Development of the new Sky Shed PodMax – a much larger version of the SkyPOD observatory. Imagine the size of the telescope you could fit in there!!!
Development of the new Sky Shed PodMax – a much larger version of the SkyPOD observatory. Imagine the size of the telescope you could fit in there!!!
The China Railway Museum (Zhengyangmen) is located downtown, just south east of Tienanmen square. (sometime this museum is referred to as the “Beijing Railway Museum”) Their website for this museum (and the other two at Dongjiao and Badaling) is http://www.china-rail.org/
Unlike the museum at Dongjiao, this museum does not have any static displays of trains. Mainly, the museum displays are of historic news clippings and railway artifacts. Also unlike any other museum in China, the museum not crowded in the least bit.
Looking out the museum’s 3rd floor window at Zhengyangmen. Tienanmen square is just to the right of the picture.
A ticket booth for the museum is just right outside the entrance, close to the KFC. Here’s the ticket for the museum, 20 yuan, or about $3.30 CDN.
Right after you entered the main entrance, you are greeted to this large wooden wall sculpture.
A replica of the 0-3-0 Dragon Locomotive sits just after the entrance. Built in 1881, it ran on the Tangshan to Xugezhuang rail line, with a top speed of 32km/h.
The first gallery has newspaper clippings, pictures and artifacts from some of the first railways built in China.
Below is a statue of Zhan Tianyou (1861-1919) from Guangdong province, the father of Chinese Railways, built the first Chinese line from Beijing to Zhangjiakou.
Next is an interesting display of a steam locomotive cylinder and working valves.
This interesting machine was built in Germany, first used on a Chinese railway for the printing of tickets in 1927 and was in continuous use until the end of the 1980s.
Up stairs on the 2nd floor, are displays for China’s modern railway. There are various full size mock-ups, pieces of experimental prototypes and scale models.
In the basement of the museum are the sand table displays. These are large boxes with the terrain sculpted in sand. A series of projectors project colour onto the terrain, as well areal images of the cities, and the high speed trains travelling between the cities. Pretty neat, makes quite the dynamic display.
Sand table overview photo, of a high speed heading into Beijing. Baihai park is pictured on the wall.
Photo on sand table of a train travelling over the terrain south of Nanjing , crossing the Yangzi river
On the main floor by the exit is a small Bachmann model train store, selling most of the products that are currently being made by Bachmann model trains.
I find train museums when I travel to foreign countries fascinating. Trains represent one of the world’s first global products. Yet in a lot of ways, the trains are very different. So when I was in Beijing this past June, 2012, I made a point of seeing this museum.
China Railway Museum (Dongjiao) is located in the sub-burbs of Beijing, just outside of the 5th ring road. This is not to be confused with the China Railway Museum (Zhengyangmen) that is located downtown near Tienanmen square. (sometime these are referred to as “Beijing Railway Museum”) Their website for this museum (and the other two at Zhengyangmen and Badaling) is http://www.china-rail.org/
Getting to the museum is a bit of a challenge. We took a taxi from Wangjing subway station on line 15. Almost none of the taxi drivers have heard of this museum, although the nearby China National Film Museum is better known. So it may help to bring a map with you. Google map of the museum is quite accurate, and here is a map from the back of my museum ticket stub:
The front of the ticket is pretty cool looking:
The museum is a large hanger of a building, 16,500 sq. meters, consisting of 100 items on static display of old rolling stock and locomotives from China’s past. Unfortunately, the signage is minimal. Some is in English, but most in Chinese. There is an audio program, but only in Mandarin. Staff at the museum was minimal, only a ticket taker and some cleaners. When we were there, the museum was mostly empty, with the only other paying customers, a grandfather and his grandchild.
To the right after entering the museum, is the steam locomotives, and on the left are electric & Diesel locomotives and coaches.
Here are a few of the prototypes they have on display.
Steam Engines:
tender MG-35
#601 Class: Shengli SL Style: 4-6-2 Length 22.62m Max Speed: 110km/h Tractive effort: 16,880kg Origin: China 1956
#1001 Class: Renmin RM Style: 2-6-4 Length: 23.25 Max Speed: 119km/h Tractive effort: 18,050kg Origin: China 1958
#3022 Class: Jiefang 6 (JF6) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 21.17m Max Speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 20,050kg Origin: Japan 1933
#4101 Class: Jiefang Style: 2-8-2 Length: 22.63 Max Speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 24,030kg Origin: China 1958
#890 Class: SL12 Style: 4-6-2 Length:22.05m Max speed: 90km/h Tractive effort: 16,500kg Origin: Japan 1942
#2121 Class: Jiefang (JF) Style: 2-8-2 Length:21.91m Max Speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 24,030kg Origin: China 1952
#3673 Class: Jiefang 9 (JF9) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 22.12m Max Speed: 85km/h Tractive effort: 21,400kg Origin: Japan 1940
#304 Mao Zedong Class: Jiefang 1 Style: 2-8-2 Length: 23.75m Max Speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 24,030kg Origin: Japan 1941
#304 Mao Zedong cab – this locomotive was re-named in October 1946 by the Northeast Bureau of the CPC. It was in service till 1977.
#51 Class: PL3 Style: 2-6-2T Length 10.77m Max Speed: 60km/h Tractive effort: 16,800kg Origin: Japan 1935
#1191 Class: Jeifang 1 (JF1) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 21.91m Max speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 24,030kg Origin: Japan 1942
#1191 Class Jeifang 1 (JF1) front view, was renamed Shu De (a famous Chinese general) in October 1946 and remained in service till 1977.
#2101 Class: Jeifang 1 (JF1) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 21.91m Max speed: 70km/h Tractive effort 24,030kg Origin: China 1950
#2101 Class: Jeifang 1 (JF1) front view, built by Sifang works, this locomotive was named “National Day” in September 1950 to mark the first anniversary of the PRC.
#1019 Class: Gongjian (GJ) Style: 0-6-0T Length: 9.74m Max speed: 35km/h Tractive effort: 14,735kg Origin: China 1959 Taiyuan Locomotive Works
#101 Class: Qianjin (QJ) Style: 2-10-2 Length: 26.02m Max speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 33,290kg Origin: China 1964 Datong Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works
#5001 Class: Jianshe (JS) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 23.39 Max Speed: 85km/h Tractive effort 25,476kg Origin: China 1957 Datong Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works
#1979 Class: Friendship (FD) Style: 2-10-2 Length: 29.07m Max speed 85km/h Tractive effort: 34,010kg Origin: Soviet Union 1931
#0001 Class: Qianjin (QJ) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 26.1m Max speed 80km/h Tractive effort 33,290kg Origin: China 1956 Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works
#0004 Class: Qianjin (QJ) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 29.29m Max speed 80km/h Tractive effort 33,290kg Origin: China 1958 Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works
#0006 Class: KF1 Style 4-8-4 Length: 28.41 Max Speed: 100km/h Tractive effort: 19,300kg Origin: UK 1936 Vulcan Foundary England
#146 Class: PL9 Style: 2-6-2 Length: 19.42m Max Speed 80km/h Tractive effort: 14,900kg Origin: Belgium 1922
#3773 Class: Jeifang 11 (JF11) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 20.70m Max Speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 18,160 Origin: USA 1937
#3787 Class: JF11 Style: 2-8-2 Length: 20.7m Max Speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 18,160kg Origin: USA 1937
#534 Class: KD7 Style: 2-8-0 Length: 20.37m Max speed: 90km/h Tractive effort: 32,200kg Origin: USA 1947
#373 Class: KD5 Style: 2-8-0 Length: 16.56m Max speed: 50km/h Tractive effort: 16,370kg Origin: Japan 1921
Narrow Gauge Locomotives:
#23 Class: SN Style: 0-10-0 Length: 14.85m Max speed: 45km/h Tractive effort: 6,691kg Origin: USA 1929 built for service in Yunnan Prov. for 0.6m narrow gauge line.
#738 Class: Jiefang 51 (JF51) Style: 2-8-2 Length: 11.55m Max speed: 55km/h Tractive effort: 11,571kg Origin: France 1926 built for the Yunnan-Vietnam 1.0m gauge
#579 Class: KD55 Style: 2-8-0 Length: 16.56m Max speed: 50km/h Tractive effort: 16,370 Origin: Japan 1921 for Yunnan-Vietnam line, 1.0m gauge
Diesel Locomotives:
#0001 Class: DF7J Style: Co-Co Length: 18.98m Max speed: 100km/h Tractive effort 47,859kg Origin: China 2003
#0007 Class Dongfeng 5 (DF5) Style: Co-Co Length: 18.8m Max speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 39,240kg Origin: China 1977 Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works and Tangshan Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works
#4001 Class Dongfang DF4d Style: Co-Co Max speed: 100km/h Power: 2,940kW Weight: 138t Origin: China 1985
#0001 Class Dongfang DF4dj AC drive Style: Co-Co Max speed: 100km/h Power: 2,940kW Weight: 138t Origin: China 2000
#0001 Class: DF4 Style: Co-Co Length: 21.1m Max speed: 100km/h Tractive effort: 42,100kg Origin: China 1973 Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works
#4290 Class: DFH1 Style: Bo-Bo Length: 17.3m Max speed: 120km/h Tractive effort: 25,538kg Origin: china 1971 Diesel-Hydraulic locomotive.
#0008 Class: DFH2 Style: Bo-Bo Length: 13.08 Max speed: 62km/h Tractive effort: 19,400kg Origin: China 1974
#0009 Class: DFH3 Style: Bo-Bo Length: 18.55m Max speed: 120km/h Tractive effort: 27,653kg Origin: China 1976 Diesel-hydraulic locomotive.
#0001 Class: DFH5 Style: Bo-Bo Length: 14.9m Max speed: 80km/h Tractive effort: 27,800kg Origin: China 1976 Diesel-hydraulic locomotive
#3003 Class: BJ Style: Bo-Bo Length: 16.33m Max speed: 120km/h Tractive effort: 22,700kg Origin: China 1970
#0009 Class: NY6 Style: Co-Co Max speed: 108km/h Power: 3160kV Origin: Germany 1972 these locomotive were used to hall VIP’s such as the premiere.
#0009 Class: NY6 Style: Co-Co Length: 23.46m Max speed: 108km/h Tractive effort: 46,429kg Origin: Germany 1972 built by Henschel
Electric Locomotives:
#1008 Class: Shaoshan 1 (SS1) Style: Co-Co Length: 20.64 Max speed: 90km/h Tractive effort: 48,700kg Origin: China 1968 Zhouzhou Electric Locomotive Works and Xiangian Electric Locomotive Works.
Passenger Coaches:
#97336 Class GW Length: 24.54m Origin: China 1936 built by Daren Works of the Manchuria Railways, later used as Zhou Enlai’s official coach.
Rolling Stock:
One of the most important aspects of keeping a telescope operating in peak condition is to make sure that the mirrors are properly collimated. One of the easiest methods of aligning your telescope mirrors is to use a laser collimator. These can be quite easily made using a regular laser pointer purchased at any dollar store. If you have a lathe, you can turn one easily out of aluminum or wood, as seen here: http://vincechanblog.ca/laser/laser.html
An alternative method is to use a rapid prototyping machine. In this case, I needed a new collimator for a “pen” style laser pointer. In this design, the build was in two stages, the bottom half (4 hour build):
An the top half (10 hour build time):
Here are the final parts, before being glued together. I did lightly sand the bottom build to ensure it would fit into the telescope draw tube. The bottom build was designed to be 10 thou’ oversize.
Here is the final finished laser collimator, painted black. The laser is held with two sets of 3 set screws (#8-23). A 1/4″ screw press on the on/off button on the laser pointer.
Seems like not a lot of people have Dobsonian telescopes in their POD observatory. Given the 4′ high walls, the POD does limit what you can see from a Dob on the horizon. However, as I live in Toronto, my horizon is fairly blocked off by trees and houses anyways.
To get the most out of my limited views, my Dob is mounted on a dolly. Basically, its just a piece of 3/4″ plywood with some 3″ castor wheels screwed to the bottom:
OK, I’ve always been a visual observer, and have resisted jumping on the GOTO telescope bandwagon. Part of the fun of astronomy was always using charts and star hopping to find a new deep sky object. How else would one learn the night sky?
However, I must admit, having the power of a star atlas in something as small as your iPod is a real luxury. And having that connected to your telescope makes things real easy, maybe too easy, but that will be a debate for another day…..
Here are the major components of the project:
Sky Safari plus or pro – this is an astronomy program that runs on your iPod or similar device. It’s a pretty full fledged astronomy software package, considering what used to cost $100′s on a PC. To use this as an interface, you need to use cable that hooks up to your iPod, sold by Sky Safari as the “sky wire”. Basically, this sends out a RS232 serial signal to your telescope or device. You need to set Sky Safari in the “Settings” menu, telescope setup to Scope Type: Basic Encoder System, and under Mount Type: Alt-Azimuth Fork. Also, in that menu, set the “Encoder Steps Per Revolution” to +4096 for both axis, and set “Get Automatically” to OFF.
Quadrature Encoders – the versions that I use are capacitive types, they are much cheaper than optical encoders. The encoders are CUI-AMT102-V kit, order from Digikey: 102-1307-ND Luckily, the pin outs on the encoders are 0.1″ pitch, so any 5-pin straight plug would fit. On my Dobsonian telescope, the azimuth encoder was mounted to the center bolt of my rocker.
The altitude encoder is mounted at the center of rotation of the Dob’s rocker arms. The required the fabrication of a tangent plate to hold the encoder stationary, relative to the rocker box. I just happen to make mine out of “plexi” glass, as shown below:
To interface between the encoders and the iPod-skywire cable, I used an Arduino micro-controller. Initially, I tried to read the encoder pulses without interrupts, but that resulted in loosing steps if I moved the telescope too fast. A relative new encoder library for Arduino/Teensy was posted by PJRC, and can be downloaded here: http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_Encoder.html You’ll need to install the ‘encoder’ directory to your Arduino library on your computer. If you are new to Arduino, they can be purchased from many suppliers: http://www.makercanada.ca/ You can download the IDE fro Arduino for free here: http://arduino.cc/
As the skywire cable requires a RS232 serial signal, you need to shift the signal using a MAX232 chip. They can be purchased relatively cheaply either from shops listed in http://www.makercanada.ca/ or from Digikey #296-6940-5-ND. I power the MAX323 with 5V pin from the Arduino. The Arduino is powered with a 9V battery. Here’s a picture of the prototype circuit:
Eventually, I’ll find a better mounting box… ha ha. Here’s the schematic of the circuit:
Here is the source code for Arduino:
sky_safari_encoder_interrupt – note: you’ll need to change the extension to .pde or .ino
Working on making an Arduino digital setting circle interface to Sky Safari on my iPod. Had it working last year, but was loosing steps if I move , the telescope too fast. Re-wrote the code to use the two interrupts on the Arduino, waiting for a clear night to test it out.
Hi,
I’ve added a few pages on “deglitching’ radio control signals to my battery powered trains. These are on my trains page: http://vincechanblog.ca/trains.html
I’ve added a new webpage detailing my installation of a Fishman Infinity Matrix Undersaddle transducer to my acoustic guitar. Please see it here:
http://vincechanblog.ca/fishman/fishman.html
Vincent
I seem to get the same questions via e-mail about the various DIY projects on my website. I’ve set up this blog page so that you can post your questions (and hopefully, I can answer) for all to see.
bye,
Vincent