Perth to Bangkok

Events of Wednesday 13th February 2013

The day started with the usual walk to the Dog Walking Area where the dogs of Williton (and their people) get together before the day gets insufferably hot. Although I’m usually fairly tolerant of heat, temperatures in the low forties Celsius were beginning to take their toll on me so most of the morning I was happy to alternate between trying to get packed and just sitting around.

Keith demonstrated his new ‘Tinkerbell’ locomotive operating on air. Keith’s modified design has a particularly neat arrangement of the Heywood motion.


'Tinkerbell' being operated on compressed air.

He also fetched out an ‘Oscillating Cylinder’ engine he built many years ago and demonstrated how powerful that can be when properly engineered. Keith had always been impressed with the simplicity of the ‘Oscillating Cylinder’ engine, where the piston rod is connected directly to the crank, causing the whole cylinder to swing to and fro. This movement is used to open and close the appropriate ports without the necessity for valve motion. There's a brief post on the oscillating cylinder engine here.


Keith's demonstration 'Oscillating Cylinder' engine.

On Keith’s last visit to England, we were able to look at Peak Rail’s turntable at Rowsley. This is powered by an Oscillating Engine operating on vacuum from the locomotive’s braking system and, through suitable reduction gearing, can effortlessly turn the largest locomotive.

Keith had offered to drive me to Perth Airport for the next leg of my journey – by Thai to Bangkok taking about seven hours. Whilst waiting for departure, I was able to upload to ‘Flickr’ a few of the large backlog of photographs I’d amassed. Shortly after take-off, we passed over Fremantle and I spotted 'Silver Whisper', which I'd watched arriving the day before (see post), leaving the port.


Fremantle Port, with 'Silver Whisper' departing.

I managed some sleep during the flight and was through Immigration at Bangkok around midnight. I’d been booked into the ‘Novotel’ at the airport since I’d an early start on the next day. I wouldn’t normally stay at an airport hotel but the timings of my connections made it the best chance to get some sleep in a ‘real’ bed. I managed to find the Pick-up Point for the hotel’s shuttle bus and was quickly transferred to the hotel. They located my booking and I was soon in the lift going up to the fifth floor. I found my well-appointed room and quickly prepared for bed. The bedrooms were in four blocks forming a square where the covered ‘courtyard’ in the middle formed an impressive hotel lobby. Half the rooms (including mine) overlooked this ‘courtyard’, the other half face outward. The Novotel at Bangkok claims to be “the fifth most popular airport hotel in the world” but it all seemed too impersonal for my taste.


View of the Atrium from my bedroom at the Novotel, Bangkok Airport.

My pictures

Williton Dog Walking Area.
Keith Watson, Engineer.
Perth Airport, Western Australia.
Novotel, Bangkok Airport.

[Revised 5-Mar-2013: Link to 'The Oscillating Cylinder Engine' added 25-Oct-2015]