On Apr 3, 6:01*pm, "
wrote:

Returning to trains, the PATCO Lindenwold system, while automated,
always planned to have human backup readilly available in case the
machine failed. *PATCO's motorman could operate the train in manual
mode if necessary, and centralized fare gate assistants could open
gates if needed.

I thought that PATCO's motormen already manually operated the train when
it was entering a terminal station.

I don't believe that is the case. The terminal is a station stop like
anywhere else. _After_ the train arrives is another story, if the
train goes out beyond the station to change ends.




Are there certain times when PATCO crews have to drive in manual, just
to stay in practice. There is such a requirment on the Central Line on
Sundays, IIRC.

Yes, that has always been PATCO policy.

They also drive manual in wet weather on slippery rail.

On 03/04/2012 23:06, wrote:
On 02/04/2012 14:43, wrote:
On Apr 1, 5:34 pm, wrote:

Are you finding that the inks which I pasted in don't work? I am, but
if I put the HTTP:// back in they do.

Yes, I got to it. Interesting stuff. thanks for sharing it.


Would you know if the British railway system ever had radio phones for
use by passengers as premier American trains did?

Also, at one time almost every US train station had a payphone, but
they are rare to find now. Some stations still have them mostly to
serve as an emergency phone (no charge to call police), though of
course one can still make a normal call. Overall, pay phones have
become rather rare in the US thanks to cell phones, and cheaper phone
rates.

Do British railway stations still have pay phones?


London Underground stations used to have pay phones, though no longer. I
can't understand why they would do that, however, because one cannot get
a signal on their mobile phones on the tube lines.

They also used to have to have Candbury's vending machines, though those
disappeared around 2006/07.

Too many people figured out how to get an extra free bar out of those
machines.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 03-Apr-12 14:49, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Stephen Sprunk wrote:

PBX trunks aren't numbered.

If outbound trunks aren't numbered, how does ANI work?

For a trunk, both called and calling number are explicitly signaled at
the start of each call in either direction.

So they are numbered.

Inbound calls to a number (or set of numbers, eg. DID) are routed to any
available trunk in the trunk group.

Right. ANI must be passed along to the PBX so it knows what extension
to connect to.

On Apr 3, 7:23*pm, wrote:

On the River Line, sometimes the automated 'next station' announcement
gets ahead of itself and announces a station further down the line
rather than the one coming up next.

I was on one once which was just picking station names completely at
random! I like the River Line; it's a nice system.

Graeme Wall wrote:

Too many people figured out how to get an extra free bar out of those
machines.

I figiured it was all the melting chocolate each summer...

On Apr 3, 6:06*pm, "
wrote:

London Underground stations used to have pay phones, though no longer. I
can't understand why they would do that, however, because one cannot get
a signal on their mobile phones on the tube lines.

They also used to have to have Candbury's vending machines, though those
disappeared around 2006/07.

NYC subways still have pay phones. Mobile phones only work in
stations close to the surface, if even that. However, the MTA plans
to contract with vendors to install antenna and provide service. Some
people object to that since they don't want to be disturbed by cell
phone yackers. I certainly don't like cell phone users on trains.

You may have heard about the BART controversy over the cutoff of
mobile service _within_ its system. There were protestors attempting
to disrupt service (and managed to in some cases), and BART had
wireless service cut off so the protestors couldn't coordinate their
attacks.

On Apr 4, 2:53*am, Graeme Wall wrote:

They also used to have to have Candbury's vending machines, though those
disappeared around 2006/07.

Too many people figured out how to get an extra free bar out of those
machines.

the NYC subway used to have thin vending machines (candy, gum) that
mounted on pillars of the station. I think other cities had them,
too. The MTA got rid of them some years ago claiming they weren't
properly maintained.

We forget that in the old days vending machines were strictly
mechanical and did not make change. Today, I can't imagine a machine
not taking dollar bills and not making change.

In Philadelphia and NYC, often near subway and train stations, there
was a popular restaurant chain, "Horn & Hardart", that used vending
machines known as the Automat. The machines were constantly refreshed
by crews working behind them. They had good wholesome food at a
reasonable price. Unfortunately, times and tastes changed and the
business shut down.

Does the UK have fast food chains similar (or the same) as the US'
McDonald's, Burger King, etc.?

On Apr 4, 4:35*pm, wrote:
On Apr 4, 2:53*am, Graeme Wall wrote:

They also used to have to have Candbury's vending machines, though those
disappeared around 2006/07.

Too many people figured out how to get an extra free bar out of those
machines.

the NYC subway used to have thin vending machines (candy, gum) that
mounted on pillars of the station. *I think other cities had them,
too. *The MTA got rid of them some years ago claiming they weren't
properly maintained.

We forget that in the old days vending machines were strictly
mechanical and did not make change. *Today, I can't imagine a machine
not taking dollar bills and not making change.

In Philadelphia and NYC, often near subway and train stations, there
was a popular restaurant chain, "Horn & Hardart", that used vending
machines known as the Automat. *The machines were constantly refreshed
by crews working behind them. *They had good wholesome food at a
reasonable price. *Unfortunately, times and tastes changed and the
business shut down.

Does the UK have fast food chains similar (or the same) as the US'
McDonald's, Burger King, etc.?

Yes, the very same. Some of the food in McDonalds is slightly
different. Pret in New York that I went into had exactly the same
decor as the one in Croydon UK had at the time. Walking around Staten
Island Mall, a surprising number of the shops are exactly the same,
but the three big ones there , J C Penny, Sears, and I can't remember
the third one, do not operate in the UK. The second biggest
supermarket chain here, Asda, is owned by Wall-Mart, but trades under
the ASDA name. Wendy had a small number of outlets here, but then
moved out, then returned with an even smaller number, then withdrew
again. They were probably the best of the hanburger chains. Starbucks
is another name you will find over here. I think Nero and Costa are
also over there, but I'm not sure.

I think you also have some of our shops over there now, Marks &
Spencer and Tesco for example I believe operate in the US to a limited
extent.

Budweiser beer is sold here; I thought it was horrible when I tried
it. The stuff sold here if brewed at the old Watney's brewery in West
London, so I thought this might be the reason, but somebody gave me a
sip to try when I was over there, and it was exactly the same, not
much taste, and what there was not very pleasant. This was in Jersey
City, so probably from the Newark brewery, rather than the main one.
There was some link between Cadbury's and Hershey, some bars sold
under the Cadbury name here were made under licence by Hershey, but I
think this arrangement ended before Cadbury was sold to Kraft.

Borders bookshops were here, until they went into administration.

We have Greyhound over here, but they're much smaller than National
Express. I don't know if they're related to the Greyhound over there
which is owned by First Group, one of the largest bus operators in the
uk, and based in Scotland.

On Apr 3, 6:06*pm, "
wrote:

London Underground stations used to have pay phones, though no longer. I
can't understand why they would do that, however, because one cannot get
a signal on their mobile phones on the tube lines.

Speaking of payphones, the AT&T archives has a film (viewable on-line)
about them:

"This 1989 film was originally made as part of a small, traveling
exhibition created by AT&T on the history of the payphone, 100 years
after its conception. The exhibition debuted at AT&T’s Infoquest
Center in New York City.

Invented by William Gray in 1889, the payphone went almost ten years
before it became a coin-op model. Before that, they were on an honor
system. For most of the 20th century, payphones were an essential part
of a connected society. At their peak there were over 2.5 million of
them in the United States.

Phone booths proliferated from the 1920s to 1970s, with the designs
changing from elaborate wooden booths to the classic glass-and-
aluminum. While the booths are now quite rare, the phones themselves
are becoming more so. Once cellphones proliferated, most large telecom
companies (including AT&T) jettisoned their payphone business arms
during the 2000s. The vast majority remaining are owned by small,
local vendors.

The best — and most entertaining — website that tracks the de-
evolution of payphones and phone booths is The Payphone Project, which
has been tracking the decline of those cultural icons since 1995."

http://techchannel.att.com/play-vide...sary-Pay-Phone

http://www.payphone-project.com/

On 04-Apr-12 03:14, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 03-Apr-12 14:49, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Stephen Sprunk wrote:
PBX trunks aren't numbered.

If outbound trunks aren't numbered, how does ANI work?

For a trunk, both called and calling number are explicitly signaled at
the start of each call in either direction.

So they are numbered.

There is not a 1:1 correspondence between trunks and numbers, as there
is with POTS lines. That is what makes them trunks!

If I have a block of 1000 directory numbers, all of them are routed to
the entire trunk group, so no trunk can be said to have any particular
number. Same if I only have one (high-volume) number: it is routed to
the entire trunk group, so all trunks have the "same" number, which also
means they don't have unique numbers.

Of course, trunks still have _circuit_ numbers for tracking and billing
purposes, but those are not dialable _directory_ numbers, which is what
we were discussing. For POTS lines, the directory number _is_ the
circuit number.

Inbound calls to a number (or set of numbers, eg. DID) are routed to any
available trunk in the trunk group.

Right. ANI must be passed along to the PBX so it knows what extension
to connect to.

DNIS (called number) is the opposite of ANI (calling number). The very
_need_ to signal the called number proves the trunk itself doesn't have
a fixed directory number. If it did, there would be no need for DNIS!

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking