Cross arm pantographs
Ooh that’s a good one. I was looking at pictures of classes 83 and 84 with those the other day.Cross arm pantographs
When did BR /other huge organisations stop paying their staff in cash?
I don't remember that, in fact train preparation instructions included "turn on lights throughout train" so that hot bulbs were less likely to be unscrewed and pilfered.Carriage lighting only turned on at night, so when you went through a tunnel during the day, you were in darkness.
only if the steam pipes were leaking. Most of the time they weren't. I remember my dad getting home and complaining that he had had to cycle a couple of miles from the station in icy weather with a wet trouser leg after sitting by a leaking steam heater (Broad St to Tring!)Plastic water cans in MK1 toilets (to flush the bogs) , as in deep cold weather , the water tanks froze , and were thus drained to prevent problems.
On the same theme , small tablets of "green" coloured soap , stamped "BR" ...
Steam heated coaches , which looked very atmospheric , but inside MK1 compartments (which were toasty and comfy usually) , you got slightly damp upholstery from leaking interior heating pipes.
Lights were always switched on before entering tunnels and extinguished after leaving. If you were travelling on a line that was unfamiliar the lights coming on would tell you a tunnel was imminent. There would have been local instructions covering where lighting was to be used.Carriage lighting only turned on at night, so when you went through a tunnel during the day, you were in darkness.
Carriage lighting only turned on at night, so when you went through a tunnel during the day, you were in darkness.
I have looked in my General Appendix and the Sectional Appendices too, and it seems that you are both right. I am amazed, because I was specifically told that trains had to go into service with all the lights on to discourage people from tampering with the bulbs.Lights were always switched on before entering tunnels and extinguished after leaving. If you were travelling on a line that was unfamiliar the lights coming on would tell you a tunnel was imminent. There would have been local instructions covering where lighting was to be used.
Nowadays heritage railways running MkI stock with inferior batteries and minimal running to recharge them definitely do (sensibly) only put lights on when approaching tunnels...
Lights were always switched on before entering tunnels and extinguished after leaving.
I have looked in my General Appendix and the Sectional Appendices too, and it seems that you are both right. I am amazed, because I was specifically told that trains had to go into service with all the lights on to discourage people from tampering with the bulbs.
I think my books date back to the 1960s. Anyone else got a similar memory?
Given the number of tunnels on the CLC line into Liverpool Central, it would make sense just to leave the unit's lights on.I do think I remember the lights always being on for the Gateacre services into Liverpool Central.....
Was the difference down to how the electrical power for lighting was generated?My memory from when I was a kid in the 1960s is that DMUs on the Weymouth line had lights on all the time, while hauled coaches only had them on at night.....
Not only cross arms, but cross arm pantographs with a *really* long stretch (on 1500V DC lines).Cross arm pantographs
Mk1 (and earlier) coaches had a clever but simple system whereby the buttons on the switch at the end of the coach controlled the lights in that vehicle, but a central square socket(turned with a carriage key) in the cast metal plate operated a switch that swapped the whole train, connected through the 3-pin RCH connectors. The trouble was that if someone had switched off all the lights in their own coach and the guard subsequently turned off the lights for the whole train then they came on again in that coach.My memory from when I was a kid in the 1960s is that DMUs on the Weymouth line had lights on all the time, while hauled coaches only had them on at night - and they weren't turned on for tunnels: think about it, each coach would have had its own lighting controls and the guard was hardly going to change the settings on every coach, especially non-corridor ones.
That is how I remember it.A few years later when I started riding Waterloo-Exeter the compartment lights were on all the time, with a dimmer switch over the compartment door, and some compartments had reading lights which could be switched on/off
The Wirral & Mersey Class 503s certainly turned the lights on in daytime as they left Birkenhead North headed for Liverpool, there being a couple of short tunnels there before the main one. Being DC units, there was no issue with battery capacity etc, but it was still the procedure to do so.I don't remember that, in fact train preparation instructions included "turn on lights throughout train" so that hot bulbs were less likely to be unscrewed and pilfered.
Nowadays heritage railways running MkI stock with inferior batteries and minimal running to recharge them definitely do (sensibly) only put lights on when approaching tunnels...
Don't split hairs!No such thing as a filament/incandescent "DC" light bulb, it is based on the rated voltage only (and is VERY inefficient).
One of those cases where a standard was chosen pretty much randomly, but once established there's no compelling case to change, I should think.All continental domestic light bulbs have ES (Edison Screw) fittings, I'm not sure why we adopted bayonet fittings in the UK?
A real sadist would go for a screw fitting with the opposite handing to the standard... Of course, if the vibration argument for bayonet fittings holds weight, a triple-pin fitting would presumably be less prone to movement.According to Wikipedia, railway lamps had triple pin bayonet to discourage theft!
Maybe the previous tenant was a railway employee? Difficult to explain though, as railway carriage bulbs were relatively low voltage.I moved into a first l flat where one of the ceiling light fittings was a triple bayonet!
How interesting.... I found this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Non-DIMMABLE-Energy-Saving-6000Hrs-Lifetime/dp/B076N5F41K (3-pin bayonet LED lightbulb.)The storage cupboard room in my place has a triple bayonet too. And its a relatively new build.
Strange as it is the only such fitting in the whole place.
In my case it was a new flat and presumably was fitted by mistakeThe storage cupboard room in my place has a triple bayonet too. And its a relatively new build.
Strange as it is the only such fitting in the whole place.
I wouldn't think it is the sort of thing you would fit "by mistake!" I wouldn't even have one in my stock (never having heard of them for current use before now.) It must be to do with controlling (limiting) which sorts bulbs you can install...In my case it was a new flat and presumably was fitted by mistake
They're quite common in North America (where they're known as tri-lights. (At least they were in the days of filament bulbs.) With dual-filament bulb and a rotary switch, you'd go through all combinations of the low and high wattage filaments, to get three levels of brightness from one bulb. This was of course with a screw fitting...I think the 3-pin bayonet was used where there were bright and dim filaments in the same bulb, so you didn't waste power switching in a resistor when the compartment light switch was changed to "dim