I was out for a walk today enjoying the sun and noticed this lineside equipment about a mile south of Arbroath:
(click to expand)
In case it's not clear what's shown in the image, there is a central unit solar-powered unit on the sloped trackside which appears to have a radio antenna, a pair of what I assume are IR lights and a pair of cameras, one facing in each direction up/down line and a number of retroreflectors placed about three or four meters apart all along the bank.
This almost ended being another "What is this (not datum plates)? thread , but fortunately there was a sign: it's a landslip detection system.
I knew that such things existed, but it's the first time I've seen one "in the flesh" on the railway. How common are they, and are they intended to monitor the bank for long-term movement as a sign of an impending slip, or more to give in-the-moment alerting of a slip that has occurred.
If the latter, it would totally make my year if someone, sometime had realised that it's a digital equivalent of an old, analogue system and referred to it as an Anderson's Synthesiser.
(click to expand)
In case it's not clear what's shown in the image, there is a central unit solar-powered unit on the sloped trackside which appears to have a radio antenna, a pair of what I assume are IR lights and a pair of cameras, one facing in each direction up/down line and a number of retroreflectors placed about three or four meters apart all along the bank.
This almost ended being another "What is this (not datum plates)? thread , but fortunately there was a sign: it's a landslip detection system.
I knew that such things existed, but it's the first time I've seen one "in the flesh" on the railway. How common are they, and are they intended to monitor the bank for long-term movement as a sign of an impending slip, or more to give in-the-moment alerting of a slip that has occurred.
If the latter, it would totally make my year if someone, sometime had realised that it's a digital equivalent of an old, analogue system and referred to it as an Anderson's Synthesiser.