A Site For Battery Train Sceptics
I meet and get messages from a lot of people, who are sceptical, that battery-powered trains will ever be a viable alternative to diesel-powered ones.
I have just read this post on Vivarail’s web site, which is entitled Battery Train Update.
It is very open and informative and is very much a must read for anybody interested in the future of railways worldwide or the application of battery-powered trains.
The introductory sentence of the update is very heartening.
Our first production train is in its final build stage and is due to go out on the network – fully approved for passenger service – by the summer.
Provided of course, the COVID-19 situation will allow everybody to travel.
First Order For Mireo Plus B Battery EMUs
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The Land of Baden-Württemberg’s rolling stock body SFBW has ordered 20 battery-equipped Mireo Plus B electric multiple-units from Siemens Mobility, which will then be responsible for their availability over a 29½-year operating life.
The Siemens Mireo Plus B Battery EMUs appear to have the following specification.
- Ability to use overhead electrification.
- Ability to use battery power for a range of eighty kilometres.
- Two underfloor lithium-ion battery packs.
- Batteries handle regenerative braking.
- 160 kph operating speed.
Delivery is by December 2023.
Preparations For War
I always remember a tale told by my mother about her mother, who was born in Dalston in the 1880s.
In 1939, my mother asked her mother, if she was ready for the inevitable war.
The reply was as follows.
I was caught out in the First War and I’m not going to get caught out in this one!
I’ve got a hundredweight of jam and a hundredweight of sugar in the cellar!
Do readers still know what a hundredweight is? – Fifty kilos.
From what I know, my grandmother was rather a forceful woman of very strong Devonian ancestry, with the Yeoman surname of Upcott.
In this war against COVID-19, I may have made a few preparations, but nothing like those my formidable grandmother would have made.
Serial Cooking – Pasta With Yogurt Sauce For One
This is based on a Lyndsey Bareham recipe, which I cooked in Serial Cooking – Quick Pasta For One.
Note.
- There’s a lot of room for error and personalisation.
- I suspect it works equally well with Marks and Spencer’s normal pasta.
- It can be cooked in about ten minutes.
I’ve cooked it perhaps twenty times now and eaten it every time.
A Class 755 Train PowerPack Car
The picture shows the PowerPack car of a Class 755 train.
Note.
- The two covers to give access to the two engines on each side of the car.
- The shared Jacobs bogies between the cars.
- The pairs of shock absorbers between cars.
The Jacobs bogies and the shock absorbers are probably used to help give the trains a smooth ride. The Wikipedia entry for Jacobs bogies says this.
Instead of being underneath a piece of rolling stock, Jacobs bogies are placed between two carbody sections. The weight of each car is spread between the Jacobs bogie. This arrangement provides the smooth ride of bogie carriages without the additional weight and drag.
After my half-dozen or so rides in Class 745 and Class 755 trains, I wouldn’t be averse to seeing a lot more of these trains in the UK.
Morden South Station – 24th December 2019
These pictures were taken on the 24th December 2019, at Morden South station.
The station is based on an island platform like many on the Sutton Loop Line.
The station doesn’t have step-free access, but I suspect, that a lift could be installed between the tunnel and the island platform.
Morden Station – 24th December 2019
I have started to catch up on my old pictures, as I have confined myself to barracks.
These pictures were taken on the 24th December 2019 at Morden station.
I may need them in the future and I can always find them here.
Electric Aircraft Pose New Challenges For Maintenance And Repair
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Institution Of Mechanical Engineers.
The article looks at the Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) of electric aircraft.
It is a article very much worth reading!
The Tate Is Closing
I have just received this e-mail from the Tate, where I am a member.
It is not unexpected. |
Clean Air For All: Lampposts To Charge Electric Cars
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
An “electric avenue” has been developed where lampposts have been converted into chargers for battery-powered cars.
The project has been led by Siemens.
Surely, all lampposts should have an electric car charging point.
A Regret
I am limiting my travel because of COVID-19 and only using Shanks’s pony, so I will not be able to provide one of my pictures of the chargers.
The Anonymous Widower 