New power units

I expect the supply of parts will significantly outlast the sufficient number of skilled enthusiasts able to maintain them…

Simon

 

You are basing that statement on...... ?

 

Agreed. Subcomponents, depending on the part required, are actually not that hard to make.

 

I work on some pretty archaic electronice control equipment and generators up to 2Mw and to be honest it's easy enough and modern electronics are so cheap to install on old equipment

 

Until about 1997 I was involved as a volunteer on Balmoral

In those days she had the original engines - see http://rowifi.com/ndc/mv-balmoral.html

Clearly as 30's designed 2 stroke coaster diesels intended to be operated by untrained staff they were very different to even the most basic main line loco power plants. What also helped was that they were 'built up' rather than a single large casting. The Chief seemed to be able to get most things made/fixed however what killed them in the end was cracking in the bed plate - which may have existed from the start. The resultant rebuild, if it could have been done in the UK would have taken a year with the ship out of service for a complete season.

 

It depends....

If the control cards are relatively basic and predominantly use discrete complements (i.e. individual resistors, transistors, diodes, relays, etc.) then it should still be possible to repair / make copies when needed.

However its a different story if the cards contain microprocessors or other advanced Integrated Circuit chips - as you say with the speed computing technology has advanced over recent decades the older stuff is quite simply not produced any more*

* One of the big driving forces behind the likes of the "WestLock" and "SmartLock" signalling interlockings (both of which can still talk to BR design SSI modules trackside) was the increasing difficulty in obtaining computer chips slow enough to put into the old BR designed SSI interlocking modules. Today the only source of such chips are indeed from other BR SSI modules that have been removed and re-programmed such is the advances in processor speed and architecture.

 

Very interested by the apparent longevity of the chips: I had long wondered what their life might be .
One reason for adopting such a system was the vast step they enabled in reliability. And once programmed
- in unforgiving machine code - they were either quite right or clearly and self evidently wrong.
And I think you have explained why someone had had a safety concern raised with them over where
they could get spares and repairs for their miniature electric staffs for extensive single line working.
The person who raised it must have had to do with early computer interlocking and extended the problem
back a few generations to early electromechanical kit of no sort of microcircuitry whatsoever - probably
it running on DC led them to, or confirmed them in, their notions.

Might you have any further details of the critical bits in the SSI Modules and especially roughly when the
supply of compatible chips dried up?









s

 

Indeed - I'd be happy to offer up bits of LS TTL and CMOS that I might have (and will never use now) to preservationists.

 

Just take a look at what the group restoring the class 89 are doing to see what can be achieved with reverse engineering and updating of electronics and the like. However, some of that work can be carried out by a "detemined-cleverist" in his/her shed/loft. Manufacturing a new block for a generator or a new crankshaft for the same is probably more of a group effort and also more expensive, plus the risks are higher.

 

I think 3 D printing, and scanning will in time come to the rescue of many projects like this.

 

But hasn't the ACLG also replaced some old equipment with more up to date equipment that is cheaper to buy, more reliable in service and is easy to obtain spares for ? In essence the loco is externally original but internally upgraded to include more reliable components for modern day operation.

 

If you are thinking along the lines of things like new pistons, liners, main and big end bearings etc., if the parts are not available then some researching into acquiring original drawings would be a good idea, assuming they still exist.

 

I wasn't I was thinking along the lines of whole engines. I certainly know a lot of cylinder liners are still available or can be made courtesy of a former employer.

 

1. 'Thrash'.
2. 'Clag'.
3. What colour it's painted.

The three most important thing to your average diesel punter with short arms and deep pockets...

 

Inadvertent duplicate

 

I think for a Diesel the 'noise' - not the 'volume' but the 'music' is a major part of the experience.

A 33 (say) with a modern power plant just would not be the same thing, and as for a 1st generation DMU...............

 

A business contact is an expert in this field. I was in his office admiring an extremely complex heat exchanger used in a jet engine. It had been 3D printed with metals of different properties used in different areas. His comment was that anything that was a casting could be scanned and printed at will. Replicating forgings is a step too far at present.

 

Blimey..... I came across discussions like this about DCC and simulators. This is still 304.8mm/ft scale?

 

This is probably because of how forging alters the grain structure of the metal where as 3D printing would actually cause a shear plane across the corners of say a crank. A casting on the other hand, tends to be brittle anyway so isn't used in high tensile areas