Infrastructure Problems (3)

This post is one of what appears to be becoming a series about infrastructure and 'the built environment' in the United Kingdom. The first, Infrastructure Problems, discussed how services are distributed in this country, touching on some of the problems which can arise.  The second post, Infrastructure Problems (2), rambled on about road repairs and potholes before returning to the theme of water leaks and other failures.

This updare talks about a (fortunately fairly minor) water leak, before turning to temporary traffic lights.

Another Water Leak

In May 2020, I found a water authority surveyor already at the site of a leaking buried water main in Sandy Lane. Having already marked the offending area with blue spray paint, he was using his mobile telephone to summon a repair team.  A neat gash, a few inches long, had appeared in the road surface and water was bubbling out and running downhill. It wasn't a very impressive leak, but I took a couple of pictures. 

Water main problems (Brewood Village)

The picture immediately above also shows a Fire Hydrant connection. Raising the hinged lid of the cast box at the bottom of the picture gives access to the water main for use by the water authority and firefighters. The rather battered, yellow-painted concrete stump adjacent carries a cast plate with a large 'H' (for hydrant) and a cast figure which I think reads '3' indicating a 3-inch diameter main. 

Nowadays, Fire and Rescue Services makes extensive use of computerisation and the picture below shows the type of map available in the cab of fire appliances to facilitate locating nearby Hydrants. I took this picture when the local fire appliance was on display during the Brewood Garden Party in 2019 (there's a post about the Garden Party here with a link to pictures of the fire appliance). The hydrant shown in the picture above can just be seen on the left of the map view below as a yellow square with an 'H'. There's also '75' (sideways) which I presume means that the fire service have metricated the '3 inches' to millimetres. 

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service makes extensive use of computerisation. This view shows the 'Sat-Nav' function available on the display in the vehicle cab.

Click for larger view

Temporary Traffic Control

In the first post in this series, I talked about the use of temporary traffic lights for traffic control when the carriageway is obstructed by excavations or similar. The design of this equipment has changed drastically over the years. 

When I was young, filamentary lamps in the signal head normally required a portable generator to provide sufficient electrical power and the control of the sequencing was purely determined by timers. Cables had to be connected between the traffic signals, allowing light sequences to be controlled.

In more modern equipment, the use of high efficiency Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps have reduced power demand sufficiently to make rechargeable batteries a viable power source. Additionally, microwave detectors incorporated into the signal heads directed towards oncoming traffic allowing detection of waiting vehicles and dynamic adjustment of light changes to suit actual traffic flows. Finally, interconnected cables are eliminated by the use of a radio data link between traffic signals.

The simple example illustrated below shows one of two traffic signals deployed in Sandy Lane in 2018 during excavations to connect two new houses to buried gas, electricity, water and drainage services. The first picture shows the rear of the traffic signal at the upper end of the narrowed carriageway. Batteries in the base unit power the unit and the electronic controller is in the control box mounted on the mast supporting the signal head. It shows a TR 2502A-AP16 made by Pike Signals and on hire from A-Star Traffic Management,

Temporary Traffic Signal during connection of services to New Houses in Sandy Lane.

Control Box showing indications on electronic controller

This is a very simple example - the Pike Signals website illustrates their 'Evo' range suitable for temporary multiple road junctions incorporating pedestrian crossings. 

Pictures around Brewood Village

The following album includes some examples of local services infrastructure. Pictures may be viewed in various sizes or downloaded for non-commercial use.

Brewood Village

Power Signal Box, Togyaunggalay

Events on Sunday 5th May 2019, Yangon area 

In the post Return to Burma, I mentioned a visit to Togyaunggalay (Romanisation of Myanmar words can be a bit variable and there are various English spellings of the placename). My friend Doctor Hla Tun had arranged a visit to the elderly power signal box at Togyaunggalay station on the day I arrived in Myanmar. Earlier that day we'd visited the recently-commissioned Railway Operation Control Center in Yangon (described in a post here) after which the Doctor drove us through Yangon's heavy traffic to the junction station at Togyaunggalay.

The railway network around Yangon is shown below. Togyaunggalay station is situated on the double track main line from Yangon through Bago to Mandalay. A junction just north of the station connects the single line serving Dagon University. A junction south of the station leads to the single line to Thilawa.

Railways around Yangon (displayed on Togyaunggalay station)

In 2018, after visiting the railway at Bago, I'd travelled through Togyaunggalay by train (there's a description of that trip here) so I was pleased to have the opportunity to confirm the signalling arrangements. 

On our arrival in 2019, we reported to the Station Master and were conducted along the main platform to the concrete signal box and climbed the steps to the operating floor. The loud noise emanating from the ground floor equipment room indicated that the incoming overhead 3-phase electricity supply was absent and that the system was being run by the standby generator. The first floor equipment room was locked, so I couldn't study the relay interlocking equipment but continued to the second floor where we were welcomed by the signalman.

 Togyaunggalay signal box on 9th May 2018: Note radio antenna on left and incoming overhead 3-phase electricity supply terminated on frame on the right (Bago - Yangon by train).

The railway signalling console was of the 'NX' pattern (there's a very brief explanation of this type of control in the section 'NX' pushbuttons of the post here) and used 'Mosaic' construction.The signalling console looked rather small, situated near one corner of the room. A desk just to the right was furnished with red and green flags, a number of telephones, two VHF radiotelephones for train control and a power amplifier and microphone for making announcements to waiting passengers. The windows overlooking the tracks behind the signalling console had been largely blocked by a large blackboard covered in what appeared to be useful telephone numbers. Above the blackboard was the usual framed drawing of the track layout and a clock. To the left, on a small shelf, was the customary Buddhist shrine.

Togyaunggalay: The operating floor of the signal
cabin, showing the Korean 'NX' signalling panel

A Mosaic Diagram, as the name implies, assembles a series of small 'tiles' into a frame. Each 'tile' has part of the signalling diagram on its face, together with the associated control switches and lamp indications. Each 'tile' can be individually removed for maintenance.

Mosaic Diagram Togyaunggalay - centre (Myanma Railways 2019)

I assumed that the siting of the blackboard was at least partly so that the lamp indications on the console were easier to see in bright sunlight, but nonetheless, I found some of them hard to interpret (or missing). They explained that spares, particularly the filament lamps used for indications, had become hard or impossible to source. They'd been forced to modify the circuits (in places using two lamps in series) but admitted that the result was not altogether satisfactory. Despite this, the signalman was carrying out his crucial tasks with the usual studied calm typical of signalmen everywhere.

Mosaic Diagram Togyaunggalay - detail (Myanma Railways 2019)

The flat desk area in front of the inclined control panel held two train register books and two books of paper Line Clear forms. 

Togyaunggalay Power Signal Box: Signalman completing Paper Line Clear Form

The Train Register Books serve a similar function to those used in the United Kingdom (described in a post here) although in Myanmar movements are separated into two books, one for 'Up' trains, one for 'Down'. Because of the importance of these logbooks, pages are individually numbered.

Train Register Book (Down Trains) Togyaunggalay

The British introduced railways into Burma (as Myanmar was then called) so signalling originally followed British practice, with reliance on telegraphy, telephony and special signalling equipment (like electric tablet systems for single lines). This relied on an open wire system using telegraph poles supporting cross-arms carrying porcelain insulators to which copper wires were attached. Remnants of this system can be seen throughout the country (invariably using an old length of rail as the 'pole') but, as far as I can determine, they have all fallen into disuse. Voice communication across the railway now uses VHF radiotelephones, allowing signalmen or stationmasters to authorise train movements from one 'block station' to the next. The permission is given to drivers in the form of a 'Paper Line Clear Form', shown in the picture below. Because of the vital nature of these forms, they are individually numbered, completed with some care and authorised with a rubber stamp.

Book of paper Line Clear forms: Togyaunggalay (MyanmaRailways 2019)

Click for larger image

The pictures below show a local train from Yangon to Dagon University. In the first picture, the train has just arrived. The freight train seen waiting on the left was unusual in having a number of men travelling in open bogie wagons type SMBV, perched on piles of rock. The Doctor explained that the 'rock' was extremely valuable jade and the men were security.

The second picture shows the signalman's assistant or 'runner' delivering the Paper Line Clear Form to the driver of the passenger train, authorising travel on the branch to Dagon University.

A freight waits for the signal (L) as a local Yangon-Dagon University arrives (R)

The signal box 'runner' delivers the paper Line Clear form to the driver

At the end of a fascinating tour, I made sure I checked out the throbbing standby generator on the ground floor - a substantial Daewoo packaged diesel alternator. Its claim to being 'sound proof' was a little undermined by the need to leave all the access doors open to prevent overheating (the outside air temperature was around 40 degrees Celsius that day).

Standby Generator Togyaunggalay (Myanma Railways 2019)

They explained that, even with the access doors open, the water-cooled diesel engine required periodic replenishment of water. Illustrating this point, as we left, a railwayman had just pushed a small platelayer's trolley along the platform line outside to the signal box, loaded with a plastic dustbin and a large plastic tub, both filled with water!

Cooling water for the Standby Generator at Togyaunggalay (MyanmaRailways 2019)

A most interesting day. I'd visited both the Railway Operation Control Center in Yangon and Togyaunggalay power signal box on the day I'd arrived in Myanmar and, later in the trip, I was to tour 'Mandalay Tower', the power signal box controlling Mandalay area.

My pictures

All my railway pictures around Yangon during my visit to Myanmar in 2019 are in the album below. Pictures may be viewed in various sizes or downloaded for non-commercial use.

Myanma Railways 2019

Infrastructure Problems (2)

The road which passes the side of my garden, Sandy Lane, carries a formidable volume and variety of traffic so road 'patching' of potholes by the Council's contractor is frequent. I mentioned potholes in an earlier post called Infrastructure Problems, showing a typical example in Sandy Lane.

Pothole in Sandy Lane, Brewood in February 2019 

'Patching' is rather temporary. Over a few years, the area of road surface shown above has suffered  a number of separate potholes and the picture below (apologies for the poor quality) reveals at least five separate, overlapping attempts at making good in this small areas.

Overlapping pothole patching in Sandy Lane in November 2019

The long-term remedy is taking off the old tarmac and relaying, in a process called 're-surfacing'. Back in November 2012, a serious attempt was made at improving the junction between Sandy Lane and its continuation called The Pavement. I was quite impressed by the massive Cold Milling Machine used in this process, which I described in the post here. The surface on this section of road has lasted quite well but I soon noticed that they didn't manage to get the camber quite right to shed rain water. A recent picture (which I took following failure of a water main) illustrates the effect.

Water in the left gutter from a burst main further up in Sandy Lane gets diverted by the camber to the right and then back to the left (Brewood Village)

To assist in shedding rain water, road surfaces are supposed to be cambered from side to side so as to direct surface water to the nearest gutter. At frequent intervals, this water should be directed underground into a surface water sewer pipe. Water enters the sewer via a series of gullies each provided with a hinged drain cover at road level, usually made of cast iron or cast steel.

This cover has a series of slots to admit water which passes into the sewer pipe via a U-trap, a larger version of the trap fitted under domestic sinks. The idea is to prevent solid material from being swept into the sewer but instead being retained in a chamber in the gulley, below the level of outflow to the sewer pipe. This should avoid blockages in the sewer pipe but over time sediment builds up, necessitating periodic removal before the gulley becomes blocked.

This is achieved by a sort of 'wet-n-dry' vacuum cleaner called a Gulley Emptying Vehicle. These vehicles usually also provide road-sweeping facilities, using contra-rotating brushes to remove debris and mud from the gutter and road surface.

A modern Gully-Emptying Vehicle parked in Sparrows End Lane in 2016 

Unfortunately, during the period of Government Austerity the United Kingdom has endured since 2008, gulley emptying seems to be low priority around here and many gullies have become blocked and ineffective.

In the post Infrastructure Problems, I outlined how mains water is normally a buried service. Until isolated or repaired, bursts or leaks on this network can result in the discharge of large volumes of water which either enter the surface water sewer via the gullies or generally saturate the surrounding earth. 

One example occurred, again in Sandy Lane, in 2013. A leaking buried water main announced itself by water flowing across the pavement and into the gutter. For some unknown reason (perhaps because it appeared to be a relatively minor leak) the water authority chose to defer repairs.

Sandy Lane. Water still leaking in October 2013.

It was October when the electricity suddenly failed. A quick look outside revealed that most (not all) of the village was in darkness so I didn't bother to check the house fuseboards. Power failure was not unknown at the time as the village has various overhead transmission lines which were prone to occasional failure, particularly during thunderstorms or bad weather. I can't remember how long it was before supply was restored but the electricity authority must have arranged some temporary 'workaround', because it was some days before permanent repairs were effected and the likely cause was revealed.

I found that they had located a cable fault underneath the road surface of Sandy Lane, a little downhill from the long-standing water leak and emblazoned the position with red spraypaint. A few days later the water leak was repaired and the electricity authority had dug a trench to locate the cable problem, which appeared to be the remains of a straight cable joint, blown apart and blackened. The conclusion seemed irresistible that the continuous saturation by water from the unrepaired leak has caused the elderly joint to fail. 

 The electricity fault has been located in October 2013. 

The repair to be cable was effected out the damaged cable joint and the cable on either side for a short distance and splicing in a length of new cable using two modern epoxy-filled joints.

The damaged section of electricity cable has been cut out

and a new section 'spliced in' between two modern epoxy-filled joints.

Just some of the pitfalls of living in a modern society! 

Pictures around Brewood Village 

The following album includes some examples of local services infrastructure:-
Brewood Village

Titfield Thunderbolt Film Posters

Some months ago when I was browsing on Abebooks (my first choice for books, particularly second-hand railway books) I came across BENITO ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTER based in Spain who were offering an original English poster for the 'Titfield Thunderbolt' film, showing the theft of the '14XX' by Dan and Mr. Valentine.

I'm afraid it would have set you back over £800 plus shipping but the Spanish poster for the film below was available at under £300.

You will note that, for Spanish-speaking audiences, the film had been re-titled 'LOS APUROS DE UN PEQUEÑO TREN' which, apparently, means 'The Troubles of a Small Train'.

I also found another poster for the film which used a mirror-image of the '14XX' artwork above but with the Spanish title.

Intrigued, I also found a poster on offer from CineMateriel for the French re-release. I discovered that 'Tortillard' is a term for a train, particularly a slow or roundabout local train, which I found rather charming.

Until I spotted the '14XX' poster above on the internet, I only remember having previously seen the Edward Bawden film poster, which I mentioned in my post The Titfield Thunderbolt and is repeated below, but a little more exploration showed that there are quite a few other film posters and artwork for DVD releases around. 

The Legend of the Titfield Thunderbolt lives on!