Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Don't like strokers.....but they're easier to fix!

I scan-read that as "stokers" knowing the connection to shipping and thought about those poor hard-worked souls below shovelling coal for all they were worth.  Briefly wondered why they might be easier to fix but then realised it was my scan-reading which required "fixing"   

[Tony_S]

INSET days in school were introduced as has been mentioned by the then Education Secretary, Kenneth Baker. Also known as B days for a few years too.  Schools used to have a few days each year called occasional days which were holidays the school could use. The occasional days were turned into training days for staff, remaining as holidays for the students. When I worked as an advisory teacher, my colleagues and I were often involved in organising and providing training for school INSET days. Some schools seemed to have a real objection to training, others were really enthusiastic. We liked the ones that invited us to lunch. Aditi was seconded to the computer centre for a year to promote IT in the humanities curriculum. After one session for a geography department at a large comprehensive in Romford she seemed pleased that that they seemed quite interested. On the following Monday the IT coordinator for the school phoned me and once she had sorted out her request , enquired what had Aditi done to the geography department. They had turned from technophobes to enthusiasts overnight and wanted access to the network, various software installed etc.

Tony

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Bumped into my friend at Tess Coes this lunchtime. He collects Hornby-Dublo three rail and is having a problem, he cant get any of them to work. When power is applied they just sit there and hum. Sourcing an original H-D controller is difficult and any would be suspect as they would all be at least 50 yeas old. Eye lids are drooping, better go and inspect them

[simontaylor484]

Good Afternoon 

@chrisf my gran always had her little gec radio tuned in to radio2 in the kitchen i remember the theme tune eminating from the kitchen her embassy gold leaf cigarettes and the seemingly never moving whisky glass magically at the same level all the time shame the bottle level moved though

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

25 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Bumped into my friend at Tess Coes this lunchtime. He collects Hornby-Dublo three rail and is having a problem, he cant get any of them to work. When power is applied they just sit there and hum. Sourcing an original H-D controller is difficult and any would be suspect as they would all be at least 50 yeas old. Eye lids are drooping, better go and inspect them

 

Rectifier fried - AC getting to rails?

 

OF's run out was a bit wet, but 'breakfast' was good if a little pricey.  Sunny on the way back which helped, 60 miles or so, all my hip can stand nowadays.

 

Puppers, I'll have the actual motorcycle, not the Hardley Ableson please! Sheesh, those things....I have a pal with a FatWideGitGlide or something, bit of a handful over here.  Leaves nice grooves in the tarmac after gentle cornering.

[leopardml2341]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear thinks he's got the small cabinet alignment cracked - hopefully.  And what a barsteward it was too.  One corner was too low - so adjust that upwards to get it level - only now the front is too f. high....  Spent hours fiddling about, and now pretty sure it's as good as it's gonna get now....

I had a similar problem, but on such a small unit I removed and re-positioned one of the back legs, so it sits  level because of the milking stool effect (three points of contact are always co-planar). Always wondered why Tornado nose radars weren't mounted on three fixing points for that very reason, would've mad alignment somewhat easier....

[Gwiwer]

53 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Also known as B days for a few years too.  

And Baker Days.  My sister, until her recent retirement a SENTA, often looked forward to what the non-teaching world wondered about when Baker Days were spoken of.  Inset (IN SErvice Training) Days are equally cryptic for most.  

[leopardml2341]

POOTTS hasn't worked either.........

 

[The Lurker]

except I suppose that Inset days seem to be inset in to the term itself. Well, actually they're often tacked on to a holiday.  I know of one school near here where they did their actual training in the evenings and had longer summer hols.

[Tony_S]

8 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Rectifier fried - AC getting to rails

That was very similar to what I was going to post. My advice would be to use the original Hornby Dublo power unit as a display item and buy something more recent. I don’t think Dublo need sophisticated electronic feedback controllers but I suspect they draw more current than some of the tiny plug in power supplies from modern train sets can supply. Just to check it isn’t the trains at fault I would try any other 12 volt  DC supply like a car battery charger just to quickly see if the trains move. 

[Ian Abel]

POETS, however I'm taking the day off so what's that

 

Yesterday the car performed flawlessly so the service trip today cancelled. Walk with Whitney and the day was done.

 

Today we have  a "man" coming over to discuss our patio ideas. Same folks we used for the landscaping last year, well respected, just have to decide how much we want to flush invest in the project!

 

Weekend will see various activites including the first get together with a group of friends we've not seen since the dreaded lurgy hit last year.

 

11 and overcast first thing, 18 expected later.

 

Tally ho.

[Barry O]

A duette will work HD 3 rail stuff.

 

Been for an eye checkup.consultant a very happy bunny..so am I

 

Baz

[J. S. Bach]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good Morning...

 ...snip...

So on this particular POETS day I have a choice of 1) feeling sorry for myself; 2) feeling really sorry for myself; 3) feeling really, really sorry for myself; or 4) wallowing pathetically in self-pity, unwashed, unshaved and necking a catering sized bottle of McSporran’s cooking whisky...

 

Off to self-medicate my headache  Not sure if it’ll be with aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen...

 

Enjoy POETS day

 

iD

The headache is, of course, from the McSporran’s, right?

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Puppers, I'll have the actual motorcycle, not the Hardley Ableson please!

That is the correct answer!

[JohnDMJ]

1 hour ago, leopardml2341 said:

POOTTS hasn't worked either.........

 

 

Like that, might even use it myself (if it's not patented or copyrighted of course! ;)) I've previously referred to our Fridays as POTS days; they lack the 'early' aspect!

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

three rail and is having a problem, he cant get any of them to work. When power is applied they just sit there and hum. Sourcing an original H-D controller is difficult and any would be suspect as they would all be at least 50 yeas old. Eye lids are drooping, better go and inspect them

 

Rectifier fried - AC getting to rails?

A distinct possibility I would have thought, it will be a selenium plate rectifier and he'll know if it's gone by the smell ...

 

If it is that it could be repaired with a modern silicon bridge rec (or does it have Full/Halfwave switching I wonder?) but you have to ask yourself would it be a good idea as the transformer and the mains cable is no doubt way beyond it's serviceable best?  

 

I would have thought it would be better to retire it as a museum piece or completely re-build it with modern components mounted in the original case (depends if he's precious on originality or not) or maybe buy something slightly more modern like a servicable, late H&M controller if he wants to retain a period look.   I expect such things are available on Ebay and a patient punter should be able to pick one up a reasonably priced example.   Otherwise just buy a modern, meaty job and crack on.

 

UPDATE

 

I thought as much.   You'd need to choose carefully though to avoid the out of the frying pan into the fire syndrome!

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311&_nkw=hammant+and+morgan+controllers&_sacat=0

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by PupCam
Ebay link added

[TheQ]

Got an email back from BA, confirming my stroppy email and saying they will make a note on the account..

Meanwhile I've been to the boat yard, they had a problem...the boat almost sank... Some sort of fitting hidden below the toilet has failed, they've bodged it for the moment, but the toilet need to come out and the boat lifted out to fix the problem.. it's probably the old fittings from the days when toilets were pumped overboard.. They have had to have holding tanks for 30 years plus.. should get the boat back next month. I suspect many unmentionables amount of money will be spent...

 

And kids today reckon they have a hard time at school, WE didn't get all these days off, and WE were in school 09:00 till 16:00 none of this knocking off at 15:00..

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, leopardml2341 said:

Always wondered why Tornado nose radars weren't mounted on three fixing points for that very reason, would've mad alignment somewhat easier....

The Tornado's Blue Circle radar didn't need such accurate alignment

[Coombe Barton]

Teaching online - and will be until 7

 

Yes, some students are here

[simontaylor484]

When i worked in Abingdon a stroker was a euphemism for W#$€€r.

 

 

[simontaylor484]

I have never been a motorcycle fan a former collegue had a Buell which was a lovely looking machine. I also liked the look of Harleys 

 

Sacrilege to some i know 

[TheQ]

27 minutes ago, PupCam said:

The Tornado's Blue Circle radar didn't need such accurate alignment

Still needed four point mounts.. you don't want 300kg going for a wander...

[Erichill16]

7 hours ago, PupCam said:

.

 

In Other News:

Although I'm waiting for the "proper" Arduino MEGA board to turn up I had a crack at building the code for the DCC++ EX system yesterday.      

 

It didn't go with a swing..... 

The destructions say that you can substitute a NANO for a UNO and the code includes NANO specific definitions etc but it falls over whinging about incorrectly set timer flags.  And despite setting it up so that Ethernet was not included it got into a strop because it couldn't find an Ethernet card so some surgery had to be performed.

 

So then I thought I'd have a go with the simple to use, installer designed for use by Noddy.  

NANO isn't on the list of processors to choose from - do make up your minds chaps!    

 

Anyway, I'll have another ponder today if only to pass the time and to educate myself.

 

 

Shouldn’t there be a button for ‘I don’t know what he’s on about’?

[simontaylor484]

An arduino is a small circuit board computer programmed by a sketch which is in a similar language used in C.

I have seen them combined with a Rasberry Pi running a program called JMRI to make a cheap DCC control using a laptop tablet or smartphone. 

 

I had considered doing this myself but i have no luck with anything involving computers .

An arduino can cost less than a fiver a raspberry pi kit around £30. 

There may be a different way of achieving the same outcome. I defer to those with more knowledge 

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

...Or in the immortal words of Pink Floyd

"Okay (okay, okay, okay)
Just a little pinprick
There'll be no more, ah
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go"...

 

Pink Floyd: R E S P E C T !

As much as I’ve enjoyed their work post Roger Waters departure, I still think the best work was done when there existed a creative tension between Waters and Gilmour in the band. For me, probably the standout track from the post-Waters albums is the title track to The Division Bell - when you carefully listen to Polly Sampson’s lyrics it is clearly a reflection on getting old and on the bittersweet regrets that ageing brings, beautifully encapsulated in David Gilmour’s soulful playing of both the electrified nylon string classical guitar and the lap steel.

And whilst on the subject of emotive pieces of music, as I am writing I am listening to Eric Satie’s Trois Gnossiennes, which never fails to invoke a late a wet and windy late autumn evening in one of the minor arrondissements of Paris (and definitely reminds me of a great meal had at Le Petite Bofinger in such an arrondissement)

iD

Edited May 14, 2021 by iL Dottore
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