Anyone see a problem here

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FreightTrain

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 28, 2009

Neiladin said:
It seems fairly obvious...unless you're asking the cause...

Was there an earthquake?

Or is it just incompetence?

Take a guess what causes something like that.

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mstng86

· #4 · Aug 28, 2009

no se. earthquake, or asian engineering taking over the railroads?

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Avery'sDad

· #5 · Aug 28, 2009

Heat rising causing a distorted view?

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Nate

· #6 · Aug 28, 2009

Union guys laid the track? jk.

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openroadracer3

· #7 · Aug 28, 2009

my guess is it's movement in a faultline.

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FreightTrain

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 28, 2009

mstng86 said:
no se. earthquake, or asian engineering taking over the railroads?

Nope. Actually what causes that is day time heating. On the railroad that is known as a sun kink and that one happend out near Del Rio the other day. The rail will expand and contract with the heating and cooling of the day. A 1000ft section of rail can expand over a foot when it gets hot. For the past 3 decades railroads have been converting over to what is called ribbon rail. Basicly its a piece of rail that comes out of the factory a 1/4 mile long. They then take these 1/4 mile sections and weld them together out in the field. So you can end up with sections of rail that stretch for hundreds of miles without a single joint. They do this because they claim its less wear on the steel wheels because they aren't going over any joints, but the joints this new technology replaced is what kept this from happening in the old days.

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mstng86

· #9 · Aug 28, 2009

yup asian engineering..j/k

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slowandold

· #10 · Aug 28, 2009

Very interesting!

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stunter bob

· #11 · Aug 28, 2009

Weeble Wobble!

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Justa4banger

· #12 · Aug 28, 2009

I bet that track on a high speed train would get the occupants attention...

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Muffrazr

· #13 · Aug 28, 2009

FreightTrain said:
Nope. Actually what causes that is day time heating. On the railroad that is known as a sun kink and that one happend out near Del Rio the other day. The rail will expand and contract with the heating and cooling of the day. A 1000ft section of rail can expand over a foot when it gets hot. For the past 3 decades railroads have been converting over to what is called ribbon rail. Basicly its a piece of rail that comes out of the factory a 1/4 mile long. They then take these 1/4 mile sections and weld them together out in the field. So you can end up with sections of rail that stretch for hundreds of miles without a single joint. They do this because they claim its less wear on the steel wheels because they aren't going over any joints, but the joints this new technology replaced is what kept this from happening in the old days.

Did the engineers forget about physics? Did they forget that the wheels are designed to be replaced?

Let's see. Is it more economically feasible to have a rail car down for a day or two, or to have an entire rail down for however long it takes to replace a section?

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Baron

· #14 · Aug 28, 2009

that is nuts!

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FreightTrain

Discussion Starter · #15 · Aug 28, 2009

Muffrazr said:
Did the engineers forget about physics? Did they forget that the wheels are designed to be replaced?

Let's see. Is it more economically feasible to have a rail car down for a day or two, or to have an entire rail down for however long it takes to replace a section?

I use to think like you, but if I still thought that way I'd have an ulcer or I'd be dead from a heart attack. Sound logic and physics have been tossed aside for the past 40 years on the Nation's Railroads. It all started when they began hiring folks right out of college to manage the railroad instead of promoting guys that knew what the hell they were doing. I can't count how many times I've seen managment spend hundreds of millions of dollars just to prove a point. The best thing is they will never admit when they are wrong. They just keep throwing money at problams hoping that eventually the pile of cash will cover the problem up.

You want to know the best part about that first picture. The railroads quick fix was they cut out about 40 feet of track and welded the two ends back together. I'm no rocket scientist, but doesn't physics tell you that if metal expands when it gets hot it shrinks when it cools. I sure wouldn't want to be the poor bastard thats running on that section of track this winter when there is a 40 foot gap without any track.

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Neiladin

· #16 · Aug 28, 2009

Muffrazr said:
Did the engineers forget about physics? Did they forget that the wheels are designed to be replaced?

Let's see. Is it more economically feasible to have a rail car down for a day or two, or to have an entire rail down for however long it takes to replace a section?

Good points, all.

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FoMoCoFiddy

· #17 · Aug 28, 2009

Have you ever seen the welding done? One of the coolest things ive ever been witness of.

My steppops is the head honcho over the electrical side of the growing DART rail, he works for MEC. Mass Electric.

I was out there once, when they were doing it at night (obviously plenty of lighting ) but also for the cooler temperatures.

Very cool to see them cadwelding this stuff.

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one slow 5.0

· #18 · Aug 28, 2009

Muffrazr said:
Did the engineers forget about physics? Did they forget that the wheels are designed to be replaced?

Let's see. Is it more economically feasible to have a rail car down for a day or two, or to have an entire rail down for however long it takes to replace a section?

You do realize that when engineers go to college they come out some of the dumbest people in the world. Well hell it worked on paper I dont know what happend!

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