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TEMPLOT 3D PLUG TRACK - To get up to speed with this experimental project click here.   To watch an introductory video click here.   See the User Guide at Bexhill West.

  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed. Some of the earlier pages of this topic are now out-of-date.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.
  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.

Fresh air & photos

Quick reply >
Hi Andy/Andrew,
I go out fishing and come back to find all the cars have been identified :( Good calls though by the looks of it. The old Arley shot ( which I can now see, unlike Tuesday night ) is very good.

I won't bore everybody with how good the fishing used to be along the River Severn. Hampton Loade was great for..........and then just upstream of Arley...........and of course Ironbridge was the best spot for.......etc etc. I blame the cormorants for eating all the little fish before they grew big enough to stay out of the way of the birds.

Rob
Hello Rob and Andy,
Well, not all I think. Might the unidentified car be a Bullnose (Morris)?
Andrew
 
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message ref: 1258
Hi Andrew.
I'm no Civil engineer, but I would suggest that in order to gain access to the river bank, a near vertical structure was needed. An embankment, which would be load bearing is unlikely to be stable in wet conditions such as floods. Brick is much more stable and arches use far fewer bricks than a solid structure. This is why they were used so much under railways and even platforms. Economy.
Regards
Tony.
Hello Tony
When you say "use far fewer bricks" it would appear nonsensical at first. Then I wondered if an arch might be thinner (less layers of bricks) so using less material in that way. Am I on the right track?
Andrew
 
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message ref: 1259
It's that tree again, just coming into leaf.

tree_again_3800x1900.jpg


We have had a very dry Spring, the sandy soil in these parts is unusually dry and dusty for the time of year. The farmer today was busy laying out irrigation pipes (visible along the hedgerow). A strange sight in April.

Meadow with fence.

new_fencing_3800x1900.jpg


Lockdown walkabout has caused landowners so much damage and litter that a rash of new fencing and gates is appearing across the local countryside. Never to be removed. Ancient grassy rights of way which wandered across a field between old wooden stiles have become well-trodden footpaths, fenced off from the fields and gated. Today I opened and closed 7 shiny new galvanised gates which weren't there the last time I came this way. The landscape is changing for ever -- no-one ever takes down a fence.

Martin.
 
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Hello Tony
When you say "use far fewer bricks" it would appear nonsensical at first. Then I wondered if an arch might be thinner (less layers of bricks) so using less material in that way. Am I on the right track?
Andrew
Hi Andrew.
What I was meaning was that the spaces between the arches are not full of bricks as a continuous wall would be. Sometimes / often, the piers of arches were hollow and filled with rubble. If a retaining wall were built, it would need to be quite substantial with strengthening ribs to resist the outward pressure of the back fill.

Regards
Tony.
 
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@Guinea_Pig_Tester

Here you go.

View attachment 894

30th May 2016.

Martin.
Thanks for the picture Martin, I remember this spot although I wouldn't have remembered if it was upstream or downstream of Arley. You wouldn't have seen any fishermen that day* as the old close season still persists on most rivers. The start of the new season on June 16th was always an event worth taking part in - many happy nights down by a river. The close season was to protect the fish when they were spawning but these days the weather patterns are all screwed up with the spawning taking place anytime from February to July.

Rob

*Salmon and trout seasons differ from the one for coarse fish. So in theory and with the correct licence you could fish the spot above for salmon or trout during the coarse close season and be catching coarse fish full of spawn - you would have been restricted to fly, spinner or worm as bait though rather than the more usual groundbait and maggots.
 
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message ref: 1264
Hi Andy/Andrew,
I go out fishing and come back to find all the cars have been identified :( Good calls though by the looks of it. The old Arley shot ( which I can now see, unlike Tuesday night ) is very good.

I won't bore everybody with how good the fishing used to be along the River Severn. Hampton Loade was great for..........and then just upstream of Arley...........and of course Ironbridge was the best spot for.......etc etc. I blame the cormorants for eating all the little fish before they grew big enough to stay out of the way of the birds.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Oddly enough I can still remember many of the UK cars from 40 years ago but I could not tell you what any of the newest ones are. They all look pretty much the same :)

I once had ambitions to do some fishing. We live by a large lake which has a great variety of fish. I bought a small boat and all the appropriate fishing gear but ultimately I found it was more entertaining just to zoom around the lake in the boat.

Maybe I'd have found fly-fishing more interesting but it's probably a bit late to start that now.

Cheers!
Andy
 
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message ref: 1265
Hi Andrew.
What I was meaning was that the spaces between the arches are not full of bricks as a continuous wall would be. Sometimes / often, the piers of arches were hollow and filled with rubble. If a retaining wall were built, it would need to be quite substantial with strengthening ribs to resist the outward pressure of the back fill.

Regards
Tony.
Yes, I think I was somewhere close to your reasoning....Thanks Tony
Andrew
 
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message ref: 1270
Hi Martin,
Not quite the 1950's scene - everything is too clean and freshly painted and there are no fire buckets missing ! No porter leaning on a broom handle either.....

Nice picture though.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Here is Bewdley in April 1962.

post-14569-0-79559600-1452430106.jpg

linked from: https://www.rmweb.co.uk

In the summer of 1962 I was 13 years old. I remember arriving on my bike on a glorious summer's day and sitting on that very seat with my bar of chocolate and a bottle of pop. A pannier tank loco (3601) was shunting those very wagons in the back road, and I watched fascinated as the shunter flicked the 3-link coupling onto the hook, seemingly without effort. Seeing my interest he kindly asked me if I would like to have a go. Needless to say I failed miserably, although with a bit of help I eventually got it hooked up again. No H&S worries in those days.

We had the entire station to ourselves, in timeless silence. It was a magical day, but even at that young age I had an uneasy sense that it was all under threat.

Amazing that it is all still there 60 years later, when so much else has gone.

Martin.
 
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Hi Rob,

Needless to say I failed miserably, although with a bit of help I eventually got it hooked up again.

Martin.

Hi Martin,

.....and just after that you decided to write some software to help people build correct looking track:D You would have been coding it all onto punched 80 column cards!

Rob
 
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message ref: 1333
Hi Martin,

.....and just after that you decided to write some software to help people build correct looking track:D You would have been coding it all onto punched 80 column cards!

Rob
@Guinea_Pig_Tester

Hi Rob,

Yes, I still have a deck of punched cards in the attic, and some IBM green stripe assembler coding pads.

The best thing about punched cards was the high-quality metal trays which they were stacked in. Still very useful.

I remember taking a felt-tip pen and drawing a diagonal line across the top of the deck. So that if ever they got out of order, I could spot the misplaced ones.

But that was 10 years after that day at Bewdley. At that date all I knew about computers was in a book I found in the school library called "Giant Brains". :)

Martin.
 
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message ref: 1334
@Guinea_Pig_Tester

Hi Rob,

Yes, I still have a deck of punched cards in the attic, and some IBM green stripe assembler coding pads.

The best thing about punched cards was the high-quality metal trays which they were stacked in. Still very useful.

I remember taking a felt-tip pen and drawing a diagonal line across the top of the deck. So that if ever they got out of order, I could spot the misplaced ones.

But that was 10 years after that day at Bewdley. At that date all I knew about computers was in a book I found in the school library called "Giant Brains". :)

Martin.
Martin,
Yes, the trick with the diagonal line was handy. It wasn't much help if the 'deck' got dropped as any dings in the edges of the cards didn't help smooth progress through the car readers. I have some of the metal trays somewhere, we had many cabinets at work into which they slotted for storage.

My first 'proper' job back in '78 was as a Trainee Computer Operator, loading the cards into the hoppers and making sure the fan-fold paper in the line printers was stacking correctly. We had a room full of punched card coding machines staffed by around 20 operators who spent all day punching the cards with programs that had been filled out on the 80 column coding sheets. There was a number of remote job entry stations each having a card reader and a line printer for input and output streams from the ICL mainframes. I was doing a degree course at the the local polytechnic at the time and they had 'interactive' teletypes each with a paper tape reader which seemed very advanced at the time. Meanwhile at home I was doing my best to get some kind of computer training using an old TV screen and a portable audio tape recorder. I can own up to being one of the many who made Clive Sinclair's later kits and actually got them to work.....which is something my Cambridge MK-14 never did :(

Rob
 
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message ref: 1335
Martin,
Yes, the trick with the diagonal line was handy. It wasn't much help if the 'deck' got dropped as any dings in the edges of the cards didn't help smooth progress through the car readers. I have some of the metal trays somewhere, we had many cabinets at work into which they slotted for storage.

My first 'proper' job back in '78 was as a Trainee Computer Operator, loading the cards into the hoppers and making sure the fan-fold paper in the line printers was stacking correctly. We had a room full of punched card coding machines staffed by around 20 operators who spent all day punching the cards with programs that had been filled out on the 80 column coding sheets. There was a number of remote job entry stations each having a card reader and a line printer for input and output streams from the ICL mainframes. I was doing a degree course at the the local polytechnic at the time and they had 'interactive' teletypes each with a paper tape reader which seemed very advanced at the time. Meanwhile at home I was doing my best to get some kind of computer training using an old TV screen and a portable audio tape recorder. I can own up to being one of the many who made Clive Sinclair's later kits and actually got them to work.....which is something my Cambridge MK-14 never did :(

Rob

When I were a lad you had to build the blinking computer before you could even program it.

(There's a photo somewhere. I'll post it if ever find it :))
 
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message ref: 1339
When I were a lad you had to build the blinking computer before you could even program it.

(There's a photo somewhere. I'll post it if ever find it :))

@AndyB @Guinea_Pig_Tester

Hi Andy, Rob,

The first computer on which the beginnings of Templot ran (1980) was a Rockwell AIM-65:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-65

I built a backplane and several home-made expansion boards -- all home-etched on the well-known international size of 16" x 4" :) which was the size of PCB sheets which I had in stock for making the 85A Models track components.

The AIM was used to drive a Bridgeport miller which we converted to CNC control for machining turbine-blade tooling. The great thing about the AIM-65 was that it came with a full circuit diagram and a full listing of the embedded source code. I learnt a lot from a close study of that. It was still working fine 10 years later, to make the tooling for the Hunslet:

2_172235_490000000.jpg


The PCB sheets were cut to size for me by Crossley & Bradley in Leyland, Lancashire, and it seems I'm not the only one who remembers them:

https://forum.leylandtown.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=639

https://web.archive.org/web/20090926132818/http://www.crossley-bradley.co.uk

And still going strong:

https://www.ccieurolam.com/en/contact/uk


The punched cards 8 years before the AIM were for programming an IBM System/7 computer, controlling chain welding machines:

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/system7/images/5407PH04.jpg

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/system7/system7_tpress.html



Still in my pocket as I write this is a penknife given to me on a visit to the Wafios factory in Germany in 1972. :)

cheers,

Martin.
 
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@Phil O

Hi Phil,

All gone. Long since sold off for peanuts to:

http://www.chaincom.com/en/about/c/15816.html

The main customer by far was the National Coal Board. Also long gone of course, along with the entire coal mining industry.

The site is now occupied by OGL Computer, but the Old Farmhouse on the corner is still there, visible on the left:

https://goo.gl/maps/i4awjAn8Sz7ekXw38

It was the training centre and Director's Dining Room.

cheers,

Martin.
 
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The Navy had some anchor chains from them, back in the day, but it's not often that the chain needs replacing and we don't have much in the way of a navy these days. During the Christmas leave period there were more ships alongside, in Devonport than the navy now has in the entire fleet and I include RFA ships in that.
 
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jan_2018_3800x1900.jpg
 
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kingsland_bridge_3800x1900.jpg
 
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does this count?
A railway switch from around 1900!
20210519_152141.jpg

You can see that the footplate under the point is replaced (around 1963)for some more use
20210519_152259.jpg

An extension around 1960 on the original station, see the two different rails
20210519_152343.jpg

Yes from around 1900
20210519_152355.jpg

Yes from around 1900.
You can clearly see at the frog that there was some derailment due to age of the frog
20210519_152409.jpg

20210519_152420.jpg


I am sorry i did not make more pictures, apparently i was on privet property.
The running line is owned by a Steam Museum, the station next to the line incl some of this old track work is privet property.
As a well mannered "young boy" i apologised and went away.(They did not really mind as i showed them my pictures and i explained why)..
With best regards
 
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Last edited:
Some how this one did not came into my post
@Justme Igor

Hi Igor,

This forum software limits the total attachment size to 15MB. Maybe you went over the limit? It's easy to make a separate post if you need to upload more.

Thanks for some great pics. :)

p.s. English department: You meant "private" land. This is privet on the right -- the bushes making an ornamental hedge:

buckenhill_2880x1900.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privet

:)

Martin.
 
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Long time no report.

The fish pass is now finished and in water:

fish_pass_finished1.jpg


But no fish in the time I spent watching.

The clean new concrete and shiny galvanised railings won't be looking like that after a few floods. If whoever did the numbering had realised the piles would remain on view forever, they would have got a proper signwriter to do it. :)

Millions of pounds of public money spent, but no public access. Just the usual barbed wire and padlock:

fish_pass_finished2.jpg


It's the same everywhere in the countryside now. Every day a new fence.

To be fair, they are providing a public viewing gallery down-river at Diglis.

Martin.
 
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message ref: 1922
Hi Martin,

Good to see it finished, maybe the fish haven't figured out what it is for yet :confused: Maybe they should have a fish counting device installed - like an axle counter on the railways - so they could see what the use was like.

Too many health & safety risks with letting the public go near anything like this. One of the Canal and River Trust guys told me that suggestions had been made to put barriers around canal locks to stop people falling into deep water when the lock chamber was full. How did we ever manage to stay safe in the old days ??

Rob
 
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message ref: 1923
One of the Canal and River Trust guys told me that suggestions had been made to put barriers around canal locks to stop people falling into deep water when the lock chamber was full. How did we ever manage to stay safe in the old days ??
@Guinea_Pig_Tester

Hi Rob,

A lot of my childhood was spent playing with friends around the local canal basins and locks in the 1950s. I don't remember any of us falling in, or anyone else.

But in recent years someone fell in the lock and had to be rescued by passers-by, and tragically a young lad fell off his bike into a lock and drowned. Putting safety barriers around the locks would destroy the timeless atmosphere of the canals, but if it saves a life perhaps we should accept it. Hopefully a safety railing is not the same thing as a 6ft fence with barbed wire on top.

Here's a picture of a lock, still looking the same as it did 200 years ago. For now.

belan_top_lock_1280x854.jpg


cheers,

Martin.
 
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message ref: 1946
Hi Martin,

Thanks, that is Belan lock on the Montgomery if I am not mistaken. I walk and fish on the section north of Maesbury which is very quiet most of the time. Mind you there have been plans for a while to reopen the whole canal north through to Frankton junction where it joins the Llangollen canal - don't hold your breath though.

Rob
 
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message ref: 1948
Hi Martin,

Thanks, that is Belan lock on the Montgomery if I am not mistaken. I walk and fish on the section north of Maesbury which is very quiet most of the time. Mind you there have been plans for a while to reopen the whole canal north through to Frankton junction where it joins the Llangollen canal - don't hold your breath though.

Rob
Hi Rob,

Yes, well spotted. Belan Top Lock.

Here's a drawing of the Buck horizontal paddles, used only on the Monty.

buck_geared_paddle.png


Martin.
 
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message ref: 1950
Actually, traditionally people just fell in and drowned.

It becomes an issue for authorities when you can be sued.

Time moves on and what was acceptable becomes unacceptable.
We do expect some improvements in safety.

Seatbelts in cars; collapsible steering columns; designs that move your head away from the
windscreen header; anti torpedoing seat design; the list goes on and on.

Just watch Russian dash cams for old Lada cars built from late 1960's Fiat designs hit modern cars.
The difference in survivability is very educational.

The same reasons that steam locomotives are an OH&S nightmare compared to a modern diesel.

Matt M.
 
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message ref: 1952
Sat in the churchyard to eat my boiled egg today.

rectory_garden_2976x1900_.jpg


Martin.
 
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message ref: 1976
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