Model Railway Forum

A classic from bygone days - brilliant. R-

Classic!

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 4:41 pm What was the problem with the drop wire from the pole Rob. We have had ours changed once.

The wire from the pole at the bottom of the drive to the old house was lashed to a catenary and it used to deteriorate as the wind blew it about. Fatigue at the ends I suppose. Every now and then we would lose the line to noise and BT would simply string a new wire from pole to the house junction box. Oddly the wires twixt the rest of the poles in the close never seemed to have the same problem.

The daft thing was they could have used the underground cable if they had reconnected it to the distribution box round the corner as it it went round the close past everyones drive. One of the BT fitters remembered putting it all in when the houses were built in the mid 70’s.

No such problems now as all our present house cabling is buried.

Typical BT planning. Probably lost plans somewhere.

I forgot to add, that the BT elves re-seeded the lawn after they had refilled the trench.

Moving along to tales of British Gas and the Electricity Board ..

At the old house the gas and electric meters were inside what used to be the original garage. It had been converted to a bedroom and a bigger garage extension built on. The meters were hidden in a DIY cupboard, not ideal.

I asked BG and the Electric board if they would move the meters outside - for free of course.
We will but you have to pay £200 apiece, but if you can report a duff meter or some associated fault we will fix that and move the meter as well free of charge.

When questioned about the mechanics of the job Electric Board said we break into the cable outside, fit the meter and inside we join the old meter tail direct to your consumer unit - OK happy with that.

British Gas however said they would also break into the feed pipe outside to mount the meter, but inside they would simply fit a loop of pipe to join the meter feed and flow pipes together, so I would have these pipes coming out of the floor, half way up the wall, only to return back to the floor again - Not OK so No thank you.

When we had the boiler changed the BG sub-con installer simply moved the meter outside, ran a new flow pipe up the outside wall into the bungalow loft and across to the boiler cupboard. He cut the old gas pipes in the bedroom flush with the floor. All part of the fully certified boiler job. Never did get the Electricity meter moved.

Our electricity meter, (the one the men read) is some 20 yards up the road, strapped to a telegraph pole. They are not allowed to enter our house, ( old french law), unless invited in to make a repair. There is no gas, (no mains laid)