previously.

[TheSignalEngineer]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Last day at school was an even bigger non-event for me than for 'The Q' because i wasn't even there.................

My Dad's rostered summer holiday the year I left school started a week before the end of term so I decided that a trip to North Devon was better than hanging around waiting for final assembly.

Two days after returning home I started on BR, remaining with it and its successors full time for almost 38 years then another 10 years associated with the industry on part time agency work before drawing my last pay packet exactly 48 years after the first. I didn't set the family record as my Grandad did 48 years and 11 months full time with LNWR, LMS and BR, retiring 2 years after I started.

[Gwiwer]

Very best wishes to Gordon and family.  I was vaguely aware that all was far from well; it's good to have an update even if not the news we might have hoped for.  

 

Good to see Pete posting here again also.  I have a mild envy of those able to play guitar let alone those able to knowledgeably enthuse over them.  I found it beyond my capability to learn - despite trying numerous times over many years - and have put that down to the Aspergers in me.  It's the style of learning, I suspect, that doesn't suit me or that I simply "don't do".  Just like I never coped with Latin which is full of perfectly logical declensions and which can be learned by rote so music and the playing of most instruments is filled with logical chords and requires learning of finger positions in most cases.  I have never learned by rote or repetition; I seldom learn from reading and doing.  I learn by "seeing" how to do something and being able to do it - or not.  Learning chords, whether finger positions or from "windows", has always been a FAIL.  As has learning the different keys in which music is written.  

 

But if you wanted to know anything about the 630 miles of the South West Coast Path, a street map of anywhere I have ever been or buses across the south of England across the past 60-odd years I may well know it from memory!  I once amazed a colleague of SWMBO whilst we still lived in Australia.  He was about to holiday in the UK and wondered about driving from Heathrow Airport to the West Country.  I wrote down the route there and then - without reference to any source - including the signs, directions and turns.  Basically M4, M25, A303, A30 but over 300-odd miles that's still a fair effort.  When he returned he made mention of the fact that everything was exactly as on that bit of paper with the signs just about word-perfect.  So why I cannot play a musical instrument to save my life remains a frustrating mystery and the acoustic (unbranded) six-string sits gathering dust in a corner as it has done for some years now.  

 

In other news it has been unnecessarily windy today.  The morning began with violent downpours as well making it all three of the things I dislike - cold, wet and windy together.  All three eased off by lunchtime but by then I had had enough and was extremely glad of a bacon roll and coffee for lunch.  Dr. SWMBO has been interviewing candidates for her team's vacancy all day and now has the evening to review before making the big decision in the morning.  We have seen little of each other today but knew that would be the case.  What is of greater importance is that she knows she has my love and support - plus food and drinks on demand - and tomorrow may be a much easier day.  

 

Best wishes to one and all.  RMweb hasn't played nicely today giving me time-out 522 errors most of the time so excuse me if I don't make it back later.  

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

18 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Snip<

 

 It's the style of learning, I suspect, that doesn't suit me or that I simply "don't do".  Just like I never coped with Latin which is full of perfectly logical declensions and which can be learned by rote so music and the playing of most instruments is filled with logical chords and requires learning of finger positions in most cases.  I have never learned by rote or repetition; I seldom learn from reading and doing.  I learn by "seeing" how to do something and being able to do it - or not.  Learning chords, whether finger positions or from "windows", has always been a FAIL.  As has learning the different keys in which music is written.  

 

 

This could have been written of me - although I can learn from reading.  But the rest - oh yes.

[simontaylor484]

What a washout of a day it has rained virtually non stop.

 

When I worked in transport there were always 4 or more dot matrix printers in the office ideal for printing delivery notes using triplicate paper. Even in soundproof cases they were still noisy.

 

Last day at school was an assembly followed by coffee then home .

 

Best wishes to Gordon and his family hope he gets back on the mend quickly

 

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

My youngest niece “graduated” from nursery earlier this year. All socially distanced of course but just like a tiny version of a university graduation. 

In this day and age a graduation normally leads to a "Gap Year" (or, as Mr & Mrs Puppers think, putting off joining the real world for yet another year).    Don't tell me they are going to start having breaks during as well as after education now! 

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I wonder how they go on for spares for the B52's or do they keep raiding the ones that are out in the desert fot russkie satellites to look at.

They are the aeronautical equivalent of grandfather's axe, with the exception of some basic airframe components, I suspect everything has been replaced during one or other of the retrofits - avionics, engines, etc, though there's probably some crappy 1950s vintage components still there for aircrew 'comfort' purposes.

 

Apparently they're soon to get high-energy directed beam weapons (aka "lasers") installed.

 

Of course Boeing is one of the few aircraft manufacturers still operating under their original corporate name.

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Ozexpatriate