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Tuesday 27 March 2018

The Elizabeth Line. Part-One,

Cross Rail.

This ambitious railway project is near completion, but it is already out of date due to the even higher demands on the rail, under and over ground for London! It is estimated that by 2040, even with all the planned extensions of existing lines this will still not meet the requirements for travel?

What is needed is business with vision as was the case in the 19thCentury, but perhaps if Brexit happens we will not get the proper allocation of E.U funding that is being combined now?

The Elizabeth line facilitates east to west travel, but the idea of a north to south is also being considered?

It is only with time that we will see all the pitfalls and good points of this new project, London has so much to offer with existing out of service lines that could be brought back into service and it has much potential if only the greedy could see a way forward instead of bickering?

Oil and Gas Platforms. Part-One.

Steel Islands to New types of Ships!

There is a massive change on the way in this area of sea work from the static rigs to a ship built like a catamaran to replace some of the test platforms! This is now one of the largest ships in the world and if proved to be a success we will see more of them built and put into service?

The rig or steel Island has been around for some time, these structures are in their own right floating vessels but they have to be towed from construction to the drill sites. There they are chained to the sea bottom, as in the Gulf of Mexico, North-Sea and the Persian Gulf!

These shallows are ideal for rigs and over the years many designs have come and gone with three to four legged ones being common, but their some with five legs. Four seems to be the best for stability, while these steel islands are more than just drilling platforms they are also accommodation blocks and are serviced by helicopters.

Over the years safety has been improved, after many serious fires in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. But the dangerous part of working on these today remains the journey to and from, with there being several fatalities because of bad weather, poor maintenance of machines?

Thursday 15 March 2018

Russias New Toys!

Tested out on Us?

Spite may cost the lives of millions once more and another world war, if this nerve agent business is not ended with Russia?

Russia has some new toys it claimed last week and it has had to upgrade its weapon systems in light of the madness of both Donald Trump and Mrs. May's allegations?

There is still a lot going on in the world, Syria, Libya, N-Korea, and Afghanistan, the problems with Islamic terrorism have not gone away just because the media is not reporting much!

Britain has become obsessed with chemical weapons, but then last week it sold more shells to Saudi-Arabia to kill more people in Yemen!

The Russian federation boasts it has a sleeping drone torpedo and some new nuclear powered aerial drones, while it has upgraded all it Nuclear missiles and Soviet era technology. We know they have a new MBT, new Surface to air missiles they are selling to the Saudis and the Turks based on the BUC system.

Much of what we also know is that what we have seen in relation to the conflict in Syria, new aircraft, helicopters and ship launched missiles. But its now their capability to hit any where in the world that is worrying and also their claims they will defend N-Korea?

One has to wonder about China and what they could do, with all that licenced western technology against us?

Tuesday 6 March 2018

Transport in Africa. Part-Two.

Adaption and Innovation!

We tend to think that the so called third world only gets the hand outs of our advanced world, but this is far from the truth! There are the cases of ex-colonial assistance, but many nations have opted to  buy what they want from Japan as in the case of the Toyota pick-up.

It today is the most prevalent vehicle on the planet for its known versatility and operational capability, Land rover and the Mercedes Unimog follow quickly behind. Hino is perhaps one of the most common type of trucks that despite being of the late 60' early 70's era is still viable today as it was them?

Cost determines who has what, but with the possibility of mining and the discovery of fuels the wealth is pouring in to the coffers to be spent on the latest machinery from Volvo and many other expensive manufacturers.

Home grown manufacturing in South-Africa if it continues despite the new political situation will see a tremendous growth in supplying the continent with all types of machinery?

The formation of the African Union (UN) is a driving force behind the need for newer types of existing Atlas military equipment and also the various RSA BAE ground vehicles which not many know about outside!