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Post by townvoyager on Jul 1, 2023 15:46:03 GMT
I plan to write a blog about a jounrey I made while visiting the UK, using three different units (km, mi, mi + ch). In this day and age of blogging, is there really any benefit of mentioning the third unit i.e. miles + chains?
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castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
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Post by castlebar on Jul 1, 2023 17:24:18 GMT
I plan to write a blog about a jounrey I made while visiting the UK, using three different units (km, mi, mi + ch). In this day and age of blogging, is there really any benefit of mentioning the third unit i.e. miles + chains? Why can't you use furlongs? |
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jul 1, 2023 18:06:58 GMT
I plan to write a blog about a jounrey I made while visiting the UK, using three different units (km, mi, mi + ch). In this day and age of blogging, is there really any benefit of mentioning the third unit i.e. miles + chains? Apart from (possibly - it was a long time ago) at primary school, I've never heard/seen anyone quote a distance in miles and chains. Incredibly rarely, miles and yards, but almost invariably miles + a fraction of miles, or a decimal point representation. I plan to write a blog about a jounrey I made while visiting the UK, using three different units (km, mi, mi + ch). In this day and age of blogging, is there really any benefit of mentioning the third unit i.e. miles + chains? Why can't you use furlongs? Yes, use the well known FFF (Furlong Firkin Fortnight) system. (The unit of mass, it should be noted, is a firkin of bitter beer with an alcohol content of 5.27% by volume.) |
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Jul 1, 2023 18:39:56 GMT
It really depends who your (expected) audience is. You really don't need to be any more precise than just an approximate number of whole miles for almost all cases (the exceptions will be short distances where approximate half and occasionally quarter miles are more fitting) unless your audience is either super-nerdy or super-technical (e.g. professional railway engineers) - and even then being as precise as 1/80 mile is going to be excessive much of the time.
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castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
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Post by castlebar on Jul 1, 2023 18:52:22 GMT
Allotments in Sussex are still measured in rods.
4 rods = 1 chain. (22 yards).
Chains were also used to determine the radius of a curve, (VERY useful to early railway builders).
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Post by d7666 on Jul 2, 2023 16:26:31 GMT
I've never heard/seen anyone quote a distance in miles and chains. Incredibly rarely, miles and yards, but almost invariably miles + a fraction of miles, or a decimal point representation. Have you never looked at the main line Sectional Appendix ? miles and chains are the base distance units used by Network Rail for everything along a line of route !!! I plan to write a blog about a jounrey I made while visiting the UK, using three different units (km, mi, mi + ch). In this day and age of blogging, is there really any benefit of mentioning the third unit i.e. miles + chains? miles and chains are the official Network Rail route measurement units. Depends what level of precision you want. A chain is 1/80 mile = 22 yd = ~20.1 metre. Given that GB main line carriages are in the 20/23/26 m range, LU a bit less, you need care in resolving the distance you travel to something that approximates to one carriage length as you introduce distance travelled errors by walking through and changing cars en route.  |
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Post by stapler on Jul 3, 2023 6:30:17 GMT
I always thought it was silly of LT, in the days of Harold Wilson metrication madness, to adopt Km, especially measured from 0.0 at tyhe Ongar buffer-stops!
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Post by tjw on Jul 3, 2023 7:59:27 GMT
Miles, chains and links are surveyors measure (100 links one chain)
Furlongs, poles (rod, perch) acre etc. are for farmers...
In this day and age we all have a pocket device to convert any unit into one we can understand... so I would just give miles + fraction down to the ¼.
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jul 3, 2023 8:17:48 GMT
I've never heard/seen anyone quote a distance in miles and chains. Incredibly rarely, miles and yards, but almost invariably miles + a fraction of miles, or a decimal point representation. Have you never looked at the main line Sectional Appendix ? Strangely, no.  |
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Post by zbang on Jul 3, 2023 18:01:11 GMT
Without going deep in the weeds, miles & chains were the land survey units used when the railways were build, to use anything leads to a lack of precision just where it's needed. Since surveyors often need to reference original documents, might as well use those units.
1 mile 27 chains 5 links = 1 mile 1785.29724 feet = ~~1.338125 miles = ~~2.15350344km
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Post by d7666 on Jul 3, 2023 22:50:43 GMT
lack of precision just where it's needed. 1 mile 27 chains 5 links = 1 mile 1785.29724 feet = ~~1.338125 miles = ~~2.15350344km And do you ask for 568.261 ml of ale ? Or milk ?  |
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jul 4, 2023 7:12:31 GMT
lack of precision just where it's needed. 1 mile 27 chains 5 links = 1 mile 1785.29724 feet = ~~1.338125 miles = ~~2.15350344km And do you ask for 568.261 ml of ale ? Or milk ? Is that why I keep getting funny looks down the pub? |
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Post by brigham on Jul 4, 2023 7:29:30 GMT
I always thought it was silly of LT, in the days of Harold Wilson metrication madness, to adopt Km, especially measured from 0.0 at tyhe Ongar buffer-stops! I remember this crazy time. It was generally put out that anything British was 'wrong', and needed to be changed. There was even a covert plan for driving on the wrong side of the road! |
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Post by 35b on Jul 4, 2023 14:06:53 GMT
I always thought it was silly of LT, in the days of Harold Wilson metrication madness, to adopt Km, especially measured from 0.0 at tyhe Ongar buffer-stops! I’ve seen official distances for DLR in km to 5 decimal places - or, in common parlance, millimetres! |
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Post by xplaistow on Jul 4, 2023 14:13:36 GMT
Did you mean centimetres? Because 5 decimal places for km is cm, not mm.
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Post by zbang on Jul 5, 2023 22:53:42 GMT
And do you ask for 568.261 ml of ale ? Or milk ? Of course not -- Pubs usually serve pints and that's what I ask for. It matters not if it's an 20oz imperial pint, a 16 oz US pint, or 500ml; I'm not going to argue with the size as long as we all get the same and mine isn't half foam. Milk is sold in 500ml/1l containers, so that's what I get (rounding the package size and marking it on the package is perfectly fine).
Neither is relevant to land-based measurements made 150 years ago and where exactness is still important. (I will mention in passing that modern survey instruments are more accurate than actual chains, and that survey techniques have changed a bit over the years... go to Greenwich and you'll find multiple Prime Meridians, the position moved as techniques evolved. It's fascinating stuff.)
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Jul 7, 2023 3:42:55 GMT
Which reminds me of helping with the real ale bar on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway about 15 years ago. It was easy to make all beer the same price. One year it was £2, easy to deal with, next year, £2.10, relatively easy to deal with, the following year £2.20 a pint. Very easy for the track engineers to deal with. As for the rest of us, how many people could memorise their 22 times table?
How much was a round of 10 pints? That'll be one furlong please.
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Post by d7666 on Jul 7, 2023 16:02:18 GMT
, how many people could memorise their 22 times table? Is that a problem ? The way I was taught, that was simply twice the 11 times table, and we learnt by rote tables from 1x1 to 12x12. Or is it these days they only do metric tables so only get to 10x10 without 11s and 12s ? Or even tables at all ? *** I am sure there must be some pressure group finding harm to the little darlings from learning such things who most then seem to go on to be employed at supermarket checkouts IME. I digress, second time today, guilty, arranging passage to Botany Bay now. *** I once had to explain to someone a slide rule is not an aid to extend a drawing ruler. I kid you not. |
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Post by brigham on Jul 7, 2023 17:49:05 GMT
When money went up in twelves and twenties, everyone could count money.
Now that it goes up in tens, everyone needs a calculator!
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on Jul 8, 2023 11:22:41 GMT
A former partner worked in road design. Everything was done in Metric, but the distances along the road was referred to as "chainage" eg "the structure is located at chainage 45.65km".
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Post by d7666 on Jul 8, 2023 21:55:30 GMT
A former partner worked in road design. Everything was done in Metric, but the distances along the road was referred to as "chainage" eg "the structure is located at chainage 45.65km". At least some surveyors do use chains (as in physical metal links) of 20 m . Instead of the traditional imperial surveyors chain 66 feet of 100 links that works out at ~201 mm per link, it is simply 20 m of 100 links at 200 mm per link. Hence the term chainage remains in use. |
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Post by jimbo on Jul 15, 2023 8:05:06 GMT
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