Holiness

This blog is basically a succession of gripes and grumbles about the installation of the technological hardware necessary to get a model railway to work.

Most of these gripes can be summed up as: "Why don't they manufacture the damned thing like that in the first place!!!"

The latest example of this is the so-called DPDT switch - double-pole-double-throw.

I do understand  the function of this switch. However, I won't bore my reader with why that function is required - I want to save my energy for complaining instead.

Here is a picture of a DPDT:

BUT, before one can wire this switch up to the device to be controlled by it and the power supply which feeds it, one has to solder two tiny wires connecting the diagonally opposite metal tags. That is A to F and then C to D in the diagram below:

WHY, WHY, WHY do these switches not always come pre-wired in this way? As far as I can see whatever you are using the DPDT switch for, it must always have these cross wires soldered in position before you can do anything with it. So why don't the manufacturers pre-solder them? It would be like buying a car without a steering wheel?

AND, it is the most fiddly soldering job to carry out - although, I managed it in the end.

Entered into Google "pre-wired DPDT switches". Sure enough, there is a chap who has been soldering the little wires into position and offering them for sale. So, I ordered 5 pre-wired switches from him.

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Listening to Choral Evensong on Radio 3 from St Alban's Church, Holburn.

The minister who led the service came up with a very nice phrase. He said that one of the functions of worship in the church was "to draw people to God through the beauty of holiness."

It prompted me to wonder what the meaning of holiness actually is. I did a bit of research on the internet and one commentator observed that in the Bible, God is described as having many divine attributes but holiness is primary among them.

“The Bible, (Isaiah 6), says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.”

That conveys its importance, but what about its meaning? One element of holiness is separateness: God is separate from man.

I think I'll leave my ponderings at that for now.

Hobbies: rules for survival

Yet another frustration:

It turns out, if you'll forgive the pun, that the wire supplied with the much vaunted Tortoise turnout motor and which acts as a lever to connect with and operate the set of points is generally considered to be too flimsy and should be substituted with a wire of a stouter gauge: 0.8mm piano wire being oft mentioned in the internet forums.

This is irritating for 2 reasons: firstly, one has to source and the buy approx a 10cm length of piano wire - maybe it only comes in 10 metre sections.

Secondly, one has to drill a hole in the Tortoise motor to accommodate this thicker wire.

The net result of this discovery is that whereas I had intended to spend some part of today installing one of these motors on my test track, now I can't; and, won't be able to do so for an indeterminate number of days: need to source the wire and buy a very thin drill bit.

 This latest instance of frustration has led me to draw up the following 5 rules to be followed when installing a new gadget for the model railway.

1. Before purchasing any gadget be prepared to spend at least 1 hour reading reviews in case an alternative gadget is more reliable or easier to install.

(Note: I didn't say "cheaper". Frankly, cost is rarely an impediment for me. I know that is a provoactive statement to make but in almost all walks of life one finds people who will try to save what is effectively a few shillings on whatever they are buying. These folk are usually technically or practically minded. I'm not, and would prefer to spend a few hours working to earn the money that will buy me the easier to install ready-to-run gadget whether it be for this model railway, or the family car, or the house or whatever. In my view, the tendency to scrimp or not-scrimp is a personality issue rather than a moral or economic one.)

2. On receiving the gadget be prepared not to understand the instructions initially and to thus spend several hours over several days doing so.

3. Be prepared to spend 1 hour searching for and watching youTube videos showing you how to instal the gadget.

4. Tip: watch said videos with the actual gadget beside you.

5. Be prepared to postpone the installation of the gadget by up to a week (in my case, a week covers the  time to visit hardware stores or await supplementary deliveries from mail-order to obtain piano wire or whatever experienced users of the said gadget opine is necessary for its successful installation.)

NOTE: THESE FIVE RULES CAN BE SUMMED UP BY THE ADVICE "BE PREPARED TO WAIT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK BEFORE THE GADGET CAN BE INSTALLED."

ALSO NOTE: these rules are not relevant to technically minded people. They will have such rules engrained in their character. Perhaps, eventually, these rules will  become second-nature to me. That would be a beneficial spin-off from this hobby.

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Category: Albums with only one really great track on them.

Roni Size: New Forms

Roni Size won the Mercury prize for innovative new pop music in 1997.

It's an OK drum'n'bass album, but one track stands out, namely, the title track, New Forms.

It is one of those tracks that when you hear it at first blows you away. It sounded and still sounds like absolutely nothing else.

The eccentric element of the track is the vocals by a female called Bahamadia. I can't describe how peculiar sounding they are, at times it's like listening to Esperanto.

PS on replaying the album, I quite like a track called "Morse Code".

Morton Feldman

Too tired/stupid to make any sense of the instructions for the tortoise points motor. Will try again tomorrow.

Compared with a solenoid motor it is huge and so I've had to heighten the stands for my test track so that it will fit underneath.

Also been thinking about a mechanical switch that would allow the points to be changed manually but change polarity of the VEE section at the same time.

The black line is the throw bar which changes the direction of the points. I thought that when the bar moved then the purple wire feeding the VEE section of the points could also move from positive to negative and vice versa.

Note that the VEE section is isolated from its adjoining rails - indicated by the two little black marks.

HELP: looked through the internet for some kind of mechanical switch that could accomplish this linear movement controlled by the corresponding linear movement of the (black) throwbar. No joy.

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Morton Feldman

Triadic Memories

A suite of solo piano pieces: my words are inadequate to convey the delicacy that is the vehicle for such power and beauty.

Here is a review from the Amazon website:

"Feldman once referred to this piece as the "largest butterfly in captivity." That poetic image serves "Triadic Memories" well: it is graceful, colorful, and mysterious all at once, particularly when played with this much sensitivity to attack, resonance, and sound color."

HO Scale DCC Turnouts

Current position re turnouts/points

You may recall that railway points are sometimes called turnouts. After much humming and hawing, to-ing and fro-ing etc, I would say that I have decided on the way ahead with these points or turnouts:

1) each set of points will need a method of switching the polarity to its Vee section (see diagrams in earlier blogs).

2) the recommended method of doing this is to use a points motor with either a built-in (a la Gaugemaster) or supplementary (a la PECO) polarity switch.

3) have rejected both Gaugemaster and PECO motors because they are solenoids and seem to me intrinsically unreliable (see earlier blog where a solenoid motor was tested, and melted).

4) have ordered a couple of Tortoise points motors. They are not solenoid based and are supposed to be very reliable.

5) have also considered designing and making my own mechanical polarity switch which will activate when the points are changed manually ie without the presence of a motor.

6) will experiment on my test-bed track with both 4) and 5).

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Morton Feldman

The Viola in My Life

Have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album today:

Perhaps comparisons are invidious, but Feldman is far and away my favourite avant garde composer. He operated in the last half of the 20th Century and died in the 1990s.

The Viola in My Life is sensational.

The best words that I can come up with to describe the three movements are: soothing; spare; haunting; intellectual; melodic; spiritual and, dare I say it, "achingly beautiful".

Also, although American, he looks French and would be an ideal visitor to the world of my model railway.

Ceramics update.

The ceramics lecturer at my evening class is a forceful figure - and that's exactly what I need.

Here are some  of the smaller items I've been working on:

I was expecting that last night I would just continue working on these small items. However, I did bring along the sketch of my station facade for her to look at. I merely wanted to know whether it would be feasible in the weeks to come to make a clay model of something so large and complex.

Her response - "Right let's get cracking!" (That's 'cracking' in a good way and not in the sense of a destructive rampage through the shelves of pottery on display.)

So spent the evening doing the groundwork for the facade of my mainline station.

Rolling out the clay

Cutting the flattened clay to approx shape

Side view to show thickness of clay

Strips added which will eventually be columns etc.

Sketch lined up to show where columns etc will go.

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Missy Elliott

Still enjoying Da Real World - a real masterpiece. I find this CD as satisfying as any of the classical music that I listen to every day and have been occasionally reporting upon in this blog.

As in my remarks about the Wu Tang Clan, I find the lyrics of these hip hop records somewhat disconcerting and entirely without justification. But maybe I'm missing the point and it is the very bluntness and blatantness of the words that drives the music.

Trying to resist the temptation to download other of her albums - it's worrying how much I spend on iTunes. Might compromise and download a couple of single tracks - after all, one track costs about the same as a bar of chocolate; and is much healthier for one.

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Matthew 11:28-30

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."


Recently, I find myself repeating this saying of Jesus and pondering its application to what I do in my own life.

Missy Elliott

12 or so years ago, Missy Elliott was frequently quoted by hip-hop artists and more mainstream artists as being a huge influence.

I had never heard of her at the time and couldn't understand how this ubiquitously proclaimed influence had so completely escaped my notice. When I did start to listen to her stuff two things struck me: 1) her music seemed unremarkable and 2) she was a most unlikely looking pop-star - breaking all stereo-types for female success in the pop music industry. Because of that second point, I was very impressed by her character.

Over the years I began to see what I had been missing.

Da Real World is a fantastic album.

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Now for the French connection.

A few years ago - a spring afternoon- whilst wandering around the back streets of Bourges - that town that is geographically bang in the middle of France, I could hear in the near distance one of my favourite songs from Da Real World: "All N My Grill"  featuring M C Solaar. (I dread to think what the lyrics mean.)

I began to search out the source of the music. As I went round a corner and was beginning to enter stray-dogs'-ville, I looked up and saw leaning from a 3rd storey window and staring belligerently at the world below him  a bare-chested and shaven-headed young man and sat next to him  the ghetto blaster that was blasting forth Missy Elliott.

Terrific sound reproduction and I would have stopped there and listened till the end of the song where M C Solaar raps in French: but a degree of fear was beginning to creep into my person and so I continued on my walk and left him to annoy his neighbours.

Bourges

DCC points Tortoise vs Solenoid

Have decided to abandon solenoid-based points motors - they are too fragile and temperamental. And as you saw from yesterday's blog, all too easily go on fire.

A solenoid is basically a wire coil surrounding a metal rod. When power runs through the coil, the rod moves one way or the other.

It does this very quickly and suddenly in a jerky action. The electrical power must only last for a milli-second otherwise the thin wire in the coil will burn out. Arranging that condition is very difficult.

After reading through the web and the literature have come across a reliable alternative which is a Tortoise points motor which is electrical but not based on the solenoid principle.

The Tortoise is more expensive but infinitely more reliable - so says everyone.

Here is a quotation from a very useful website:

http://www.009.cd2.com/members/how_to/wiring.htm

"These days, I can only recommend point motors supplied by Tortoise. They are adjustable and have excellent polarity switches. The actuating wire is controlled by a motor, so the point change is slow and silent and puts far less strain on the point than the violent solenoid motor (Peco). "

Here is a picture of one.

So ordered one from an internet supplier. Will keep you posted.

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Adam Faith

I don't like to criticise contemporary popular musicians because I firmly believe that all generations produce the same proportion of good and bad music. But, I wonder if perhaps there wasn't actually a greater variety of vocal stylings in the 1960s than nowadays.

For example, love them or hate them, the following singers had very distinctive voices - you could recognise them as soon as they opened their mouths.

Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Matt Munro, Billy Fury, Dione Warwick, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers etc etc The list is endless.

And Adam Faith. He was influenced by Anthony Newley - as was David Bowie later.

Judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQG03QX2uYI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0_NKL2nr6I