Monthly Archives: April 2019

£1000 Book Sale Donation to Train Describer

THANK YOU very much to SPS member and author of “A Chronology of Railway Signalling 1825-2018”, Peter Woodbridge, who has donated the proceeds from the sale of his book – £1000 – to Swindon Panel Train Describer restoration fund!

Copies of Peter’s book are still available – Peter can be contacted via SPS or via the comments below.

As you’ll see from the photos, it has received great reviews in magazines and has been justifiably placed alongside the three excellent major IRSE publications “Railway Signalling”, “Railway Control Systems” and “Railway Signalling and Control”. High praise indeed!

It is planned that Swindon Panel’s train describer will be the next stage in its restoration and will feature VDU, solid state and Sodeco mechanical units – all three technologies that were used in Swindon’s TD in its lifetime.

Thank you Peter for this most generous donation, and thank you to everyone who has bought Peter’s book and therefore contributed towards the restoration of what will be a very rare, if not unique, installation of a mechanical TD in preservation.

Demonstrators’ Workshop – Follow Up

The SPS Demonstrators’ Workshop in March was a great success, and one of the things to come out of it was the desire to hold a follow-up for less formal sharing of best practice among demonstrators.

The first of these will be held on Saturday 18 May, after the AGM. The exact venue on the DRC site is TBC (as the panel will be open to the public). When the panel closes at 4pm we will move into the panel room.

Attendees are welcome to stay at this session until 7pm, after which everyone is invited to a meal in the Prince of Wales, opposite Didcot Parkway station. No need to book in advance, we will arrange informally on the day.

All demonstrators and prospective demonstrators are welcome to attend this session.

Technical Conference – 16 November

Swindon Panel will be hosting a technical conference on Saturday *16* November 2019 [Date amended], starting at 10.30am, where we intend to explain all the details of our extensive simulator system.

PRE-BOOKING is required – please see below.

A detailed presentation will be given on the subject of the simulators that drive Swindon Panel, including:

– the interlocking simulators
– “outside world” simulator
– train describer
– JMRI/Panel Pro
– interlocking XML generator
– HTML/PHP control tables interpreter
– PCB designs and operation
– TC64 units
– what went well and what went wrong
– future developments

Some brief details will be given of the wiring of the panel, but only sufficient for understanding of the simulator (otherwise this could take up a whole day on its own)!

No previous attendees’ knowledge will be presumed, apart from the basics of signalling and panel operation, and the basics of computer use, so hopefully the day will be of interest to everyone, but particularly those who are involved in other similar projects, either with clubs or privately.

If you haven’t already seen Swindon Panel in action, we recommend visiting on one of our public open days before attending the technical conference, but if you can’t don’t worry. https://www.swindonpanel.org.uk/activities-2019/

There will be plenty of opportunity to see the hardware and software in action, and to ask as many questions you like of those responsible for creating the system.

No information will be withheld, we will be very happy to share all intellectual property, plans and designs that belong to SPS.

The event is free to attend for SPS members. Please pre-book as below and show your SPS membership card at the DRC booking office to gain access.

Non-members are also welcome, donations towards the continued upkeep and development of Swindon Panel (registered charity) welcome. Please pre-book as below and you will be able to access DRC by your name being on a list at the entrance gate.

PRE-BOOKING IS REQUIRED. Attendee spaces are limited. Please contact us via email or Facebook message with your name, if you are attending from another club/organisation, and how many people will be in your group, to book your spaces.

See you there!