British Steel Secures Major Contract From Deutsche Bahn
The title of this post is the same as this article on Global Rail News.
I thought the article had a touch of Coals-to-Newcastle about it.
But read the article and there are a lot of things coming together to enable the order.
- British Steel have spent a seven-figure-sum at Scunthorpe, to make the longer rails, that the Germans use.
- Deutsche Bahn are Europe’s largest purchaser of rail.
- The initial order is for 20,000 tonnes of rail.
- Rails can be delivered in 120 metre lengths through the Channel Tunnel.
I should say, that I’ve read in the past, that Scunthorpe makes a quality product.
I found this video on the British Steel web site.
It all brings back memories of the time, I spent as a sixteen-year-old putting automation on heavy machines use to roll non-ferrous metals.
I doubt you get work experience like that these days!
Is The World Cup In Russia Going To Be A Disaster For England?
A few weeks ago, I was travelling on a train to Southend and I was sitting opposite a guy about fifty.
He noticed my Ipswich Town bobble hat and we got talking about football.
Talk turned to the World Cup in Russia this Summer, after I said that I’d been to Moscow to support Ipswich about twenty years ago.
It turned out he was an analyst for one of the big betting firms and they felt from their research, that there were an awful lot of shenanigans being planned.
We parted by agreeing that the best place to watch the World Cup would be at home or in a friendly pub.
Can I Have Some Serious Rain, Please?
I haven’t really felt well since, I went to Sunderland a few weeks ago!
I’ve searched weather maps and systems and I can’t find any serious rain, anywhere!
Even Manchester hasn’t got any!
It’s all a Russian plot to kill me! Or at least get me seriously ill!
When Will The United States Learn That Guns Kill People?
Trump may blame mental health for the shootings in Florida, but then anybody can vere from their normal safe state to a dangerous one!
A Quick Visit To The German Museum Of Technology
I had time before my train left for Munich to have a quick visit to the German Museum of Technology.
As I do in most museums of this sort, I ended up in the printing section.
Germany’s Next Top Model
I found this advert in several cities I visited in Germany.
I’m nopt bothered but, would an advert like this be allowed in the UK?
Gravitricity Sets Sights On South Africa To Test Green Energy Tech
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on ESI Africa, which describes itself as Africa’s Power Journal.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Disused mine shafts in South Africa have been identified as an ideal location to test UK-based energy start-up Gravitricity’s green energy technology.
The company announced plans to transform disused mine shafts into hi-tech green energy generation facilities through a system that uses gravity and massive weights.
This is surely a classic fit, as Africa has plenty of sun and some of the mine shafts in South Africa, like the TauTona mine are getting towards two miles deep.
A weight of 1,000 tonnes in a two mile deep shaft would store nearly nine MWh. By comparison, Dinorwig Power Station or Electric Mountain, has a capacity of 500 MWh.
But Electric Mountain was built in the 1970s, cost £425 million and took ten years to construct.
Islamic State ‘Beatles’ Duo ‘should be tried at The Hague’
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Two captured British fighters should be tried in an international criminal court, rather than sent to Guantanamo Bay, a defence minister has said.
Tobias Ellwood told two newspapers it was important that “terrorists from any origin are transparently and fairly held account for their actions”.
I feel that Tobias Ellwood has got this absolutely right.
I suspect that Donald Trump, will not go along with the plan!
Will Some Of The New Buildings For Heathrow Be Built In Scotland?
It’s all explained in this article on the Offsite Hub website, which is entitled Heathrow To Offer Offsite Hubs To Other Mega Projects.
This is the first two paragrahs.
Airport says schemes such as HS2 and Hinkley could make use of planned offsite manufacturing hubs
Heathrow Airport has said it hopes its idea for a series of offsite manufacturing hubs to help with its £16bn expansion plans will be used by other major projects, including the new nuclear power station at Hinkley and the HS2 railway.
Sounds a good idea to me.
A few other points.
- Offsite accounts for 10% of the construction industry.
- Heathrow are aiming for between 25% and 40%.
- It will reduce the peak on-site workforce at Heathrow.
- Offsite was safer, cleaner and less weather dependent.
- Four hubs are plans, with one definitely in Scxotland.
A few months ago I talked to one of the managers building Custom House station, which was largely built offsite in Sheffield.
He told me, that the quality was so much better, than if it had been built traditionally.
The quality certainly wasn’t traditional pre-fab either.
Could this be part of the solution to our housing crisis?
Calculating Kinetic And Potential Energies
I used to be able to do this and convert the units, manually and easily, but now I use web calculators.
Kinetic Energy Calculation
I use this kinetic energy calculator from omni.
Suppose you have a nine-car Crossrail Class 345 train.
- It will weigh 328.40 tonnes, according to my detective work in Weight And Dimensions Of A Class 345 Train.
- There will be 1,500 passengers at 90 Kg. each or 135 tonnes.
- So there is a total weight of 463.4 yonnes.
- The train has a maximum speed of 90 mph.
Put this in the calculator and a full train going at maximum speed has a kinetic energy of 104.184 kWh.
The lithium-ion battery in a typical hybrid bus, like a New Routemaster has a capacity of 75 kWh.
So if a full Class 345 train, were to brake from maximum speed using regenerative braking, the energy generated by the traction motors could be stored in just two bus-sized batteries.
This stored energy can then be used to restart the train or power it iin an emergency.
Out of curiosity, these figures apply to an Inter City 125.
- Locomotive weight – 2 x 70.25 tonnes
- Carriage weight – 8 x 34 tonnes.
- Train weight – 412.5 tonnes
- Passengers – appromiximately 700 = 63 tonnes
- Speed – 125 mph
This gives a kinetic energy of 206.22 kWh
And then there’s Eurostar’s original Class 373 trains.
- Weight- 752 tonnes
- Speed 300 kph
This gives a kinetic energy of 725 kWh.
If a 75 kWh battery were to be put in each of the twenty cars, this would be more than adequate to handle all the regenerative braking energy for the train.
There would probably be enough stored energy in the batteries for a train to extricate itself from the Channel Tunnel in the case of a complete power failure.
Potential Energy Calculation
I use this potential energy calcultor from omni.
Suppose you have the typical cartoon scene, where a ten tonne weight is dropped on a poor mouse from perhaps five metres.
The energy of the weight is just 0.136 kWh.
I’ve used kWhs for the answers as these are easily visualised. One kWh is the energy used by a one-bar electric fire in an hour.
The Anonymous Widower 