This is the homepage of Mike Horne, writer and researcher
On this site you will find a few published (but little known) works that that haven't seen the light of day in formal print. These may or may not have been updated, so please just take them 'as is'.
You will also find some articles or books that have been started but remain incomplete; again, to be taken 'as is'. There is also some information about various books of mine, plus additions and corrections.
Please regard all this very much as 'Work in Progress'; it is all liable to frequent adjustment and updating.
You are welcome to view the documents and provided you acknowledge the source you may use the information in accordance with normal copyright conditions. The documents themselves may not be printed or downloaded.
I have added some blocks below to advise of specific updates I make. There will usually be the last five on display. I hope this is helpful. I have now added another block (in yellow) indicating what is new on my blog.
Webitems
Updated 18 February
My book 'A Century of Change' is now available to
read online. See 'research - readable online'.
Updated 10 February
Another page added to my 'District Railway' pages,
inspired by some bits I put together for a recent
talk. This one is about the elusive District
apostrophe that may (or may not) be used in
certain place names. There is also another update
of AFC article including a bit more on the Private
Finance Initiative.
Updated 1 and 6 February
Further significant updates made to technical research
paper on LT/Tfl rail and road automatic fare
collection (now runs to 137 pages with major additions to 1970s bus AFC
and Underground System 'C'..
Still work in progress though.
Updated 18 January
Significant updates made to technical research
paper on LT/Tfl rail and road automatic fare
collection (about 10% more added and various
adjustments made). Still work in progress though. Further major update 20 January.
Updated 4 January
Increasingly frustrated by failures of drama
production teams to get detail right for 20th
century day-to-day stuff, I was minded to set out
some examples of things that annoyed me because
they were avoidable. Naturally the list grew. See
under 'Other Stuff'.
Blogitems
Mike Horne's Blog
Updated 18 February
Some adjustments made to my blog item A Line to
Nowhere about the Chessington branch, and a couple
of helpful aerial photos added.
Mike Horne's Blog
Updated 29 December
Following publication of the latest London
Underground diagram I discuss the relative
advantages and disadvantages of the latest
innovation — the showing of interchanging
involving a walk between station of under ten
minutes, and about the hesitant history this has.
That leads to some further observations about
whether the 9-inch by 3-inch format, now
overwhelmed by clutter, might not have reached the
end of its life in this form and how some of it
needs rethinking. It is not the 'icon' it was.
Mike Horne's Blog
Updated 23 December
I have slightly revised my blog entry for 26
January 2013 about Gladstone's final railway
journey (following his death) connected with his
lying in state at Westminster and bringing his
body to Westminster station by train. It was
necessary to sort out which of two quite different
locomotives actually drew the train.
Updated 21 December
Various minor changes made to my May 2013 blog
item about escalators and inclined walkways. Links
updated and two images added (including one of the
inclined walkway at the Earls Court exhibition).
Mike Horne's Blog
Updated 9 December
I have finally got around to publishing Part 5 of my blog about
the story of the National Railway Museum at York.
This one forms a review not just of the NRM but of
two other transport museums, as a kind of compare
and contrast. Nothing for a year then three come
at once.
It is the roof of the new part of King's Cross station. I quite like it. Let's face it, it has to be better than the squalid 1970's concourse area...
There is the inevitable blog, which I try and keep topical but it get refreshed in fits and starts. It may be found here: Mike Horne Blog; this will open a new web page, or at least a new tab. Items currently topical, as well as the archive, are listed on my 'other stuff' pages. I can also be found at @machorne.
So you will need a pdf reader. If you do not have a pdf reader on your computer, you will need Acrobat (or another PDF) Reader in order to view them. You can download a free reader from Adobe. When reading the files use Page Up and Page Down for navigation.
I am aware that some Firefox users may have a problem with accurately resolving images in pdf files owing to a bug with Firefox's dedicated pdf viewer. It is to be hoped this will be fixed shortly. Firefox can be configured to open pdfs using Adobe reader if the bug becomes intolerable, but it isn't something that relates particularly to pdfs from this site.
If you have any queries about this site, or any observations about its contents, or can help with any information, then the author will be delighted to hear from you. To reduce the risk of receiving spam, please click on the button below; this will bring up a 'Contact Me' form that is configured to send me an email, and I will respond in due course. (I will of course let you have my email address in the response in the event that you wish to send me something not convenient to pass across by means of the form.)
The metadyne is an intriguing type of electrical machine, akin to a rotating amplifier, and is particularly suited to heavy duty operation where constant voltage input needs to be converted into a constant current (but adjustable) output. The contrived name comes from the greek 'dynamis', meaning power. The machine had was found to be useful for certain types of drive mechanism, including gun turrets and cranes, and to a lesser extent, traction; under this name it was developed in the 1930s and 40s by Metropolitan Vickers and was a development of the earlier Amplidyne machine developed in America.
Whilst there are all kinds of stories I could offer you as to why it is relevant to this site, actually I was after a fairly ambiguous name and just liked it!
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