The zigzags of technology
When I started on the railway quite a lot of signalling equipment was still the old mechanical style with lots of moving parts that needed lubricating, tightening up, and replacing when worn out. For us, the trackworkers, that involved walking long distances carrying lubricants, coils of signal wire, and spares for the commonly worn-out parts, As time went on the signal lamps were swapped over from oil lamps to electric lights of varying voltages, some powered by batteries, some from a transformer. The batteries were not your usual 3Ds or triple As but large square objects that were heavy in...