When you're trying to develop cutting-edge technology, going round and round in circles is usually a bad thing.
But it proved just the ticket for one Norfolk engineering firm, which coupled up with Eaton Park's miniature railway to conduct tests on a new piece of kit.
The unlikely partnership came about as offshore specialists Thurn Group looked for somewhere to test navigation systems to use with its new sonar technology, used to survey seabeds.
General manager Tom Hiller needed to compare readings from three systems by sending them on the same journey time and time again – and hit upon the idea of using the miniature railway owned by Norwich and District Society of Model Engineers (NDSME).
The society agreed in return for a donation to the Friends of Eaton Park, and the tests took place on Tuesday.
Mark Rhodes, NDSME publicity officer, said it was the first time the organisation had received such a request but they were pleased to be able to help.
'They are a local business and I think we should be supporting local businesses, so it was a case of mutual backscratching,' he said. 'It's an interesting contrast between our technology, which is essentially the technology of 200 years ago, and helping to fill in the gaps in the knowledge about their modern technology,' he said.
Mr Hiller said the kilometre-long track had proved the ideal test-bed for the three systems, each of which was worth more than $30,000 and gives precise location readings to within a few centimetres.
'The NDSME railway was perfect for the tests: we put the [navigation system] on an open carriage and recorded the position as we went around and around the track. The train follows exactly the same track every time, so any errors in position between each pass are easy to see.'
However, Thurn Group, based in Acle, will need to wait before they can crunch the numbers, as the navigation systems take their readings from moving GPS satellites – and their position is not revealed until several days later.
Norwich and District Society of Model Engineers has more than 100 members, whose interests range from model and miniature railways to clock-making, traction engines and model boats.
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