An old gentleman whom I know regularly travels from East Croydon to
Three Bridges and is intrigued by some devices (about six) which have
recently appeared beside the line at various points in the Croydon
area.

He describes them as about 8 feet high and looking like some kind of
'windmill'.

He is curious to know what they are for.

Does anyone here have any knowledge of them?

On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 05:07:21PM +0000, Albert wrote:
An old gentleman whom I know regularly travels from East Croydon to
Three Bridges and is intrigued by some devices (about six) which have
recently appeared beside the line at various points in the Croydon
area.
He describes them as about 8 feet high and looking like some kind of
'windmill'.
He is curious to know what they are for.
Does anyone here have any knowledge of them?

Quite a lot of trackside equipment on my daily commute (Thornton Heath -
Victoria) has over the last few years sprouted solar panels and
windmills. I presume that it's just a way of saving money on the
electrickery bill.

--
David Cantrell | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

It's my experience that neither users nor customers can articulate
what it is they want, nor can they evaluate it when they see it
-- Alan Cooper

On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 10:23:18 +0000, David Cantrell
wrote:

On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 05:07:21PM +0000, Albert wrote:
An old gentleman whom I know regularly travels from East Croydon to
Three Bridges and is intrigued by some devices (about six) which have
recently appeared beside the line at various points in the Croydon
area.
He describes them as about 8 feet high and looking like some kind of
'windmill'.
He is curious to know what they are for.
Does anyone here have any knowledge of them?

Quite a lot of trackside equipment on my daily commute (Thornton Heath -
Victoria) has over the last few years sprouted solar panels and
windmills. I presume that it's just a way of saving money on the
electrickery bill.

Thanks.

That was roughly my guess without seeing them, I was wondering if
anyone knew for sure.

David Cantrell wrote:

- Quite a lot of trackside equipment on my daily commute (Thornton
Heath -
- Victoria) has over the last few years sprouted solar panels and
- windmills. I presume that it's just a way of saving money on the
- electrickery bill.

And of ensuring independence of supply?

On Sun, Nov 19, 2006 at 05:12:22AM -0800, wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:
- Quite a lot of trackside equipment on my daily commute (Thornton
Heath -
- Victoria) has over the last few years sprouted solar panels and
- windmills. I presume that it's just a way of saving money on the
- electrickery bill.
And of ensuring independence of supply?

If the power for the rails goes off, these titchy things won't do any
good. We're talking windmills no more than a coupla feet across, and
not many of them.

--
David Cantrell | Plucky Speeding Law Madness Protestor

You may now start misinterpreting what I just
wrote, and attacking that misinterpretation.

David Cantrell wrote:

On Sun, Nov 19, 2006 at 05:12:22AM -0800, wrote:

David Cantrell wrote:

- Quite a lot of trackside equipment on my daily commute (Thornton
Heath -
- Victoria) has over the last few years sprouted solar panels and
- windmills. I presume that it's just a way of saving money on the
- electrickery bill.

And of ensuring independence of supply?

If the power for the rails goes off, these titchy things won't do any
good. We're talking windmills no more than a coupla feet across, and
not many of them.

Please do me the courtesy of not supposing that I am stupid, as you
appear to be have done. Of course the SR traction supply cannot be
replaced by a few wind powered micro generators. What I meant was that
the wind micro generators might be there to assure independence of
supply to important signalling or monitoring equipment. The AC supply
in question being nothing to do with the traction current anyway. In
quite a few locations now you can see solar panels powering equipment.

wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:

On Sun, Nov 19, 2006 at 05:12:22AM -0800, wrote:

David Cantrell wrote:

- Quite a lot of trackside equipment on my daily commute (Thornton
Heath -
- Victoria) has over the last few years sprouted solar panels and
- windmills. I presume that it's just a way of saving money on the
- electrickery bill.

And of ensuring independence of supply?

If the power for the rails goes off, these titchy things won't do any
good. We're talking windmills no more than a coupla feet across, and
not many of them.

Please do me the courtesy of not supposing that I am stupid, as you
appear to be have done. Of course the SR traction supply cannot be
replaced by a few wind powered micro generators. What I meant was that
the wind micro generators might be there to assure independence of
supply to important signalling or monitoring equipment. The AC supply
in question being nothing to do with the traction current anyway. In
quite a few locations now you can see solar panels powering equipment.

One good way of resolving questions of this kind is to type "Where is
Richard Catlow when you need him?"

"Albert" albert@se-england wrote in message
...

He describes them as about 8 feet high and looking like some kind of
'windmill'.

Something like this?

http://www.qhigroup.com/rail_lubricurve10_20.htm

D A Stocks

There is an ever increasing requirement for trackside devices such as
lubricator monitors, rail temperature monitoring points, weather
stations and so on that have very modest power requirements and can
rely on solar/wind power to top up a rechargeable battery.

It's a far cheaper way of providing power for this type of equipment
than laying on a supply from the local electricity mains or from any
trackside supply. It also means that standard equipment types can be
deployed all over the network rather than having different types for
electrified and non electrified lines for example.

Even with the poor sunlight on a winters day can provide enough power
to cater for the equipment being served.

Richard

wrote:
Please do me the courtesy of not supposing that I am stupid, as you
appear to be have done.

Don't see that you can be if you can produce impressive sentences like
that one. When I read it I almost thought that part of a Sherlock
Holmes story or a Dickens novel had somehow found its way onto the
group!

--
gordon