As the new signalling system was commissioned a few years earlier, the Siemens signal box computer kept crashing.
As the new signalling system was commissioned a few years earlier, the Siemens signal box computer kept crashing.
Siemens had a bit of a rough time in the 90s with light-rail prototypes that wouldn't brake, self-igniting diesel locos in Norway, disintegrating Combino trams a bit all over the country, and tilting ICE VT high-speed trains that wouldn't tilt.
Got it home in one piece, and me in one piece.
There's been a debate on and off in railway museum circles about what kind of experience is needed for the electrical side of things and I've always argued that rail-specific experience isn't necessary.
Competence is required. That's about it. There's an awful lot of current involved, and at times some pretty impressive voltages (low impedance sourced..) But, it was built using pretty basic stuff, because that worked and could be made to continue working.
Now, there are finer details in the engineering implementation that might be non-obvious to the layman, but to the electric professional reading the technical docs on the loco they're not incomprehensible.
If you compare it with the intricate craftsmanship of running and maintaining a steam engine, not only is the work much less, it is much more manageable in terms of driving and servicing.
https://youtu.be/7ScBfNG0SiU
There's been a debate on and off in railway museum circles about what kind of experience is needed for the electrical side of things and I've always argued that rail-specific experience isn't necessary.
Competence is required. That's about it. There's an awful lot of current involved, and at times some pretty impressive voltages (low impedance sourced..) But, it was built using pretty basic stuff, because that worked and could be made to continue working.
Now, there are finer details in the engineering implementation that might be non-obvious to the layman, but to the electric professional reading the technical docs on the loco they're not incomprehensible.
If you compare it with the intricate craftsmanship of running and maintaining a steam engine, not only is the work much less, it is much more manageable in terms of driving and servicing.
https://youtu.be/7ScBfNG0SiU
The one thing that is different with most traction systems is the use of DC. Few industrial control electricians will have experence of high voltage high power DC systems.
As the new signalling system was commissioned a few years earlier, the Siemens signal box computer kept crashing.
Siemens had a bit of a rough time in the 90s with light-rail prototypes that wouldn't brake, self-igniting diesel locos in Norway, disintegrating Combino trams a bit all over the country, and tilting ICE VT high-speed trains that wouldn't tilt.
You can bet that's just the opposite here. Entire NYC subway system is 600VDC third rail. Metro North RR from Grand Central Station to points north is 600VDC third rail. I believe Amtrak from Jersey side tunnel under Hudson River to Penn Station is also 600VDC third rail.
The diesel locos that come up here to last stop at Poughkeepsie have a shoe on the wheel trucks to pick up the third rail just north of NYC. Once they pick up the third rail the diesel engine is shut down.
...I think Mnementh was probably thinking of the USS Nevada - she was painted red for operation Crossroads and was intended to be the primary target ship, but the aerial drop missed.
From the WIKI page: Post-war
Nevada, then with her final commanding officer, Cecil C. Adell (28 October 1945 – 1 July 1946),[37] returned to Pearl Harbor after a brief stint of occupation duty in Tokyo Bay. Nevada was surveyed and, at 32⅓ years old, was deemed too old to be kept in the post-war fleet.[5][57] As a result, she was assigned to be a target ship in the first Bikini atomic experiments (Operation Crossroads) of July 1946.[4] The experiment consisted of detonating two atomic bombs to test their effectiveness against ships.[88] Nevada was the bombardier's target for the first test, codenamed 'Able', which used an air-dropped weapon. To help distinguish the target from surrounding vessels, Nevada was painted a reddish-orange. However, even with the high-visibility color scheme, the bomb fell about 1,700 yd (1,600 m) off-target, exploding above the attack transport Gilliam instead.[89] Due in part to the miss, Nevada survived. The ship also remained afloat after the second test—'Baker', a detonation some 90 ft (27 m) below the surface of the water—but was damaged and extremely radioactive from the spray.[57] Nevada was later towed to Pearl Harbor and decommissioned on 29 August 1946.[4]
After she was thoroughly examined, Iowa and two other vessels used Nevada as a practice gunnery target 65 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor on 31 July 1948.[5][72][n] The ships did not sink Nevada, so she was given a coup de grâce with an aerial torpedo hit amidships.[90][5]
The second thing they found was, that arcing during switching the contacts confused the trains computerized control system, which then refused to do anything and had to be rebooted, including all safety procedures on train startup (like brake check, horn check etc.)
You can bet that's just the opposite here. Entire NYC subway system is 600VDC third rail. Metro North RR from Grand Central Station to points north is 600VDC third rail. I believe Amtrak from Jersey side tunnel under Hudson River to Penn Station is also 600VDC third rail.
The diesel locos that come up here to last stop at Poughkeepsie have a shoe on the wheel trucks to pick up the third rail just north of NYC. Once they pick up the third rail the diesel engine is shut down.
Here, the subway ("Tunnelbanan") is 600 or 750V DC (the last system built, the Blue Line, uses 750V; the earlier ones are 600. I suppose the under-construction extensions to the Blue Line will be 750, but I'm not as certain regarding the Yellow Line that's being built as an appendix off the Green line.) third rail. Trams and light rail are about the same, but catenary wire. Main-line trains are 15KV 152/3 Hz AC -- the frequency chosen as it's 1/3 of 50Hz and more suited to the single-phase electrical motors of the very early 20th century. Sweden, Norway, Germany, Austria and Switzerland all share this system.
The second thing they found was, that arcing during switching the contacts confused the trains computerized control system, which then refused to do anything and had to be rebooted, including all safety procedures on train startup (like brake check, horn check etc.)
In Ghent, Belgium, they're keeping some of their old PCC trams for de-icing the catenary. The new Bombardier and CAF stock can't cope with the transients caused by icing on the contact wire.
https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20190131_04144270
Update on the HP 5340A.
Replacement capacitors assembled & fitted.
All low voltages checked & verified as good. I left the Sangamo caps as they tested OK and didn't have crust underneath or that fishy smell, all the failed caps were Sprague, two of which were shorted.
It now has at least two other problems, first one is the display supply (+175V) is low & the displays dim or barely lit at a result. It's below the 135V-ish that the book states most voltmeters will display, as no smoothing cap is used.
The second problem, the displays are mostly stuck on 7s in self check mode, need to fix problem one first.
David
Ooh, I should get back onto fixing mine, I have a nixie version (actually two of them, and a third that was firmly a parts unit that got stripped down).
I just replaced those PSU caps with new Japanese ones of the same form factor, the original ones were so old and dried out that some sounded like they were full of dirt!
I've made reproduction OCXO Option PSU boards ready to populate one when I get to it, as I came across the needed transformer in the parts unit. Still have to source the actual OCXO though.
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing if the 18GHz inputs have been blown or not.... Hopefully I can cobble a fully working unit from the parts I have on hand..
I'd love to get my hands on the upgraded input section that was reportedly much more resilient, but that seems practically unobtanium unless you luck across it somehow.
What's opposite? I said most traction systems are DC.
The difference I was referring to was industrial electricians working mostly with AC motors etc.
You can bet that's just the opposite here. Entire NYC subway system is 600VDC third rail. Metro North RR from Grand Central Station to points north is 600VDC third rail. I believe Amtrak from Jersey side tunnel under Hudson River to Penn Station is also 600VDC third rail.
The diesel locos that come up here to last stop at Poughkeepsie have a shoe on the wheel trucks to pick up the third rail just north of NYC. Once they pick up the third rail the diesel engine is shut down.
Here, the subway ("Tunnelbanan") is 600 or 750V DC (the last system built, the Blue Line, uses 750V; the earlier ones are 600. I suppose the under-construction extensions to the Blue Line will be 750, but I'm not as certain regarding the Yellow Line that's being built as an appendix off the Green line.) third rail. Trams and light rail are about the same, but catenary wire. Main-line trains are 15KV 152/3 Hz AC -- the frequency chosen as it's 1/3 of 50Hz and more suited to the single-phase electrical motors of the very early 20th century. Sweden, Norway, Germany, Austria and Switzerland all share this system.
Update on the HP 5340A.
Replacement capacitors assembled & fitted.
All low voltages checked & verified as good. I left the Sangamo caps as they tested OK and didn't have crust underneath or that fishy smell, all the failed caps were Sprague, two of which were shorted.
It now has at least two other problems, first one is the display supply (+175V) is low & the displays dim or barely lit at a result. It's below the 135V-ish that the book states most voltmeters will display, as no smoothing cap is used.
The second problem, the displays are mostly stuck on 7s in self check mode, need to fix problem one first.
David
Ooh, I should get back onto fixing mine, I have a nixie version (actually two of them, and a third that was firmly a parts unit that got stripped down).
I just replaced those PSU caps with new Japanese ones of the same form factor, the original ones were so old and dried out that some sounded like they were full of dirt!
I've made reproduction OCXO Option PSU boards ready to populate one when I get to it, as I came across the needed transformer in the parts unit. Still have to source the actual OCXO though.
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing if the 18GHz inputs have been blown or not.... Hopefully I can cobble a fully working unit from the parts I have on hand..
I'd love to get my hands on the upgraded input section that was reportedly much more resilient, but that seems practically unobtanium unless you luck across it somehow.
Guess I sort of had some luck there, as both of mine seem to have been updated with the later front end assemblies, but both arrived in quite a state.
First 5340A from Germany had lots of fasteners missing, a hole where the I/O board had been robbed and loose RF connectors in the front end. After all those issues had been addressed, it only required the switches cleaning to work.
The second 5340A had two shorted PSU can caps, two failed rectifiers and the odd loose/missing fastener.
I couldn't easily obtain replacements screw terminal can caps, those at Mouser were quite expensive & some values were not stocked. Plus I have lots of surplus caps from the components I bought from work.
Still working on the +175V power supply, but since checking everything on the regulator board (all transistors, zeners & passives checked) I'm beginning to suspect the rectifier or transformer winding. I would check voltages against the good 5340A but can't access it until the storage unit reopens tomorrow.
Here is the output of the transformer with red wires disconnected from the rectifier, the book states the winding is 155V (but no mention of whether that is peak-to-peak or RMS).
With the wires reconnected to the rectifier & regulator board removed, I get this on the output of the rectifier, looks odd to me. Note: the rectified supply here is added to the unregulated +15V before going to the +175V regulator board.
Note: the rectified supply above is added to the unregulated +15V before going to the +175V regulator board.
David
The second thing they found was, that arcing during switching the contacts confused the trains computerized control system, which then refused to do anything and had to be rebooted, including all safety procedures on train startup (like brake check, horn check etc.)
In Ghent, Belgium, they're keeping some of their old PCC trams for de-icing the catenary. The new Bombardier and CAF stock can't cope with the transients caused by icing on the contact wire.
https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20190131_04144270
Update on the HP 5340A.
Replacement capacitors assembled & fitted.
All low voltages checked & verified as good. I left the Sangamo caps as they tested OK and didn't have crust underneath or that fishy smell, all the failed caps were Sprague, two of which were shorted.
It now has at least two other problems, first one is the display supply (+175V) is low & the displays dim or barely lit at a result. It's below the 135V-ish that the book states most voltmeters will display, as no smoothing cap is used.
The second problem, the displays are mostly stuck on 7s in self check mode, need to fix problem one first.
David
Ooh, I should get back onto fixing mine, I have a nixie version (actually two of them, and a third that was firmly a parts unit that got stripped down).
I just replaced those PSU caps with new Japanese ones of the same form factor, the original ones were so old and dried out that some sounded like they were full of dirt!
I've made reproduction OCXO Option PSU boards ready to populate one when I get to it, as I came across the needed transformer in the parts unit. Still have to source the actual OCXO though.
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing if the 18GHz inputs have been blown or not.... Hopefully I can cobble a fully working unit from the parts I have on hand..
I'd love to get my hands on the upgraded input section that was reportedly much more resilient, but that seems practically unobtanium unless you luck across it somehow.
Guess I sort of had some luck there, as both of mine seem to have been updated with the later front end assemblies, but both arrived in quite a state.
First 5340A from Germany had lots of fasteners missing, a hole where the I/O board had been robbed and loose RF connectors in the front end. After all those issues had been addressed, it only required the switches cleaning to work.
The second 5340A had two shorted PSU can caps, two failed rectifiers and the odd loose/missing fastener.
I couldn't easily obtain replacements screw terminal can caps, those at Mouser were quite expensive & some values were not stocked. Plus I have lots of surplus caps from the components I bought from work.
Still working on the +175V power supply, but since checking everything on the regulator board (all transistors, zeners & passives checked) I'm beginning to suspect the rectifier or transformer winding. I would check voltages against the good 5340A but can't access it until the storage unit reopens tomorrow.
Here is the output of the transformer with red wires disconnected from the rectifier, the book states the winding is 155V (but no mention of whether that is peak-to-peak or RMS).
With the wires reconnected to the rectifier & regulator board removed, I get this on the output of the rectifier, looks odd to me. Note: the rectified supply here is added to the unregulated +15V before going to the +175V regulator board.
Note: the rectified supply above is added to the unregulated +15V before going to the +175V regulator board.
David
What's opposite? I said most traction systems are DC.
The difference I was referring to was industrial electricians working mostly with AC motors etc.
Was referring to the electricians. They would have vast experience working on DC control systems.