Post by d7666 on Aug 25, 2021 15:29:13 GMT
Was not sure which forum to put this under, I'll leave it to mods to do the necessary shunting if they see fit.
Walsall Gauge electric plugs.
These are the ones that look like regular 13 A square pin plugs, except the pins are each rotated through 90 degree, so they don't fit a conventional socket, and vice versa.
They have been mentioned in one previous thread in 2015 but only in a digression :
districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/25505/cleaners-socket-charge-commuter-arrested
In 15 years now of working in engineering within LU, I have never yet come across such a plug, or even a socket, yet certain web sources suggest these things ought to be present in the areas where I work.
I am told by colleagues that some of the Coburg Street control centre (which I never had anything to do with) kit used them, but that place is no more. I am told that some stations on the Central Line have sockets on platforms, but I've never noticed them, and that sockets exist does not automatically imply they are used any more nor that kit with plugs still exists. The above cited thread refers to cleaners sockets, but can't say I've ever noticed one on a train - what stock, today, has these ?
Looking into these plugs via google, there seem to be two schools of thought as to why they exist - not all railway subject here - one school is seperation of kit into different power supplies and suggestions include 110 V AC, or 240 V DC not AC , or 240 V AC "clean supply" e.g. for computers (such as PDP11 etc q.v.), while the other school suggests it is simply a theft precaution to try and stop company assets going AWOL and\or to stop public theft of company electric power in public areas.
Anyway, to my point, are these things really in use in LU today ?
Part of the reason for asking is one of my eccentricities is I do collect 13 A plugs - this started on doing a clear out a few years back of squirreled away "one day might be useful" items and found around two dozen different plugs, so it started there. I am now at 38 different, incrementing slowly. The nice thing so far is all of these I have found myself, none are through buying or swapping.
But not one Walsall Gauge plug among them.
Walsall Gauge electric plugs.
These are the ones that look like regular 13 A square pin plugs, except the pins are each rotated through 90 degree, so they don't fit a conventional socket, and vice versa.
They have been mentioned in one previous thread in 2015 but only in a digression :
districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/25505/cleaners-socket-charge-commuter-arrested
In 15 years now of working in engineering within LU, I have never yet come across such a plug, or even a socket, yet certain web sources suggest these things ought to be present in the areas where I work.
I am told by colleagues that some of the Coburg Street control centre (which I never had anything to do with) kit used them, but that place is no more. I am told that some stations on the Central Line have sockets on platforms, but I've never noticed them, and that sockets exist does not automatically imply they are used any more nor that kit with plugs still exists. The above cited thread refers to cleaners sockets, but can't say I've ever noticed one on a train - what stock, today, has these ?
Looking into these plugs via google, there seem to be two schools of thought as to why they exist - not all railway subject here - one school is seperation of kit into different power supplies and suggestions include 110 V AC, or 240 V DC not AC , or 240 V AC "clean supply" e.g. for computers (such as PDP11 etc q.v.), while the other school suggests it is simply a theft precaution to try and stop company assets going AWOL and\or to stop public theft of company electric power in public areas.
Anyway, to my point, are these things really in use in LU today ?
Part of the reason for asking is one of my eccentricities is I do collect 13 A plugs - this started on doing a clear out a few years back of squirreled away "one day might be useful" items and found around two dozen different plugs, so it started there. I am now at 38 different, incrementing slowly. The nice thing so far is all of these I have found myself, none are through buying or swapping.
But not one Walsall Gauge plug among them.
