-=> Mike Ross said to Greg Mayman
 -=> about "VEHICLE LED'S" on 09-02-03  22:14.....

 MR> Or I'll forget to disconnet the wire and take off with the bicycle in
 MR> a trailing shower of sparks! That will surely light the skyline but not
 MR> as I intended. 

There was an old joke about the world's first electric car, that
had a range of only 300 yards as that was the length of the power
cord.

OTOH, at the National Railway Museum here in Adelaide
(www.natrailmuseum.org.au) there is an electric locomotive that
is fitted with a normal pantograph and a side bow collector.

Originally it also had an extension cord on a spring loaded reel
so it could run on nearby tracks that didn't have an overhead or
side catenary.

So not everything in a joke is as ridiculous as it first appears ;-)

The side collector was used with a catenary alongside the track,
when the trucks towed behind the loco were being loaded with iron
ore. An overhead catenary wouldn't have lasted past the first
load dumped.

From Greg Mayman, in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia
   "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E

... Between two evils, always pick the one you never tried before.
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

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