Viewing from 11:00

Note that the visit is on a Friday, not the usual Wednesday. 

The Royal Opera’s Production Workshop and Costume Centre is a huge workshop which produces sets and costumes for ballet and opera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.  The building is near Thurrock, about 15 mins walk from Purfleet station.  It  For details see  http://www.roh.org.uk/visit/tours/thurrock-tours/.

Tour is at 11:00; maximum 20 people.  Charge £13.  To reserve places, please contact Norman Billingham.

Talk: “Electric Motors for Traction Applications” by Bob Walker.

The presentation will cover the general topic of electric motors, their operating principles and the different types, illustrating both their underlying similarities and their functional differences. The focus will be on the special requirements for traction applications, with particular emphasis on applications for model electric locomotives, i.e. up to a few hundreds of watts or a couple of kW output. In passing, calculations for the power requirements for a 7¼” or 5″ passenger-carrying train will be used to illustrate the design and/or selection of a motor and transmission system.  Photographs and demonstration of an experimental motor using a surplus car alternator will also be included, together with pictures of electrical waveforms and estimated performance data.  It will also be noted that modern integrated systems based on the principles of “brushless DC motors” are now available. The talk and the demonstration models are primarily intended to be illustrative and do not necessarily represent a practical system.

Talk: “The Early Years of Aviation at Farnborough” by Graham Rood.

The talk will look at the early and foundation years of the Balloon Factory and its faltering progress towards the flights of the first heavier than air machines with Samuel Cody and Dunne. It will follow the subsequent formation of the Royal Aircraft Factory and its research & development programmes will be discussed as well as the work carried out in the inter-war years up to 1939, including the Wind Tunnels. The talk will conclude with a little of the Concorde research and describe the current work of the Trust and its extensive archive of the technical and scientific work of RAE from its formation in 1918.