Broithe

For a line that has seemed to be 'at risk' for the whole of living memory, it has survived quite well...

https://www.facebook.com/angardasiochana/photos/pcb.10159648116608001/10159648112353001/

Warning! Contains large amounts of yellow paint.

Last time I looked at the conditions of the Gaugemaster guarantee, it boiled down to "If you have one that doesn't work, we'll fix it or replace it" - no 'proof of purchase', timescale, or any other issue - if it breaks, they'll fix it - (but, it won't break, of course, so they can say that fairly safely).

If the Hornby controller is one of these - - then they are a fairly poor device. The output, particularly at the lower settings, is very 'choppy', electrically, and it may upset the more modern motor systems - possibly. Also, they have a thermal cut-out in them, for safety reasons, but the component used for this can have very variable responses, sometimes they are OK, but I had one that could only be used in the garage, in the winter - in the house, or if the Sun came out, it would quickly 'think it was over-heated' and turn itself off. I'm a fan of the Gaugemaster devices - fine, if you're going to stay DC - and they can sometimes be picked up second-hand, as people go DCC. Edit - Ah, I see that the controller is one of these - - I've never used one of those, but I wonder if it is just a 'repackaged' casing, with the original components within?

It's good that the guarantee is still valid. Keep an eye on things and keep us informed - thanks.

Image reversal 'to fit the page layout' is a modern plague. The Screwfix catalogue used to be full of pictures of woodscrews with left-handed threads, as if anybody has ever made one.

A Class picture reversed? Or the platform clock ten minutes slow?

Talk elsewhere of consultants reminded me of an event in the mid 1980s. The mob I worked for were what would be termed "vulture capitalists" these days - they traded on the (once justified) reputations of companies that they had taken over and were strangling to death. They generally employed consultants as a way of advertising how serious they were about an issue that they had no intention of actually addressing at all. We were once treated to a chap who was going to refine our design processes, but without the slightest understanding of the peculiar difficulties that our products presented. One lecture took place (for added importance) in the oak-panelled boardroom. After a couple of hours of irrelevant, patronising nonsense, I became aware that Les, the design drawing office manager, sitting next to me, was becoming more and more angry. Normally, he was a very dour and professional man and, whilst the rest of us were happy enough with 'two hours rest', he had proper work to do. Les was actually gripping the table, in an effort to contain his anger. We were coming towards the end and I decided to 'keep an eye on him' until we could escape back to reality. But my scheme failed - a bit, but not as much as I thought it was going to. On the table (this was the 80s!) was an ashtray - it was a disposable foil ashtray, but, as the company never spent anything on anything, it was probably about fifteen years old, as no replacement would ever be available. Our mentor picked it up and held it aloft -"Can anybody tell me what this is?", he bellowed. There were about twenty of us in the room and nobody was going to answer, as whatever we said would be wrong - by this stage, the veins on Les's neck were standing out and I, lounging back in my seat, put my leg behind his chair, as I was getting concerned that he might genuinely attack the lecturer. "Come on! Tell me what this is - Come on, tell me. Tell me!" Les could hold it no longer - "It's a bloody* ashtray" "Ah, no, it isn't!" "Yes it bloody* well is!" "No, it isn't - it's whatever you want it to be" "It's a bloody* ashtray! It's got bloody* dog-ends in it!" By this stage, Les had, by the sheer grip of his hands on the table, raised himself from his seat - and I was preparing to try to impede him, if he made a lunge at his tormentor. The engineering director had spotted the feeling in the room by this point, and we were approaching the end of the session anyway, so ""I think we'll call it a day now - and thank you for your most interesting talk". For those who didn't know Les - it was all the more shocking as he never swore - and he didn't say "bloody", in fact...

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2021/1202/1264407-dart-damage/

Delivery has occurred. I am now thoroughly spoiled.

Elsewhere, I have mentioned the Japanese chap that I worked with on the Big Island - our management had no idea what was going on, but did have the capacity to allow or deny funds for a project. He applied, with a hand-drawn graph as the main evidence for his proposal. They felt that it was all too vague. So, he got a printed version done - no new calculations, simply a print of his back-of-the-envelope sums - this became viewed as a 'computer prediction' and so it was true now - he got the money for the project.

There is a lot of words - it would be nice to think that something might actually happen as a result of writing all that... When I had a proper job, I developed a fairly accurate way of assessing the future reality compared to the flashy predictions promised. 2040 is a long way away and the last two years, in particular, have shown how plans can easily go awry. Time will tell, but the absence of the word 'Rosslare' makes you wonder how close to reality it all is.

Even more freight in the future - possibly. https://www.irishrail.ie/Admin/getmedia/685e9919-f012-4018-879b-06618bb536af/IE_Rail-Freight-2040-Strategy_Public_Final_20210715.pdf

Reindeer steak?

They must have left Alexa turned on and she's sent me a confirmation email. I'm always reminded of a friend who lived a couple of hundred yards from a supermarket. His wife wanted to get all the Christmas stuff in stock early. He demanded that it be left to the last minute, as they would sell off the last bits to shut up early and go home. She argued, but eventually gave in, when he said we would procure the whole list himself - at a great saving. He went across on Christmas Eve, confident in proving his point. The shop was shut and in total darkness - as was everywhere else. They had sardines on toast for Christmas dinner. He is regularly reminded of this...

Phew! I think I managed to 'spoil myself' at 17:59. And, my mobile hasn't had a text from the bank yet, with their traditional "Is this really you?' alert, as usually happens when i deal with IRM...

They will be more than adequate for anything likely to be required on a model rail set-up - and they have the advantage that the wire isn't subject to the turning end of a screw as it is tightened up.

That should be fine. It's probably the best compromise for model rail use.

A good soldered connection will generally be a better bet than a screwed one. It can even be worth tinning multi-strand wire, if you do want to have screwed connections for the occasional disconnection. With a soldered joint, you do still have the potential for breakage where the solder ends and the multi-strand wire emerges - reasonable support will largely prevent the stress concentration there becoming a real issue. When I had a proper job, our control cabinets were arranged with large banks of screwed connector blocks, but the connections were not directly to the wire - the ends of the wire had crimped blades attached, to avoid the crushing/cutting of the wire strands that can occur as the screw is tightened. This sort of thing - the 'hook' on this sort means that you can 'feel' that the full end of the screw is on the blade, not just a bit of it catching the very end of the blade.

Perhaps it will expand enough to be renamed Ath na Tel?

From 68 to 71, I lived within sight of the dust plume from this asbestos mine, although we were almost always upwind - https://www.amiandos.eu/en/ Amusingly(?), 'amphibole' essentially means 'double entendre' in Greek... Registered UK deaths mentioning asbestos seem to have subsided very slightly in the last couple of years, but other events may be masking the reality to some extent, of course.

That's exactly right - it's nice to put a coat of solder on each part, if you can, then melt those coatings together - but cleanliness is the key and a 'new' surface will always be easier to get a decent attachment of the coating to. With experience, you can almost 'see' when a joint is sound - it's hard to describe, but you will see it if you do enough joints. 'Structural' and 'electrical' soldering are similar, but rather separate subjects.

It will usually say so, if it has flux incorporated - terms like 'cored' or, more usually, 'multicore', will refer to the hollow part of the solder, filled with flux. They will look like this, although you can't usually see the cores on a melted end.