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I always loved the look of older switchgear (as in power transmission, not network switches...). There are few examples given here, but some of the early gear g

I always loved the look of older switchgear (as in power transmission, not network switches...). There are few examples given here, but some of the early gear genuinely wouldn't look out of place in a Frakenstein movie, like the original control room in at Battersea[1]. There is just something about a room covered in mechanical meters (not analog meters hooked up to a computer - literally mechanical computers hooked up with sense transformers to the high voltage lines) that read thousands of amps and 10s if not 100s of thousands of volts, often times with the megawatts of power traveling just on the other side of the panel! [1] http://benedante.blogspot.com/2015/05/battersea-power-station.html http://benedante.blogspot.com/2015/05/battersea-power-statio...

asteli 6y ago
Why no love for network switches? The old mechanical telephone exchange equipment is enormously satisfying to watch as well. https://youtu.be/_xI9tXi-UNs https://youtu.be/_xI9tXi-UNs
- PoachedSausage 6y ago
  You can see them in action at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings[0] which includes a working telephone exchange. About a mile from there is Droitwich Transmitting Station, an ArtDeco era station, see page 13 of [1] for exposed knife switches with 400V. [0] https://avoncroft.org.uk/avoncrofts-work/special-collections/ https://avoncroft.org.uk/avoncrofts-work/special-collections... [1] http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Droitwich/droitwich_calling2.pdf http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscen...
  - barrkel 6y ago
    There's a functional mechanical switching relay, the kind triggered off of the clicks of a rotary dialing wheel, attached to two phones at the communication museum in Frankfurt https://www.mfk-frankfurt.de/ https://www.mfk-frankfurt.de/ and you can dial one phone from the other, and see the relays move as you enter the numbers.
- dugmartin 6y ago
  My dad worked at the phone company and as a kid in the late 1970s I went into the switching room with him on a Saturday morning (he was the district boss and would bring donuts in for the folks that had to work weekends). Forty years later and I still remember lots and lots of clicking and a heady smell of ozone.
- skrtskrt 6y ago
  Worked at a telecom API provider and we were told AT&T still has a handful of these in service in the US. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZePwin92cI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZePwin92cI
VBprogrammer 6y ago
There are some interesting videos on YouTube of the Folsom power house. Some of their panels have live knife switches, never mind being on the other side of a panel.
- PoachedSausage 6y ago
  People were obviously trusted not to be stupid enough to touch them back then. We designed things in Art Deco style, I don't know what the style is now, Health & Safety Mandatory Beige perhaps.
outworlder 6y ago
> literally mechanical computers hooked up with sense transformers to the high voltage lines) that read thousands of amps and 10s if not 100s of thousands of volts, often times with the megawatts of power traveling just on the other side of the panel! So you are saying the explodey plasma conduits in Star Trek consoles are not that far-fetched after all?

asteli 6y ago

Why no love for network switches? The old mechanical telephone exchange equipment is enormously satisfying to watch as well. https://youtu.be/_xI9tXi-UNs https://youtu.be/_xI9tXi-UNs

PoachedSausage 6y ago
You can see them in action at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings[0] which includes a working telephone exchange. About a mile from there is Droitwich Transmitting Station, an ArtDeco era station, see page 13 of [1] for exposed knife switches with 400V. [0] https://avoncroft.org.uk/avoncrofts-work/special-collections/ https://avoncroft.org.uk/avoncrofts-work/special-collections... [1] http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Droitwich/droitwich_calling2.pdf http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscen...
- barrkel 6y ago
  There's a functional mechanical switching relay, the kind triggered off of the clicks of a rotary dialing wheel, attached to two phones at the communication museum in Frankfurt https://www.mfk-frankfurt.de/ https://www.mfk-frankfurt.de/ and you can dial one phone from the other, and see the relays move as you enter the numbers.
dugmartin 6y ago
My dad worked at the phone company and as a kid in the late 1970s I went into the switching room with him on a Saturday morning (he was the district boss and would bring donuts in for the folks that had to work weekends). Forty years later and I still remember lots and lots of clicking and a heady smell of ozone.
skrtskrt 6y ago
Worked at a telecom API provider and we were told AT&T still has a handful of these in service in the US. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZePwin92cI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZePwin92cI

VBprogrammer 6y ago

There are some interesting videos on YouTube of the Folsom power house. Some of their panels have live knife switches, never mind being on the other side of a panel.

PoachedSausage 6y ago
People were obviously trusted not to be stupid enough to touch them back then. We designed things in Art Deco style, I don't know what the style is now, Health & Safety Mandatory Beige perhaps.

outworlder 6y ago

> literally mechanical computers hooked up with sense transformers to the high voltage lines) that read thousands of amps and 10s if not 100s of thousands of volts, often times with the megawatts of power traveling just on the other side of the panel! So you are saying the explodey plasma conduits in Star Trek consoles are not that far-fetched after all?