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Travis Gilbert - Winelands Light Rail

Miniature Railways in Stellenbosch

The Winelands Light Rail – Miniature Railways in Stellenbosch. Meet the many up and coming steam enthusiasts, well seasoned and very experienced engineering staff. The railway runs on a 760-metre track at 1/3 scale, faithfully recreating prototypical narrow-gauge railways from around the world. The route was carefully designed to weave through the property’s existing trees, creating a shaded, forest-like atmosphere that feels immersive and peaceful. Highlights include a charming tunnel, bridges, and a delightful station — all adding to the sense of adventure on the scenic 7-minute ride. Our featured image shows Travis Gilbert, locomotive driver and up and coming engineer.

Unijunction Transistor 2N2646

The Unijunction Transistor – All but Obsolete

A UJT (Unijunction Transistor) is a component used to build oscillators, while an astable multivibrator is a type of circuit that continuously oscillates, often built using transistors (like BJTs) or sometimes even a UJT for a simpler relaxation oscillator, creating a square wave.

Loudspeaker Protection Circuit Pioneer A5 and A6

Pioneer A5 and A6 Speaker Protection

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The Pioneer A5 and A6 Speaker Protection – The Pioneer A-5 amplifier’s loudspeaker protection circuit uses a relay-based system to protect speakers from damage caused by DC current, short circuits, or turn-on/off thumps by delaying connection at power-up and disconnecting instantly in case of a fault. These protection circuits although well designed are not entirely damage proof or moreover idiot proof.

Valves (vacuum tubes) seen on end in a recreation of the Colossus computer

World War Engineers and Scientists (part four)

The Colossus, the first “digital” computer developed and built through 1943 until 1945 by British code breakers.  By Unknown author – This file is from the collections of The National Archives (United Kingdom), catalogued under document record FO850/234.