Bardic Lamp

[Harpers Tate]

From the sound of it, that mechanism might benefit from a little lubrication perhaps. And for those concerned about lamp life, it is possible, if you look hard enough, to obtain LED bulbs that fit directly and run off the nominal 4.5v produced by three cells. Expensive generally, but should last just about forever. Such as: http://www.niteize.com/product/1-Watt-LED-Upgrade-C-D-Cell.asp

 

[455driver]

Jon, we are all guilty of thinking what we want to write but not quite putting it into words.

With regard to batteries, there are a few websites out and about that you can source batteries from

If you do manage to get the proper battery, when you fit it to the bardic do not remove the plastic bag it come in, leave the battery in the bag and just poke the electrical connector through the bag. If the battery leaks then the bag will protect the bardic.

 

[matchmaker]

They are the same size bulb as a Maglite.

One use nobody has mentioned yet is as an emergency taillight or front light. Hence the bracket on the back.

I have done that, years ago, on the SVR. My Bardic was pressed into use as a headlamp during a night shunt.

 

[Cliveblackpool]

In the late 70's I met a guard who still used the Bardic's predecessor - a carbide lamp (Acelylene gas C2H2). It has a thick convex lens giving a parallel beam and a very bright light. He was checking off the wagon tickets from a fair distance! The local sheds (St Blazey) still had a stock of calcium carbide. The Bardic doesn't need washing out and refilling!

Bardics and batteries/ converters are on ebay!

 

[driver9000]

Alternatively i purchased a conversion pack a number of years ago that uses 3 D-size batteries instead.

I bought one of these for my Bardic lamp from www.footplateequipment.co.uk for £5.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Still have mine - issued in 1979 - bit of a knack for shunting - but "thumb red , finger green" is the cue - always wary of the latter when setting an engine or portion back onto another section when "green" was slow down and "red" STOP !!"

Mine has the yellow lense - but alas, no battery in it now though you can get conversion kits.

On late night turns - you always felt safe with a Bardic lamp...

 

[Flamingo]

On late night turns - you always felt safe with a Bardic lamp...

Mine is still in my locker, and still gets carried the odd Saturday Late turn...

 

[Trog]

In the late 70's I met a guard who still used the Bardic's predecessor - a carbide lamp (Acelylene gas C2H2). It has a thick convex lens giving a parallel beam and a very bright light. He was checking off the wagon tickets from a fair distance! The local sheds (St Blazey) still had a stock of calcium carbide. The Bardic doesn't need washing out and refilling!

There was a big metal container at Euston under the bridge at the south end of the Down Side Shed in the 1980's marked as containing Calcium Carbide.

There was also a school of thought that throwing bread wrapped around lumps of Calcium Carbide, to Seagulls gullable enough to eat it was amusing.

Probably on a par with creeping down what is now line X at Euston, and shouting to encourage the pigeons to flap their wings just that little bit higher. As they took off from their roosting spots on the conductor wires under the shelter of the metal intersection bridge.

 

[1018509]

They are the same size bulb as a Maglite.

No they aren't the Maglite cylinder is slightly bigger. LED bulbs to fit can be obtained here.

You should state the bulb tip polarity as a follow up email as the order page has no tip polarity preference or at least didn't when I bought mine.
This is the way their customer services told me to order.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Probably on a par with creeping down what is now line X at Euston, and shouting to encourage the pigeons to flap their wings just that little bit higher. As they took off from their roosting spots on the conductor wires under the shelter of the metal intersection bridge.

Ahh, pigeon bridge, so many memories - so many roast pigeons. Whatever happened to that concrete mushroom?

 

[OuterDistant]

I love my Bardic. It's a big, solid, reliable metal thing that has dozens of uses. Best of all is the big handle - makes it easy to hold high in the air while signalling, or to light your way even with both hands full of stuff.

Now that's industrial design!

 

[1018509]

When I started as a car examiner, in Ruislip London Underground depot, in 1970, we used Bardic lamps for under train examinations they were re-chargeable and kept in a large charging cage - also made by Bardic - in the workshop.

 

[CarltonA]

The military did indeed have Bardics Jonfun. We used them at vehicle check points in Northern Ireland sometimes, though not so much as to help our sniper friends. They were the four aspect variety and yellow was usable.

 

[Aictos]

Does anyone know how to remove the bulbs though? We're got a bardic with a faulty bulb at work and its impossible to just unscrew it

 

[Harpers Tate]

They just pull out (or fall out, even) once the reflector (the central oval section in colour changing models) is pulled out; there is no screw thread on the bulb or the reflector. If either part is stiff, it's stuck and may need easing with eg some penetrating oil.

 

[455driver]

Does anyone know how to remove the bulbs though? We're got a bardic with a faulty bulb at work and its impossible to just unscrew it

Take the rubber seal and the front glass, remove the reflector (it will probably fall out), gently lever the bit around the bulb out and the bulb will fall out with it.

Make sure you put the reflector back in the same way or it can scratch the coloured lenses, make sure the gaps top and bottom are roughly the same.

It should take about 30 seconds to get the bulb out once you are used to it.

 

[Flamingo]

No they aren't the Maglite cylinder is slightly bigger. LED bulbs to fit can be obtained here.

You should state the bulb tip polarity as a follow up email as the order page has no tip polarity preference or at least didn't when I bought mine.
This is the way their customer services told me to order.

Mine takes Maglite bulbs (but not the Maglite LED replacement).

 

[Aictos]

Take the rubber seal and the front glass, remove the reflector (it will probably fall out), gently lever the bit around the bulb out and the bulb will fall out with it.

Make sure you put the reflector back in the same way or it can scratch the coloured lenses, make sure the gaps top and bottom are roughly the same.

It should take about 30 seconds to get the bulb out once you are used to it.

I thought it might be something like that but it seems to be glued in :/
Will have to try it again, will let you know how I get on.

 

[455driver]

Which bit?

 

[cjp]

Station staff and guards use the green for dispatch I believe as well

FWIW
When I waited at a request stop the driver acknowledged me, the guard leaned out and showed a green light until the carriage was in the station, showed a red and the train stopped so I get in my/his carriage.
Long train, short platform.

Chatting to the guard later he showed me it was an LED job which defaults to red so only shows green when the thumb is kept on the button.
Progress.

 

[Trog]

Whatever happened to that concrete mushroom?

As Blondie cast it with a fishbolt sticking out of the bottom of the stem and it was fixed into a hole drilled into the building and filled with a whole pack of the epoxy glue supplied for fixing glued joints together. I strongly suspect it is still attached to a lump of rubble in whatever tip the building went to when the Euston Remod people knocked it down.


It was strange that job, a list of all the expensive items of kit we had damaged chalked up on a building for the passing passengers to read, no reaction.

Concrete toadstool attached to a non Civil Engineering building in plain sight of afore mentioned passengers, no reaction.

Some one chalks up a sign on the building saying Toadstool Junction, local management go ballistic.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

If you are looking for a brand new one or replacement parts -

http://www.unipartrail.com/search/ViewProduct.aspx?s=bardic&st=1&CatNumber=R055/050001

Unipart Rail are the current national supplier.

At one time they used to have the logo of their owner on the side - B R (W), London Transport etc. I believe they fetch a premium over the NRS (National Rail Supplies) ones which seem prevalent today.

 

[warriorwarlord]

London Underground still seem to use them to dispatch the last trains of the day.
I believe the bardics are a mid 60's design? I'm pretty sure I read LT started using them in 1967.

 

[miikey]

Im sure the purpose of a bardic lamp was to be able to show multi aspects. I got given one at work a few years ago but they seem to be issuing the torches with a clip on red aspect if you need it.
THey should no longer be issued due to the problems that colour blind people have identifying the correct aspect. Silly I know.

 

[edwin_m]

Different rules apply for train dispatch at different stations. Where lamps are used the green is to confirm that the doors are shut and it is safe to start the train. Platform staff may use this to signal a DOO driver or a guard, who will then pass the message to the drive via the buzzer/bell. White is a request to close the doors. Both of these can be seen at Birmingham New Street for example where the crowded and curved platforms make it impossible for the guard or driver to see the whole train, and close doors/right away indications on the signal would probably not be practical because the person operating them would have to be in a fixed position next to the control button and probably wouldn't have a good enough view. I think the lamp used here is the Halo mentioned above.

Colour blindness is not an issue as the staff undertaking this sort of role have to pass a colour vision test.

 

[AlexS]

I wouldn't take the above post as anything like reality, unfortunately.

Dispatch with lamps works as follows:

Driver Only Operated train (no guard) dispatched by platform staff:

White lamp to the driver to close the doors (platform duties complete).
Green lamp to the driver to start the train (Right Away).

Guard operated train dispatched by platform staff:

White lamp to the guard to close the doors (platform duties complete)
2nd White lamp to the guard when doors closed etc (train safety check complete) - guard can then start the train on the buzzer, OR give a green lamp to the driver if required EG no buzzer available.

If the platform staff are required to operate an RA indicator, with a guard operated train the guard will give the platform staff a green lamp as the final action as they are still responsible for giving the rightaway. This is what you will see at Birmingham New Street. As the TRTS/RA panel at New Street is in a fixed location, sighting can be poor so for long trains the platform staff may relay the green down the platform, which is why you see so many lamp signals. The RA indicator effectively relays this green lamp to the driver.

The guard DOES NOT 'pass on' the message of the rightaway to the driver, the guard is the originator of the message and the platform staff will do the relaying if required - it is the guard's final role to allow the train to start.

At no time will the platform staff give a green lamp to the guard to show anything other than understanding of a signal received before relaying it.

 

[edwin_m]

I wouldn't take the above post as anything like reality, unfortunately.
it.

I defer to what I assume is your better knowledge. My confusion may be down to the fact that the rule book mentions a train safety check signal but doesn't define how this is given. Is this down to local instructions at particular stations?

There is an obvious hazard there if the guard gets two consecutive white signals mixed up and gives the driver the buzzer on the first one instead of the second.

 

[AlexS]

The only rolling stock where that becomes an issue is slam door stuff fitted with Central Door Locking that doesn't have a traction interlock - generally speaking the train won't allow you to move with the doors open.

It's not unheard of for guards to give the right away in error without locking the doors and this is generally treated as a serious operating incident warranting suspension pending investigation.

The train safety check signal is normally given in the same manner as platform duties complete, IE first and second tip with a white baton or white lamp. The 'first tip' though can be done with a Close Doors indicator.

The second baton tip/white light isn't anything to do with the RA indicator though which is where the confusion may arise, they're different methods of working.

 

[broadgage]

Mine takes Maglite bulbs (but not the Maglite LED replacement).

The incandescent bulbs fitted to Maglites are a standard size, known as PR base, and these fit most torches, lanterns, and handlamps made after about 1970.
A 3 cell Maglite bulb will fit a Bardic lamp and and a Bardic lamp bulb will fit a Maglite.

A number of firms supply LED replacements for standard PR base torch bulbs, these fit maglites, bardic lamps and many other lights.


Also though DEDICATED LED replacement bulbs exist that are intended ONLY for Maglites, these DO NOT fit most other torches or lights as they are slightly larger, there being enough slack in the Maglight bulbholder to accept them.

Many LED bulbs are polarity sensitive and only work with positive on the tip of the bulb and negative on the side.
You may need to reverese the polarity of you Bardic lamp if it is wrong, this is easily done by unsoldering the wires from the plug and re soldering them the other way round.
AFAIK the polarity was random when manufactured as it does not matter with an incandescent bulb.