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ACLTechnologyChilton 50th :: Chilton Computing 50th Anniversary
ACLTechnologyChilton 50th :: Chilton Computing 50th Anniversary
ACL ACD C&A INF CCD CISD Archives
Further reading

Overview
Event Brochure
Bicarregui
Taylor
Hopgood
Reid
Corney
Montanari
Ross
Britton
Fairhurst
Fairhurst video 1
Fairhurst video 2
Frey
Brereton
Big Data Brochure
Exhibition
Large photos used
Small photos used
Exhibit captions
Atlas Console
Davies
Attendees

Rediscovering the Atlas console

Toria Marshall

The Atlas Computer Laboratory next to what is now STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Chilton was built in the early 1960's to house the NIRNS (National Institute for Research into Nuclear Science) Atlas-1 computer. When Atlas was decommissioned in 1974 the console was put on display for many years in the building's Reception Area. At some point it was moved to the Exhibition Centre at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and was also displayed as part of Jack Howlett's memorial celebration in September 1999. Records do not indicate when it was moved to RAL's storage warehouse for safe-keeping, but it is thought that this happened either later that year or the next.

Do you remember the ending to the film "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"? The script describes a "Little Old Government Warehouseman" putting the Ark into a wooden crate. As the camera pulls back you see that this is one of the biggest rooms in the world, and it is full of identical wooden crates. (See the Screenplay). I'm not suggesting that RAL really is the location of a top-secret government warehouse of course, but in the intervening decade I have looked several times for the Atlas console and the red panels of the Cray X-MP that was supposed to be in storage as well. Each time I came away disappointed, so sadly assumed that they must have been disposed-of years ago.

In July 2014 we held an event to celebrate 50 years of computing at RAL. Less than two hours before the event started, the head of Logistics walked through the exhibition area on his way to a meeting. He asked what we were doing, then said:

"You should really have the Cray in here as well."

"Yes, but that was lost a decade ago."

"No - it's in our warehouse."

"The Cray? Red thing with seats round the edge? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Although it's not red any more, and there are no seats."

He was right.

We were unable to move the machine in time for the event, but we were able to announce that it had been found and had a couple of panels to prove it. We were later told that the seats/cooling system and processor boards were returned to Cray Inc. when the machine was decommissioned. Unfortunately, the red panels were packed-up for separate storage and have now been lost. (But we have said that before!)

Inspired by this find, I emailed an old photo of the Atlas console to the new manager of the warehouse and asked if he had something like that in storage. He was unsure, but his database contained an entry "Console" which was of the right vintage so we investigated further. The database described the location of the Console as "M2 B370". The warehouse manager pointed this out, and for a second I had no idea what he was looking at. However, if you bent down a bit then peered back up between two mountains of crates towards the top of the racking you could just about make out the edge of something metallic and grey, with a handle and buttons on the front.

We located a set of steps and, excitedly, I climbed up to get a better look. The Atlas console was there! After more than a decade, we had found it!

First sight of the console after more than a decade; picture taken on my phone while standing 2m up a ladder

First sight of the console after more than a decade; picture taken on my phone while standing 2m up a ladder
Full image ⇗
© UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council

The console arrives safe, if very dirty, in the workshop

The console arrives safe, if very dirty, in the workshop
Full image ⇗
© UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council

Now what?

The Atlas console was retrieved and moved to one of our workshops. Following advice from the Science Museum, it was cleaned-up and the electrical modifications made in 1999 checked. We are seeking funding for further research and restoration, and are lobbying for a dedicated museum area on site to house not just these, but other items of historical interest and significance from 60 years of multi-disciplinary science research.

Quite a number of people have been involved in the resurrection of the Atlas console. Most of them are considerably younger than it is. The console is very heavy; it took four men to lift it off the pallet. Some of the red and yellow plastic flip-switch end caps disintegrated in my fingers, but most survive. As you can see from the photo, the console had been stored immediately in front of a window in the warehouse, fortunately with its back to the light or the damage would have been extensive. The plastic button covers have yellowed as one would expect, and a few have been lost. One of the Apprentices took-on the job of making replacement button covers, and reverse-engineered a tool with which to extract the bulbs behind the buttons so that they too could be sourced and replaced. An Electrical Engineer has been studying the MoD-standard wiring as part of his HNC project this year, making the console electrically safe, and programming a PLC to control the lights to give the effect of it processing.

After several months of work, the Atlas console was finally put on display for the first time in 15 years at our "Atlas@50" event in November (reported elsewhere), alongside the skeleton of the Cray X-MP, the console of an IBM 360/195, and other memorabilia from the Atlas era.

Finished at last and ready for display

Finished at last and ready for display
Full image ⇗
© UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council
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