I think
Q-file was a Kleigl product, not
Strand, made by Thorn in UK.
And you would be correct. In 1973.
Strand was a British company. On your side of Donnie's walls, the amalgamation was called Century
Strand. On my side north of the walls the amalgamation was known as
Strand Century (Canada being one of the "colonies" at the time.)
When
Strand was pressured to provide full bore / cutting
edge (analog
wire per
dimmer) memory
console installations to Canada, the
desk, and its associated two or three 23" (Not 19") were basically a re-badged marriage of Thorn and
Strand bits 'n pieces with manuals labeled "IDM
Cue" (Instant
Dimmer Memory
Cue")
The 100 Six KW + 6
Non-Dim x 200-ish twenty Amp and 17 fifty Amp telco-style Hard patch was totally fabricated (Punch presses, bending brakes, welders and all) In
Strand Century's northern Toronto head office on Viscount
Road near Toronto's Malton airport.
In the basement: The 5 racks housing the 100 six Kw dimmers, along with a 7th rack housing the 20
house light dimmers and a 6th rack in between housing the 1,200 Amp 3 pole motorized main
breaker for the
stage lighting + the 400 Amp, non-motorized main
breaker for the
house lights.
The actual dimmers, both
stage and
house, were re-badged dimmers from the U.S. division; thus Century dimmers re-badged as Century
Strand while all of the metal work was totally custom fabricated and pre-wired in the same Century
Strand shop on Viscount
Road where the Hard-Patch was built.
Bottom Line: We're BOTH correct. I suspect
@Ron Foley could confirm all of the above, I believe Mr. Foley began his career with
Strand when he graduated from high-school and began working in Century
Strand's fabrication shop. When I was last
face to
face with Mf. Foley, he was commissioning and servicing Century
Strand installations from Ontario all the way east to Prince Edward Island and likely with Newfoundland tossed in for good measure.
To tie this back to my starting
point:
I believe there were only three installations of
Strand Century's IDM
Cue consoles in Canada; In some order:
The National Arts Centre in Ottawa, The Stratford Festival's main
stage in Stratford and Hamilton Place in Hamilton, Ontario.
In Hamilton's Hamilton Place, our four stories of
Lobby Dimmers were another custom fabricated black rack housing a
line of architectural dimmers which were nearly identical to a series of Green racks marketed with
stage lighting in mind. If you
whip me hard enough, I can probably name the model of the
stage series dimmers; there were at least three such racks in my immediate area.
More than you ever wanted to know about the history of
Strand on our side of Donnie's walls.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard