Titan

You would still have insulated overlaps for sectioning purposes so that the feeding arrangements would not change. Basically you could replace the neutral section with an insulated overlap and keep the sectioning/feeding arrangements pretty much as before. Even the neutral section between the last invertor and the classic feeder station could be replaced with an insulated overlap if the invertor system is in phase with it.

There are other advantages too. With a conventional transformer system different feeder stations would take supply from different phases in an attempt to balance the load on the grid. With inverters you can synchronise the phases on the railway side thus removing the need for neutral sections to separate the different phases. Not only is this a saving in maintenance but neutral sections are awkward things to have - the train needs to coast through them so they have to be carefully placed with respect to line speed, gradient, signal positioning etc, to try and make sure a train does not end up stuck. Bit like being gapped on third rail...

I guess in a hundred years there will be a similar conversation about train stations...

Does not matter if it 1, 10 or 1000, not a single one has been released so the situation is infinitely worse than third rail units no matter how you try and dress it up.

I was going to say class 309, but then again there is not a single Mk1 based AC EMU. Makes the so called gap in DC Mk1 EMU's look almost infinitely small...

Surely it would only look 'right' if the couplings on the last third or so of the wagons were slack? Otherwise the bankers are being more hindrance than help...

The reason is because people have it set so that new posts to the bargains thread generate an alert. They only want to be alerted when a new bargain is posted. Since the forum software can't differentiate between a post about a bargain and the subsequent discussion they end up inundated with alerts they don't want. If they turn it off then they miss all the bargains too. The proposed solution fixes this in that the separate discussion thread won't trigger loads of false bargain alerts. Unfortunately just checking the bargain thread now and again throughout the day does not always work - some bargains are sold out within minutes of being posted.

Perhaps rather than removed, moved to the appropriate thread?

I can't help but think that line would make a possible home for the Electric Railway Museum....

I generally find that even with mismatched motors, you will not get wheel slip of either loco unless they are very mismatched. What happens is the 'faster' loco just takes a greater proportion of the train weight. The motors have to be pretty dramatically mismatched before there is any kind of issue, i.e. the faster loco is capable of hauling itself and the entire train weight faster than the other one runs light engine. Even then a little extra push/pull (depending on if the faster loco is leading or not) will just push/pull the slower loco a little bit faster than it runs light engine before wheel slip occurs.

No problem having it haul Mk1's Does anyone know if it ventured out on BR metals in the '70's-'80's with blue/grey stock?

So does that make it just an MU? After all it is a unit, and it works in multiple...

Pareto does not count as an electrification expert. That 80% will be the bits without any bridges or tunnels!

Indeed, when travelling on a motorway at 70mph and keeping a sensible distance from the car in front, on encountering a hold up I can usually slow down to about 40mph without touching the brakes or gears, Partly by seeing the brake lights come on ahead and lifting off, and partly by gradually reducing the gap to the car in front.

If I ruled the world, or at least the UK: 1. No concurrent sentences, all to be served consecutively. 2. All sentences to be served in full, with time added on for bad behaviour. 3. New prisons to be built to house the extra prisoners. Due to the Pareto principle - I would expect 80% of crime to be committed by 20% of criminals or thereabouts. If this 20% are all locked up and unable to commit more crime then there would be a substantial reduction in crime. This in conjunction with the building of new prisons would allow the shutting down of older less suitably designed prisons once the prison population is past it's peak. In the long term therefore this should reduce costs as well as crime.

I thought 'All Creatures' was based on actual events rather than fiction, with just the names changed, i.e. Alf White became James Herriot, Thirsk became Darrowby and so on? He may well have known the actual farmer referred to as 'Biggins' in the books.

Another alternative if the tracks are not too closely spaced is to have one hole per track. No need to worry about a lintel and they could be drilled out in minutes using something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/82mm-SDS-TCT-Core-Drill-Bit-Concrete-Masonary-Hole-Cutter-Drills-Pilot-Drill-UK-/152122856512?epid=1005872637&hash=item236b3a9440:g:h7cAAOSw0QFXCCUg

Why can't you just adapt an I.C. engine to burn hydrogen? That would it solve the range and performance issues, and if they can be dual fuel like the petrol/LPG cars of today the transition would be much easier too.

Perhaps, maybe so many others going over the top was influencing my choice of words.

I can't see how the braking system or the driver of the train could react so quick, the driver of the train must have intended to stop where he did prior to the collision occurring, indeed it would appear that the train would have stopped with the crane overhanging the crossing in any case without the collision...

And there you have it. Absolutely nothing to do with being 00 gauge or going round tight curves. Those that all too easily jumped upon that particular defense ought to hang their heads in shame.

I would have thought that an easy solution would be to shorten the crank throw slightly. Far less noticeable than lowering the cylinders, and since the pinch point is nearer the crank than the cylinders, it would need to be shortened less than the cylinders needed to be lowered to achieve sufficient clearance.

Very much disagree. The pattern/die maker now knows where the error is, the nature of the error, and as he will have the correct information to hand from the laser scan, provision of the dimension will be not only be superfluous but might even be worse than useless as it is likely not to be as accurate as the information the pattern maker already has, which now being made aware of the error he can check against and adjust to suit if practical.

God I had forgotten about those evil things. 'rat trap pedals' we used to call them.

If the design requirement is for a loco with a slow top speed, it would be daft to order anything faster than necessary, especially as a fast 08 would not be able to pull the skin off a rice pudding and therefore be useless for shunting - i.e. the job it was designed to do. An 08 can shift considerably more than an 09. I used to watch 08's shunt 1000 ton+ trains at Rugby with no bother - albeit slowly despite running flat out! At least the shunter could keep up with the train at a brisk walk. Higher speed gearing and the motors would have let all the smoke out...