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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Alhambra, Penrith. Graves Cumberland Ltd
Alhambra, Keswick. Graves Cumberland Ltd
Gaeity, Whitehaven. Graves Cumberland Ltd
Plaza, Workington. Graves Cumberlans Ltd
Zepherelys (sp) Ambleside
Theatre by the Lake, Keswick
Bowness
Cockermouth Arts Centre
Lonsdale, Carlisle
??? Theatre, Whitehaven
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

And probably more I've forgotten.

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how can yo miss the Lonsdale?! It's about a 30 second walk from Carlisle Railway Station!

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Probably by walking in the wrong direction; also, it was raining so hard I could hardly see ten metres in front of me. I remember getting to some sort of market, with canopies over it. I stood under there for a few minutes, but there was no sign of the rain stopping, so I went back to the station.

This jig could make carbon savers for 6mm, 7mm, or 8mm "Suprex"carbons used in Magnarcs, Enarcs, and the like. Take a small rectangle of thin sheet copper or a scrap of metal from a coffee can, bend it widthwise around a die of the desired size, insert the ends of the bent sheet into the slotted tool, slip the tool into the jig, twist the handle until the metal cinches tightly around the die and remove...voila, homemade carbon saver.

Incidentally, the extremely talented man who gave me the jig also, around the same time, graciously lent me his original of the National Projector Carbon Bulletins for me to photocopy. It is from that photocopy where a surprisingly oft-referenced treasure trove of information on this site originated from. (Sorry if I sounded like I was tooting my horn...)

Using 13.5mm joinables in an Ashcraft Super Cinex he would open the door while running; loosen the clamp; grab the free end of the still-lit carbon with a pair of Bakelite fuse pulling pliers; slide on a new stick tap it with the handle of the nut driver; crank back the clamp arm and tighten it again... All in about 15 seconds.

Doing this, he could keep the lamp lit continuously as long as the negative stick would hold out!

His explanation was that the only part of the carbon rod that's electrically live is the part between the silver jaws and the flame of the arc. It's possible to touch the rest of the rod without getting bitten. Using the Bakelite pliers was mostly to protect the hand from any heat and to help you keep the left end of the rod steady while you moved the arm back to the starting position.

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Yup the Lonsdale is two buildings, one with 3 screens and towers and the other is two screens with platters. The owner, Alan Towers, is a top bloke, I think it belonged to his father before him. It was ABC originally. Jimmy the chief has worked there since the end of WWII, and is still working, now in his 70's

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Wonderful that this Independent is still operating, with a Warner multiplex also in Carlisle. It must be tough competition though.

Carlisle, Cumbria.

Lonsdale City Cinemas, Warwick Road CA1 1DN. Seats: 1:374 2:220 3:54 and at Mary Street CA1 1QR. Seats: 4:119 5:112

Warner Village, Botchergate. 08702 406020 7 screens / 1,500 seats.

There was a cinema that the owner decided to close, as his chief projectionist was finally forced to retire being over 80 years of age. Must be something good in nitrate film and carbon fumes.

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ACA918P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 9 x 18 Pos Box of 50
ACA818P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 8 x 18 Pos Box of 50
ACA914P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 9 x 14 Pos Box of 50
ACA814P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 8 x 14 Pos Box of 50
ACA714P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 7 x 14 Pos Box of 50
ACA812P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 8 x 12 Pos Box of 50
ACA712P Marble Double Eagle Carbons 7 x 12 Pos Box of 50
ACA812N Marble Double Eagle Carbons 8 x 12 Neg Box of 50
ACA712N Marble Double Eagle Carbons 7 x 12 Neg Box of 50
ACA79N Marble Double Eagle Carbons 7 x 9 Neg Box of 50
ACA69N Marble Double Eagle Carbons 6 x 9 Neg Box of 50

If you've got something like Super Core-lites, or at the other extreme, Bell & Howell 609s, it looks like you're out of luck.

I did manage to find quite a large stock of old ones for 609s in a couple of places, and I don't use them very often, so I should be ok for a few years at least.

The other problem is that they are quite expensive now, compared to xenons.

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Incidentally, the extremely talented man who gave me the jig also, around the same time, graciously lent me his original of the National Projector Carbon Bulletins for me to photocopy. It is from that photocopy where a surprisingly oft-referenced treasure trove of information on this site originated from. (Sorry if I sounded like I was tooting my horn...)

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Yikes! Did you do that, err, voluntarily? My weekly trips from York to Newcastle are bad enough: the trains are always late, old, dirty, freezing in winter/boiling in summer, full of teenage yobs screaming into mobile 'phones (even in the carriage where you're not supposed to use them), impossible to get any work done in and generally an ordeal. The only reaon I use them at all is because parking is virtually impossible anywhere near our Newcastle office. And then there's the cost - £26 return. I estimate that making the trip by car would cost me £10-12 (taking into account everything - petrol, maintenance costs, insurance, tax and depreciation). If you bear in mind that all motoring costs are taxed to hell and that rail travel is VAT-exempt, then the true cost of making that trip by car is probably around £2-3, i.e. around 10% of doing it by rail.

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I will answer here the points which you made, I hope Brad doesn't mind, but if you want to take the discussion further, then I suggest that we take it to a more appropriate forum, either private e-mail, or the uk.transport or uk.railway newsgroups.

I used to travel a lot by train, mainly local journeys, now I seldom do so, partly due to the cost. My journey to work is from Coulsdon to Croydon. This costs me 70p each way by bus, or 65p if I buy tickets in advance, in books of six. By train it would cost me exactly three times as much. I had a car for a few years, 1978-82, because mother insisted I had to have one, to drive her to various places. I absolutely hated driving, I think I did less than 2000 miles in all the time I had the car, including one journey of 300 miles, the only time I ever drove outside London. Car finally expired at about the same time as mother, so I stopped driving, and will never do so again. For short journeys, up to about 5km, I walk, unless I'm carrying something very heavy, or the weather is very bad. Longer than that, I go by bus. If there isn't a bus, I generally don't go.

There's nothing inherently wrong with old trains, see next paragraph.

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The prospect of going right round the country in one of those semi-mobile cowsheds is about as attractive to me as being strapped in a chair and made to watch all 67 Nightmare on Elm Street films in succession (or however many there are). And the further you go the more of a ripoff they are: I'm off to visit a friend in Truro next weekend. It would have cost me £120 by train from York and taken nine hours. My Ryanair ticket from Stansted to Newquay cost me £38 return. Even after the costs of getting to and from each airport I anticipate having enough change for a very nice meal, not to mention the enormous time saving.

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These railtours use refurbished BR Mk. 1 loco-hauled coaching stock. This was built between 1951 and 1963; that which is still in use would date from towards the end of this period, so it's about 40 years old, but is more comfortable than most of the later-built stock.

I agree with you that rail fares are, in most cases, too high. If you want to travel during peak hours, and/or turn up an go, they can be extremely expensive, even more so if you use Virgin trains, I have only used them twice since they won the franchise, and will not do so again.

My only recent experience of flying was in April, when I flew from London Gatwick to Newark International, mainly to see the Loew's Jersey Theater. (There, a film connection, to justify it being in this forum My last previous flight was in 1974, out to Leningrad, and back from Moscow. I think it is an absolutely ghastly way to travel, but since I can't afford to go over on the QE2, I ddnt have much choice. I did see the QE2 sailing out of New York harbour while I was there, looks a much better way to travel.

I had to check in two hours before take-off, go through several different security checks before I could get on the plane, had nothing to look at out of the window, could eat only when the meal was brought round, was far more restricted as to what I could take with me than I would be on a train, had to wait ages to reclaim my luggage at the other end, and the airports were miles away from my starting point and destination. At least I could get up to use the toilet if I needed to, in a car, bus, or many coaches, I couldn't. Most trains now do have toilets, and I can take a walk to stretch my legs, or go to the Buffet any time I like. On the plane, as soon as we hit any slightly turbulant air, they insist you sit down and put belts on. On older trains, you can even open the window to get some air.

The railtours have much lower fares, unless you choose to take the first class dining option. The trip which I described, to Carlisle and back, would typically cost less than an off-peak return to York. Many of these tours have various optional extras, e.g. I have got off at Appleby for a coach trip to places like Hawes, or Barnard Castle, which are very difficult to reach by other means, and re-joined the train at Darlington on the way back. Hawes is a strange place, they make Wensleydale cheese there, and everywhere you look you see Wallace and Grommet!

I choose not to drive, and I therefore have to accept the restrictions which this places on my freedom of mobility, there are many places that I would like to go, but it is just too difficult to get there; but what about the many people who for reasons of health, disability, age etc. cannot drive. How are they supposed to travel. In many places in this country public transport is terrible. The worst example I have seen was in a Devon bus timetable; there were places which were served by only one bus route, and that particular bus ran once a month! I'm not sure what you do if you run to catch the bus, and just miss it. Maybe the bus stops should have tents, instead of shelters! There were several routes which ran only once a week. In the unlikely event that you were to see one of these buses, I'm sure it would be empty, or very nearly so, such a service cannot be considered a serious option as a means of transport.

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Rather than let morons like Livingstone persecute taxpaying motorists even more, what the government needs to do is close down all the railways and tarmac them over. That would solve traffic congestion.

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What that would actually do is to stop the people who currently travel by train from doing so; They would either not travel at all, or they would travel by other means, mainly by road. In the case of lightly-used lines, this would make little difference, at least to the state of the roads, what difference it would make to the passengers would depend on the alternatives available. In the case of more heavily used lines, it would make the congestion worse. In some cases converting the ex railways into roads would not be possible, where it was, it would be expensive, in most cases, additional land would have to be purchased, bridges ann tunnels re-built to provide necessary clearances etc. Even where ths was done, the capacity of the new road would be less than the former railway which it replaced. How is that going to solve the congeston problem?

There were railways in this country which should never have been built, most of them have closed, in some cases as long ago as the early part of the 20th century. There are other lines which should have closed, and most have done so. There are few lines still open, which should now close. There are some lines which were closed, and should not have been. Many of these are the subject of pointless re-instatement proposals, which will never come to anything. Large amounts of time, money and effort are wasted on campaigns, studies, environmental assessments etc. for quite impossible re-opening schemes. I do not support schemes to re-open railways, with a very few exceptions, but nor do I beleive that more mass closures are the answer.