Fascinating old adverts for railway equipment

[D7063]

Long before the GM products reach these shores we have an advert for American produced 4 & 6 wheel bogies and castings. Though they are the 'Commonwealth' design familiar on these shores!

I find it interesting that though the advert extolls the engineering features, there is no mention of ride quality etc

[D7063]

Steel sleepers tonight, not just for temporary track it seems. Another in a run of non UK ads I'm afraid, I'm sure we'll be back to something more familiar soon :)

[kevinlms]

4 hours ago, D7063 said:

Steel sleepers tonight, not just for temporary track it seems. Another in a run of non UK ads I'm afraid, I'm sure we'll be back to something more familiar soon :)

I thought that steel sleepers were used in a few locations in the UK? At least the manufacturers considered it worthwhile to have an ad in English.

[Nearholmer]

They’ve been used in specialist applications in Britain for decades, and “back then” the advert may well have been aimed at colonial administrators as much as users in Britain itself, because they’ve always been popular in places were the local insect life is very partial to a nice bit of hardwood.

[D7063]

Flange lubricators and infrared switch heaters from 'Mills' this evening 😄

[D7063]

Macbeth rail spikes now there's a name to conjure with!

I didn't really notice but the previous advert featured a flange lubricator that operated by rail deflection not a treadle or similar. There must have been quite a linkage to amplify the movement as I imagine that on a well maintained permanent way there wouldn't be that much deflection surely? 

[SHMD]

Would a heavier train axle deflect the rail more AND require more lubrication?

(My experience of trains passing over a short section of rail, (of interest), is that they depress quite a lot.)

 

I notice that all the "stylised" drawings of rail clips/fasteners/fixings do not have isolation for track circuits etc. Was this advert too early for that?

 

 

Kev. 

[D7063]

12 minutes ago, SHMD said:

Would a heavier train axle deflect the rail more AND require more lubrication?

(My experience of trains passing over a short section of rail, (of interest), is that they depress quite a lot.)

 

I notice that all the "stylised" drawings of rail clips/fasteners/fixings do not have isolation for track circuits etc. Was this advert too early for that?

 

 

Kev. 

Yes, I used to watch MGR trains causing quite a bit of deflection - but that was at a rail joint! you could be right though, that such a system would moderate the 'dose' proportionally to the weight of the train (I hadn't thought of that!)

The advert is from 1963, maybe someone else could comment on when track circuits were widely adopted?

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, D7063 said:

Yes, I used to watch MGR trains causing quite a bit of deflection - but that was at a rail joint! you could be right though, that such a system would moderate the 'dose' proportionally to the weight of the train (I hadn't thought of that!)

 

Maybe it's more trouble than it's worth? After all aircraft makers played with the idea of making plane wheels rotate before touchdown in the 60s, to reduce tyre wear, but gave up. Aircraft tyres are way more expensive than a bit of extra grease!

[hmrspaul]

On 03/10/2023 at 07:00, Nearholmer said:

They’ve been used in specialist applications in Britain for decades, and “back then” the advert may well have been aimed at colonial administrators as much as users in Britain itself, because they’ve always been popular in places were the local insect life is very partial to a nice bit of hardwood.

Back in 1981 BSC Workington were producing large numbers of steel sleepers - many of the internal user wagons used to take them to the docks were loaded with bundles of them. https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/workingtonsteel

 

Paul

[D7063]

A nice advert for a triple valve - Tesla fans may be familiar with the octovalve which is a pretty impressive piece of engineering from a modern age. From the advert It looks like these triple valves  are used on those W&M railbuses :)

 

[D7063]

I may have the scale wrong but that generator (or possibly alternator) looks fairly compact for 20kW. I am intrigued by the description - permanent magnet?

[Nearholmer]

It does look small for 20kW.

 

I reckon it must effectively be a large version of a traditional bicycle ‘dynamo’, so a magneto. They’re used in some small wind turbines I think.

 

[Edit: I suppose it might be an induction alternator, using a magneto as an exciter.]

 

[Exit 2: both guesses are probably wrong! See below]

 

Heres some history of EVR, which says that it incorporated a magneto maker when founded: http://feu.routier.free.fr/e-v-r.html

 

And, should you want one, here’s a current supplier: https://m.indiamart.com/proddetail/train-lighting-alternator-division-2803992862.html

Edited October 7, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

Well, here’s a description, which I think I need to read three more times, because it’s a bit strangely phrased and includes some weird spelling:

 

http://dptutorial.blogspot.com/2014/04/alternators.html?m=1

 

Trying to de-code that, I think it might be this, where both exciter armature and main field are on the same shaft, so are rotors, but I’m not totally sure.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Nearholmer

[D7063]

13 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Well, here’s a description, which I think I need to read three more times, because it’s a bit strangely phrased and includes some weird spelling:

 

http://dptutorial.blogspot.com/2014/04/alternators.html?m=1

 

Trying to de-code that, I think it might be this, where both exciter armature and main field are on the same shaft, so are rotors, but I’m not totally sure.

 

 

Thanks Nearholmer, I hadn't thought about it being a 'self excited' type with the automatic voltage regulator controlling the field for the exciter. This would make it a three phase AC machine, do you know what they would have used to rectify the AC in those days, or would all the loads have been AC so it didn't matter?

[D7063]

Although having read that rather garbled description I see that there would need to be a battery in circuit initially so it is not quite self exciting!

Because the battery is present that would mean a charging circuit and some form of rectification...hmmm🤔

[D7063]

Garbled description on the page in the link - not Nearholmer's excellent summary 🙂

[Nearholmer]

I don’t know how old the advert is, and rectifiers progressed fast in the thirty odd years after WW2, but probably selenium rectifiers initially. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium_rectifier

 

i wouldn’t rely on either the garbled description, or my deductions, completely, because I’m still not sure I’ve got it completely right.

 

Remnant magnetism is a common phenomenon in rotating machines, and achieving it is a “one off” process (well, sometimes it needs to be restored after ages and ages unused).

Edited October 8, 2023 by Nearholmer

[D7063]

I should have just scrolled down a bit to the part that says 'regulator rectifier unit' where I can see that rectification is performed using silicon diodes!

 

[Nearholmer]

Nowadays, yes, but if they’ve been in production for a long time, I would guess selenium until the 60s or even 70s.

 

In large, static, applications germanium diodes were used in the 50s and 60s, but they are quite fragile and I don’t think they were extensively used in small applications that had to be robust - some 25kV locos had them as traction rectifiers though.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

1960 advert, which if you read closely shows the variety of competing rectifier technologies at that moment.

 

[D7063]

Automatic air brake equipment tonight - that two stage compressor for the 'Peak' looks a beast, from the picture it doesn't look much smaller than the Sulzer powerplant!!!!

Prepared to accept that there is nothing to gauge the scale though. A class 71,and a 73 put in an appearance too.

[62613]

10 minutes ago, D7063 said:

Automatic air brake equipment tonight - that two stage compressor for the 'Peak' looks a beast, from the picture it doesn't look much smaller than the Sulzer powerplant!!!!

Prepared to accept that there is nothing to gauge the scale though. A class 71,and a 73 put in an appearance too.

Their site is now - wait for it - Davies Road and Metcalfe Road!

[D7063]

An advert for 'Kilfrost' de-icer tonight - no doubt containing chemicals judged 'fine' in the 1960's. The advert boasts that the product has been proven in cold countries such as Norway, but I notice Kilfrost are based in Haltwhistle - which can get pretty chilly too!

[kevinlms]

Interesting that they didn't convert it to Fahrenheit for the British/Colonial market.