P2 Locomotive Company and related matters

About 4 thou ... (4' 8.5" is 1435.1mm, but the official definition of gauge now is 1435mm. I suspect it makes the square root of b*gg@r all difference...)

Anyway, back to the Mikado.

Tom

 

So if 60163 gets clearance to run the odd 90mph , would it worth getting clearance for this one to run at 83 (same rpm) ?

 

Quite so. The Berne Convention fixed it at 1435mm. That was too complicated for the British at that time though.

 

I thought it had actually grown 3.075mm since steam finished!
(Do PW wallas work to these tolerances?)

 

The increasing tendency to use centimetres depresses me because it is not an SI unit, one should go straight from metres down to millimetres. There is a good reason for this; the tolerances which need to be observed in most activities are seldom finer than a millimetre so the use of decimal places is avoided whereas with centimetres decimal places are all too often required. Almost everyone feels happier dealing with whole numbers and in manual multiplication (which was the only type available when I was at school) one always removed the decimal point,. did the multiplication, and re-inserted it afterwards with the appropriate number of digits after it.

 

I think you should get out more.

 

I'm still getting over the use of centilitres in France - as in asking for a cinquante in a bar...!

 

Where did I mention the dreaded centimetre, or anyone else, for that matter?

 

I seem to have spawned a flood of pedantry and will add to that by pointing out that what I wrote was:

Isn't track also rather different nowadays?

I didn't say anything about its gauge! What I meant was that rail is heavier, fixings to sleepers stronger and more secure, sleepers deeper and heavier - in all far more resistant to the forces that result in gauge spreading.

 

I'm with @John Stewart on this, and anyway, it's rare that if you're having to use cm you won't need it to one decimal place anyway, in which case use mm, and also much more convenient in physics where you've got lot of very big and small numbers, clunking down by powers of three from milli to micro etc is much easier.

 

You didn't. I just decided to indulge in a mild bit of thread drift.

 

So, after the Convention, an update on all the bits that had been saved up for the expectant masses:

https://www.p2steam.com/2016/10/12/october-update/



Foxy

 

My apologies, my fault being silly.

 

Over the last decade or so the actual track gauge has varied from 1435 to 1432 and back to 1435mm
So 1.5mm difference at each rail. To deal with this radical change in gauge I understand that NWR now implement transition sleepers to cope with the change in gauge.

 

Graham,
Is that the chime whistle l bought for 60163 or a new one?
Barry

Graham
Would that be the chime whistle l bought to be fitted to 60163 or it another new one?
Barry

 

It says in the Mikardo Messenger that it needs to be tuned so I would have thought a new one

 

As far as I know Tornado still has that chime whistle Barry - this is a new one which will be tuned to the pre-war spec (which apparently is different to the later chime whistles).

Foxy

 

A further update has appeared on the P2 WS:
https://www.p2steam.com/2016/10/28/riveting-time-dlw/

Foxy

 

Breaking new ground.... David Elliott proposes an alternative way to calculate the balanced mass of a wheelset - fascinating stuff!
https://www.p2steam.com/2016/10/31/getting-balance-right/

Foxy

 

Perhaps you'd like to try getting a quote using millimetres on here:-

http://www.transglobalexpress.co.uk...kparcelquote&gclid=CNPnmI-JiNACFUEaGwodVlAGOg

What's wrong with decimetres and decilitres, I say?