[GreenKeys] Frequency deviations in Continental Europe including impact on electric clocks steered by frequency

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

The railroad from Philadelphia to Harrisburg still runs on 25Hz. There are a few other relics out there. 
One is the pumps that bail out New Orleans when it floods. Another is the original gear at the Panama 
Canal. One of the reasons you find Teletype machines with 25 Hz motors on them (we eventually had 
to get back to Greenkeys) is the need to run them in Panama. 

Lots of fun !!

Bob

> On Mar 6, 2018, at 9:10 PM, Bruce Gentry <ka2ivy at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 3/6/18 5:45 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>>   Some areas had 25Hz power, good for traction motors. The Pennsylvania RR electric trains ran on 25Hz.
> 
> I think some portions of the former PRR northeast corridor are still 25 cycle. The locomotives operate on 11,000 volts 25 cycle or 25,000 60 cycle.
>> I visited the Canadian side of Niagara Falls when I was a kid, the power was all 25Hz and made the lights flicker very noticeably. 
>  National Greed finally ended all  25 cycle service in Buffalo around 2000.
> 
> 
> 
>> I have no idea why 25Hz other than there must have been a lot of industrial machinery on it.
> 
>> Initially, it was chosen because it was  optimal for the water turbines and generators of 1896. It also turned out to be superior for steelmaking and electric welding at the time. We generated some 25 cycles here in Syracuse, but most was brought in from Buffalo, especially after 1951 when  Niagra-Mohawk tore down it's local combination gas works, 25 cycle, and DC generating station.  An old timer at the downtown Western Union office told me they could use the line 120volts DC in an emergency if  their own power supplies failed.   The local steel mill continued to use 25 cycles via the lines from Buffalo until it was shut off. Niagra-Mohawk also had to provide hundreds of motor generators for elevators and theaters so they could continue to use their original DC equipment rather than paying to replace it all.  As for electric clocks, there were quite a few that were mechanical, powered by springs that were automatically wound by universal motors.  If you worked in any heavy electrical craft in the late 40s through the fifties, Syracuse was a very interesting place.
> 
>     Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY
> 
> 
>> 
>> On 3/6/2018 1:38 PM, Bruce Gentry wrote:
>>> 
>>> I had plenty adventures with wild frequency in Taiwan in 1970. It could sag as low as 57 cycles in the late afternoon and evening, and go as high as 64 after midnight to keep clocks on time for 6:00 hrs. 
> 
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