ELECTRICAL VOLUNTEERS REPORT SUNDAY 28th FEBRURY

[JONATHAN-BARNES]

Today we had a full house. The fire alarms were tested as usual.

The day was fine but cold so we spent most of it in close proximity to the heaters, kettle and shortbread biscuits. Clive went to Summerseat for about an hour with Simon to sort out a problem on the platform lights control system.

Jobs done in workshop :-

Light fitting for under canopy at Rammy: was painted white on the inside to reflect light. This can be re-assembled next week.

1950s Clock for outside of Trackside: This has been on test since last week and appears to be keeping good time. The fingers were touched up with paint. The electrical connections were made safe and it was assembled into its housing. We have left it switched on in the vertical position to make sure the fingers don’t slip. We will check it next week.

Taco Generator and Speed Gauge : for standard 4 loco : The moving coil meter did not move because it was clogged up with dust and muck so it needed to be dismantled for cleaning. The screws that hold the face onto the movement were rusted and had to be cut with hacksaw. Holes then needed to be drilled in the face to accommodate new screws. The face was then sanded down and given back to one of the Standard 4 gang for repainting.

The moving coil meter was then dismantled. This was a delicate job and required a lot of WD40. By the end of the day we managed to get it cleaned, re-assembled and tested with a battery.

We still have the problem of what to do about the taco generator. We would like to acquire an authentic one, otherwise Clive will need to spend many happy hours in his shed experimenting with Hall Effect Transistors (see last week’s blog).

That was it for another week.

[marflow]

The shed has been taken over by The Meerkats who have christened it The Shedmibob. [can't help but remember Merlin every so often]

Also fixed last week was the CCTV upstairs at BBS. Fault traced to knackered splitter and poorly terminated BNC lead.

Fault at Summerseat my be caused by cable damage between SST and Rammy SB. Does anyone know anything about such a possibility?