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September 28, 2011

Some Of The Duties Of A Train Control And Signal Inspector

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 7:19 pm

The railway networks in most of the developed countries are very complicated, so you can easily imagine that there is lots of effort going on in the background to make certain that your train trip or visit to a train station is a safe experience. One of the most responsible jobs in the background personnel is that of the train control and signal inspector.

However, these people do not only work within the confines of the nation’s railway stations. They are also accountable for the lights and signals at train-crossings outside the cities, where millions of cars and pedestrians cross railway lines each day.

A train control and signal inspector will normally be responsible for an area like a police officer or fire department and within this area the train control and signal inspector will have to check, maintain and keep running all the lights and signals on a routine basis, but also if anything is reported as faulty by one of the train crew, passengers or anyone else.

Obviously, health and safety makes up a large part of the responsibilities of the train control and signal inspector, so it is no surprise that they are also often responsible for training other members of staff in health and safety.

The public at large also has to be taught how to cross railway lines safely, because lots of the accidents involving trains occur at crossings.

One of the stupidest accidents that happens time and time again is at crossings without automatic, drop-down railings. Drivers see the flashing warning lights but think that they may have time to cross anyway. Quite a few people die ‘running the lights’ like this each year – normally teenagers.

Another of the responsibilities of the train control and signal inspectors is to visit these grisly accident scenes and strive to work out what went wrong.

Were the warning lights flashing? Did the railings drop down, if there were any? Is it likely that the driver (or pedestrian) ignored the warnings or did not see them? Etc..

This knowledge is then collected, pored over and used to improve or at least make recommendations concerning future improvements to safety features at equivalent sites. This means lots of paperwork, so an the train control and signal inspector has to be able to cope with this facet of the job too.

The career of a the train control and signal inspector is very wide-ranging, so it is an interesting one for the right kind of person. The individuals who are correct for this kind of career can pay attention to detail, commit details to paper, communicate with people well and work long hours. They might also have to travel far, if their area is a rural one

However, the rewards are pretty decent. A train control and signal inspector is well-paid in general terms,although the hours and level of responsibility warrant that. The job is rewarding, knowing that you are making the railways a safer place and so are saving lives as well.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a lot of topics, but is presently involved with Polar Express train sets. If you would like to know more about train sets for kids, please go over to our web site for some great deals.

August 20, 2011

Maerklin Model Train Sets

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 3:28 pm

Every boy wants a model electric train set and every father wants him to have one as well. I am not talking about the toy train sets that families like to have running around the Christmas tree, I mean proper train sets that can be extended and built upon – train sets that you can grow fanatical about and some people do, don’t they?

Some people’s childhood enthusiasm for model electric train sets becomes a life-long adult passion. This is why some of the original model electric train sets are so expensive. After all, few children could afford the prices that some early model electric train sets command.

One model electric train set manufacturer whose products are the top of the tree with the best of them is the German company Maerklin, which began producing clockwork model trains and expandable track in 1891.

Maerklin had produced dolls’ houses first of all, but they soon realized that the model train set enthusiast might be like a dolls’ house owner. That is that they might want to add to their collection after their initial purchase. Therefore, Maerklin offered basic model train sets but with a whole range of accessories that could be added on later.

Maerklin model electric train sets come in a selection of scales and gauges, many of which Maerklin itself defined as international standards. For instance, in 1891 Maerklin introduced the 1-5 gauge at the Leipzig Toy Fair and it was quickly adopted as the world’s standard gauge for model train sets.

It followed this up with the O gauge somewhere between 1895 and 1901; the HO scale in 1935 and the Z scale in 1972. These days, however, modern Maerklin model electric train sets are only available in Gauge 1, HO scale and Z scale.

These days it is very hard and very expensive to get hold of earlier examples of Maerklin model electric train sets. In 2005, thieves broke into the Maerklin museum in Goeppingen and stole 100 pieces of Maerklin trains and accessories – a value of 1,000,000 Euros was placed on the haul.

They were later recovered in 2005. In Philadelphia, USA, a complete Maerklin train station and accessories was sold at an international auction for $110,000, despite the fact that it was considered that the final selling price would be in the vicinity of $30,000.

Maerklin were truly one of the world’s top innovators in the model electric train set market for about a hundred years, but the company has fallen on difficult times. It filed for insolvency in Germany in February 2009, although a year and a day later, it returned to profitability.

In the 150 years since its foundation as a company, Maerklin has usually been at the vanguard of the ideas and technology in its field. Even today, Maerklin is still the world leader for all important gauges in the model railroad market, since no other current day manufacturer gives collectors the possibility of adding to existing railtracks and collections.

If you are eager to own some early Maerklin trains or accessories, you can look on Ebay, they do pop up every now and again, but do not presume to find yourself a good deal, the earlier model electric trains were all hand-painted in great detail and they hardly ever sell for less than $25,000.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a lot of topics, but is currently concerned with train sets for kids. If you would like to know more about train sets for kids, please go over to our website for some great offers.

August 12, 2011

Maglev: Train Technology Of The Future

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 3:34 pm

Magnetic levitation or maglev for short is the technique of making a vehicle, more frequently than not a train, hover over the ‘track’ and move by the use of magnets. Magnetic levitation has the potential to move trains more quickly and more quietly than conventional wheel-based trains. Surprisingly, most of the power consumed is used to overcome wind resistance at high speed, not to keep the train hovering in mid-air.

You would be forgiven for imagining that maglev is new technology, but in fact the first American patent was filed by a German inventor in America in 1907. It then took 74 years before the first commercial maglev train came into service in 1984 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. However, that particular installation became quite unreliable and it was taken out of service in 1995.

The fastest recorded speed of a maglev train under test conditions was in Japan in 2003. It ran at an impressive 361 mph, but that is only 3.5 mph faster than France’s TGV, which has been in service for four decades. The TGV’s top speed of 357.2 mph was surpassed by the Chinese Harmony Express in 2009.

However, these latter day wheeled services are based on tried and tested technology on which hundreds of billions of dollars has been spent over nearly 200 years. If more attention and investment were lavished on the maglev, it would surpass conventional train speeds fairly easily.

The most flourishing maglev train in operation nowadays runs to Shanghai airport like the British one ran to Birmingham Airport. However, the similarity between the two ceases there. The British maglev travelled at up to 26 mph, whereas the Chinese, but German built, maglev runs at a top speed of 160 mph.

Much of the early research and development was carried out in Britain by Professor Eric Laithwaite from after the Second World War to 1973, but Germany is the main influence on the maglev train now, although Germany is working closely with the Chinese and the Japanese to develop the technology.

One of the major stumbling blocks for maglev trains is infrastructure. Maglev trains are incompatible with conventional rail rack so they have nowhere to go. Laying new maglev track is not horribly expensive, but it is dear and would involve having two sets of incompatible rails running alongside each other for a number of decades, which would obviously take up twice as much land.

Having said that, some advancement was achieved in designing rails that could be used by both technologies but the endeavour was allowed to fall fallow.

So, the history of magnetic levitation trains began with a German inventor more than a hundred years ago and although they lost track of the scheme for thirty years or so during and after the War, German scientists and engineers are back at the vanguard of this fascinating technology, which will surely supplant our traditional train and track systems in the future.

If the electricity required to run them were manufactured by methods other than fossil fuel, these very quiet trains would go a long way to decreasing pollution in both inner cities and the countryside.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a lot of subjects, but is currently involved with train sets for kids. If you would like to know more about train sets for kids, please go over to our website for some special offers.

July 12, 2011

What Is The London Underground Mosquito?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 3:28 pm

Who would have guessed that the London Underground is home to a unique species of mosquito? The species is known as the London Underground mosquito and is thought to have evolved from Culex pipiens. The London Underground species has been dubbed Culex pipiens molestus, because it is a tireless biter.

It is not new, but it is comparatively new in biological terms. Molestus is known to have bitten Londoners during the Second World War whilst they were taking refuge during the air raids. However, there are other references to a mosquito with the same name, molestus, 170 years before the war, when there was no underground railway system in London or anywhere else in the world.

This mosquito was first found in the London Underground, which is why it received its name, but it can be found in metro and underground railway stations all over the world. No one actually knows a lot concerning this insect species yet.

Some people suggest that it is a variant of a local Culex pipiens that has adapted to living in warmer, subterranean tunnels, whilst others say that is a southern (and therefore warmer) variant of C. pipiens that is able to live in the colder north because it has colonized the warm train tunnels of the underground systems.

Yet others, notably Kate Byrne and Richard Nichols, suggest that it is a totally different species from Culex pipiens. Their proof for saying this is that there are differences between pipiens and molestus: they display very different behavioural patterns and do not mate readily with each other.

C. pipiens molestus will bite rats, mice and humans and dies in cold temperatures but remains active all year round, whereas C. pipiens can tolerate cold weather, only bites birds and hibernates if the weather gets too cold.

On the rare occasions when the two varieties cross breed, the eggs are infertile, which suggests that they are distantly related if at all. Recent studies indicate that molestus originated in one source but spread rapidly throughout the world, perhaps in freight.

Second-hand tyres have been blamed for spreading molestus throughout the world. There is a huge international trade in second hand tyres and it is notoriously difficult to get all the water out of a tyre that has been left in the rain. Mosquitoes can breed in a minuscule amount of water, so this is a possibility.

There is a bizarre and not completely explained twist to the story of the molestus, the American version of molestus pipiens still bites birds which leads some people to suggest that molestus is a separate species, but that it has formed a hybrid in America with pipiens.

This is quite frightening, but quite possible, because the American pipiens can transmit human encephalitis brought about by the West Nile virus, an eruption of which hit New York in 1999.

There is a lot more to find out concerning the London Underground mosquito, since the story is only just starting to unfold. The real story will probably come out of America where this new mosquito has proved to be the most perilous.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

Encephalitis In New York In 1999

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 7:47 am

In the late summer of 1999, there was an epidemic of encephalitis and meningitis in New York. Initially, all the victims came from an eight square kilometer region centered on Queens and the Bronx.

Later, it spread further, although there were just 59 cases and seven deaths – all in older individuals. 677 individuals were tested in the original survey, 19 of which tested positive for meningoencephalitis.

Going by the size of the population of New York, it was determined that between 3,500 and 13,000 people (average: 8,200) had been infected with West Nile virus. There were almost certainly far more than that, but serious indications usually only show in the young and the old.

Those in the in-between age group almost certainly thought that they had a bad cold, which means that fewer than one percent of victims displayed severe neurological indications.

At first, it was wondered whether this outbreak could be the result of an act of terrorism, but others suspected mosquitoes. Investigation concentrated on St. Louis encephalitis. However, when it was thought to check for West Nile virus, the number of cases increased.

The cause of the outbreak was soon confirmed to be a West Nile-like virus based on the identification of viral infection in human, avian, and mosquito samples.

This had not been considered because the New York epidemic was the first time that West Nile virus had been seen in the Developed world.

Then recent bird deaths were remembered. Substantial numbers of wild birds, especially crows, had passed away recently in the area and there were deaths at the Bronx Zoo of exotic birds too.

Examination of the corpses of these birds showed traces of encephalitis which resembled West Nile virus (WNV). When doctors knew what to look for, they discovered comparable traits in the brains of the dead humans

The authorities instantly initiated widespread measures to reduce the population of Culex pipiens, the mosquito in the region that specializes in attacking birds. The public was informed and helplines were set up – by the end of September more than 150,000 calls had been made.

The local authorities continued to spray and handed out 300,000 cans of DEET and 750,000 public health leaflets, which recommended tidying up the garden, not going out at dusk or dawn and covering up bare skin.

WNV is an arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus), which means that it is conveyed to humans by arthropods (insects), normally the tick or the mosquito. Previously, WNV had just been seen in Uganda, where it was first found and in isolated cases in Europe and South Africa.

A report concluded that it was “unclear whether the virus that caused this outbreak is a previously identified strain of WNV or a new variant”, however now recent evidence appears to suggest that a new mosquito – a hybrid of C. pipiens – living in the New York metro was to blame.

This is still not definite, but if it is true, then the whole world should take care, because the New York ‘hybrid’ is related to the London Underground mosquito which inhabits almost every underground railway station on the planet.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

June 18, 2011

Travelling By Train

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 5:43 pm

Over the last ten years there has been a return to train travel, particularly in the United States. This might have something to do with nostalgia and romance, but most analysts put it down to a result of the in-flight bombing of Twin Towers on 9/11/2001.

The government’s and the airlines’ response to those acts of terrorism have resulted in massive hikes in the degree of security at airports and justly so, but travellers are also put off by the lengthy queues and intrusive searches at airports. This difficulty is even worse at busy airports and during vacation periods such as when schools are off.

Car travel is also an alternative, but then you have to carry out your own driving and that brings its own issues, especially if you are with children and particularly if you are a single parent. Besides that, travelling by train is a vacation in its own right. Your trip begins the moment you put your bags in the rack and find your seat.

Once you have sat down, given the kids a colouring book and a can of soda, you can sit back, relax and just snooze or look out of the window at the scenery whizzing past. Most of your problems are over until you arrive at where you are going. Your kids cannot get lost or wander off and they are very safe from predators.

Furthermore, trains seats are usually much more roomy than the equivalent airline seats. Economy seats in a train are much more comfortable than economy seats in an airplane. You can also get up and walk about which makes long journeys much more comfortable.

The backdrop is also better from a train than a plane. After all, clouds are clouds are clouds, but you can see all types of things out of the window of a train. There are also sleeping and dining carriages to break up the journey, but there is normally also attendant service in your seat, if that is what you want. Simply push the button and someone will come to take your order.

Have you heard of the Orient Express, the Flying Scotsman or the Trans-Siberian Express? What romantic visions they summon up. Contemporary trains may not have the nostalgia or the steam trains of the Thirties, but they are still great to travel on.

You can book your seats on a train journey much the same as you would on a plane, which means that if you stand up to go to the bathroom or dining carriage, your seat will still be unoccupied when you get back. This is a huge plus point, because it is annoying when someone takes your seat.

The next time that you make a decision to go away, think again about travelling by train. You can leave your car at the station or you can even take it with you on the train, if you like. You will not regret having given the rail network a chance, because the likelihood are that you have forgotten how handy and inexpensive they are.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a lot of topics, but is presently involved with American Flyer train sets. If you would like to know more about train sets for kids, please go over to our website for some great offers.

December 24, 2010

Have Fun With A Toy Hobby

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 11:50 am

Someone who has a toy hobby is normally an adult. After all, all children collect toys – the more the merrier for them, but a person who has a toy hobby normally collects one type of toy – like, say, train sets or a precise maker of train set. These adults retain their childhood fascination with fantasy. They are not childish, but are childlike when they begin talking on the topic of or playing with their favourite toys.

Some toy hobbyists like to share their hobby with children, frequently grandparents come into this category, and some toy hobbyists do not, frequently single men who are scared that children may damage their often valuable collection.

These collections of toys can become very valuable, because people tend to collect the toys from their youth, so a grandparent is usually collecting toys from fifty or sixty years ago.

A favourite toy hobby for women is collecting antique dolls or dolls from other countries. Occasionally this interest in dolls will spill over into an interest for dolls’ prams or dolls’ clothes and they might start to make dolls’ clothes and even their own garments. Some women and some men too get into making dolls and even dolls’ houses.

Rag dolls are a distinct favourite both for the collector and the crafter because they are easy to manufacture and easy to mend. Teddy bears could also be placed in the category of dolls. Many homes have a small collection of teddy bears if there have been children raised there and it is not unusual to see hundreds of teddy bears on shelves dotted around a house.

Lots of older men collect train sets or model cars. Hornby, Marxs, Marklin and Lionel come to mind for train sets and Matchbox and Dinky for small but detailed, die cast model cars. Tonka is famous for larger, maybe less detailed, model trucks, but people liked to play with their bulldozers, trucks and earth-movers as children.

More modern toys that have become collectible include Beanie Babies. Beanie Babies are childlike representations of babies. So there are baby kangaroos, baby elephants, in fact babies of every type of animal you can think of and every one has its own distinct personality.

They are not expensive and lovable and there are hundreds of them – just the blend that some collectors desire. Teddy bear collectors frequently have a few Beanie Babies as well.

Other well-liked toy hobbies are flying radio-controlled, powered model aircraft and racing motor-powered radio-controlled cars and trucks. There are also hobbyists that collect or and manufacture radio-controlled boats. Some collectors of radio-controlled aircraft, boats and vehicles might not like being referred to as toy hobbyists, but it is what they are after all.

Wooden toys have always been well-liked too. A hundred years ago and further, all toys would have been manufactured of wood, especially those of the working class and there are still a great deal of parents and grandparents who like to give or make wooden toys themselves. A toy hobby is a fascinating pastime for those who remember their childhood fondly and never really got out of the habit of playing.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety subjects, but is now involved with Silver Cross Rocking Horses. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Rocking Horses for sale.

May 7, 2010

Trains In Seattle And Train Sets

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 1:28 pm

Boys and girls of all ages like trains and train sets. They have played a very important role in the history of this country and Seattle, Washington and the Northwest in specific. In deed, the roles of trains in this region of the country have in the past been so critical that there are a couple of museums devoted to them. Trains were essential supply routes for the people here for many years. While their importance seems to be dwindling in today’s society, their importance throughout the history of our country remains.

If you really are a train enthusiast, then it should not be hard to talk you into stopping by Seattle’s Train Center before and after touring the museums dedicated to trains and their importance in history. The Train Center offers a wide selection of model train parts and pieces that would make excellent additions to your train set or a great beginning for a train set for you or your kids.

After you’ve whetted your appetite for trains and gotten your child all excited about them, it is time to take a walk back in time to the Northwest Railway Museum. Here you can learn about railway history or even choose to take a ride on one of the trains that departs on several trips throughout the day. Most of the excursions are 65-75 minutes long and are a remarkable extravagance for young and old alike. Perhaps the greatest thing about this museum is that its main purpose is to educate the public about the vital function that railroads had in the development of this part of the country.

If you’re really interested in sharing your affection for trains with the ones you love, you may consider taking a spin on the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train. This is a great way to not only get the experience of travelling the rails but to take in some of the beautiful Washington scenery and have a gourmet meal in the process. During the months of November through to April up to two children may ride free with a paying adult.

There are certain limitations on the type of seating, but it is a great way to enjoy the experience at a greatly reduced price. There are also exclusive events such as Murder Mystery Trains and Magic and Illusion shows in addition to certain holiday events as well. Be sure to check out what is going on while you are visiting Seattle and see if this is something that might interest you and your family.

If you are up for a not so short drive to Pasco (about three and a half hours from Seattle), you might find the Washington State Railroads Historical Society Museum well worth the journey. Be sure to remember that the museum is only open on Saturday and that the hours are restricted so this is a journey you need to plan in advance. The greatest thing about this museum to me is the fact that there are lovely little stories, like the blackboard that recorded the first snowfall at the depot each year and others such as this.

It is the little tales that do not necessarily make history that do make lasting impressions and I am happy to see this particular story is being shared. Just bear in mind, when visiting any of these depots, museums, and train excursions that you definitely must bring your inner child with you in order to enjoy them as you should.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a lot of topics, but is presently involved with train sets for kids. If you would like to know more about train sets for kids, please go over to our website for some great offers.

April 18, 2010

Christmas Shopping

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Frank Williams @ 11:31 am

Christmas shopping can be seen as an unqualified thrill or as a necessary evil. It is a thrill to be out and about amid the sights and sounds of the time of year and the jovial crowds. But for the same reasons, others fear shopping at Christmas time. These days, you do not need to leave your home much or at all to get your Christmas and holiday shopping done. That is because the Internet puts shopping at your fingertips and rather than competing with traditional retail stores, the Internet has actually expanded the aptitude of traditional stores to sell more merchandise to a bigger number of people in a larger number of places.

Both large and small retailers can be found at their dedicated Web sites on the Internet. Most will also offer items that can be found in the store. However, online retail sites will often have additional items for sale, or access to additional items, that are not yo be found in the store.

Another advantage of shopping on the Internet is that it gives admission to stores situated anywhere in the world. It has therefore become easier to order a unique gift from a niche or specialty boutique store in locations that you otherwise would not be able to get to. It is also easy to do comparison shopping using ’shop bots’ or simply by comparing prices yourself.

If Christmas shopping is done through the Internet, you have to pay careful heed to the order times and any cut-off dates to get an item delivered in time for Christmas. Based on anticipated volume, most sites will give a date or the number of hours within which orders have to be confirmed for assured delivery of the products before Christmas.

The precinct is a popular place for traditional Christmas and holiday shopping. Malls offer one-stop shopping and have a huge variety of merchandise, which can reduce the tedious searching of dozens of stores for some exclusive item. The stores will also be delightfully decorated for Christmas, have splendid displays and a Santa Claus to interrelate with children. These and other activities that are usually at the precinct during Christmas and the holidays also make them an interesting place to take children to take pleasure in some of the season’s delights.

To maximum benefit from shopping at the mall, you will need to know the discrepancies between the mall department stores. You will need to find out which stores have elite brands, which stores are reasonably priced and which are more up-market.

There are also the specialty stand-alone stores and spin-off store branches for children and teenagers that try to fill a particular niche. As an example, stores have emerged that carry only styles associated with hip-hop culture or styles that have an ‘urban’ look. So it may be worthwhile starting your shopping at a specialty store, because they are more targetted, and then continue onto a department store that has a wider assortment.

Another interesting place to shop in malls are the stand-alone kiosks that are frequently located at intervals in the open areas of a precinct where there is a lot of foot traffic. These kiosks are more likely to carry unique products, which can provide ideas for Christmas gifts.

Also at precincts will be specialized shops that offer home/household products, books, music and movies, electronics, sports gear and shoes.

All of the types of precinct stores previously mentioned can also be found at Outlet or Factory Malls or Warehouses, which offer lower prices. These stores frequently carry clearance products from their related mall store, merchandise with minor flaws and merchandise that is made for the outlet. Those items of merchandise frequently have minor style variations from what is found in mall stores and may also be manufactured from different materials.

A final place to consider for Christmas shopping is city center businesses. They are frequently small and intimate, have unique offerings and offer more personalized assistance. Although downtown businesses are also likely to be crowded at Christmas time, there is likely to be less of a crush of people than that found at the malls.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a lot of topics, but is presently involved with train sets for kids. If you would like to know more about train sets for kids, please go over to our website for some great offers.

categories: train set,toys,american flyer,Christmas,shopping,entertainment,hobbies,recreation,trains,polar express,clockworks,kids and teens,family,other

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