BS :wrong kind of heat

Subject: BS:wrong kind of heat
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 11:49 AM

Remember in physics they used to explain why metal expansion caused them to leave those gaps in the rails, which made the nice clickety-click noise. So it was kind of confusing when they started using long lengths, and the noises didnt happen any more. "But you told us there had to be gaps" we complained."No,we've abolished all that" they said.
Well,according to the news today, we were right and they were wrong. It's got hot, and all the rails are buckling. Ha Ha!

Subject: RE: BS:wrong kind of heat
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 11:59 AM

The title looked promising. I know that in Cologne people always moan about the weather. When it gets warm the humidity goes up. So they moan that we have "the wrong sort of heat". Me, I'm just glad to have the sun shining at all. There have been plenty of summers when it didn't. Anyway, I hope that the heat costs a fortune to the thieving bastards who stole British Rail. Couldn't happen to a better bunch of people!

Subject: RE: BS:wrong kind of heat
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 01:44 PM

Unfortunately it will be the passengers not them who end up paying!

Subject: RE: BS:wrong kind of heat
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 07:03 PM

Are we talking about rail road tracks? This was beginning to sound like the rhyme with the question "can you spell that without any Rs," or in this case, can you describe the problem without telling us what it's about!

Some great songs and poems have been generated by people riding the rails, building that beat into the words or melody. A very popular chidren's book called Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was written on the line running down the Hudson River Valley into New York City. Bill Martin has gotten rich off of that book.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: Don Firth
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 07:20 PM

"Hot flash?" she said. "No. That's my inner child playing with matches."

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 08:07 PM

Yes SRS, Railroad tracks.

I think Greg Stephens title, "wrong kind of heat" is about an earlier time when the railways here blamed problems on something like "the wrong kind of snow".

Apart from knowing metal expands and contracts, I don't understand this one in as much as other countries have greater changes in temperatures over a year and do not seem to suffer this problem. How is track laid in the US for example where parts of it as normal will experience both colder winters and hotter summers than the UK?

BTW, I've yet to read any reports of track buckling. As far as I'm aware, train speeds have been reduced as a safety precaution.

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: Noreen
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 09:06 PM

Apparently, other countries relay the track seasonally to prepare for extreme conditions. We never expect to have sunshine- or snow.... so everything grinds to a halt when we do.

They stretch the rails before laying here, greg, which they didn't used to do, and this is supposed to allow for expansion. Obviously not enough.

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 12:20 AM

Good question, and one I asked a railroad man fifteen years.

Yes, metal expands - and that WAS the reason for the gaps - and the clickety, clickety, clack, clack when riding the rails, and cooling period when firing Krupps Cannons

HOWEVER,

The modern railway is able to save the pounding on the cars and cargos by laying continuous, welded-steel rails. WHY? HOW?

The expansion of the steel has been controled, all lengthwise, contraction and expansion has been modified into WIDTH, which has little inpact upon carrage, or curves, and requires no expansion spacers.

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: greg stephens
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 06:40 AM

Gargoyle, your explanation, that the expansion has somehow been controlled or diverted into a widthways expansion which doesnt cause a problem seems a bit incomprehensible to me.I dont see how you could make a bit of metal expand sidewsys but not lengthways(not that I'm any knd of metallurgist).
   There is another explanation in the papers today.It says the new=style long rails were of a different kind of steel, and were somehow"set" or "solidified" or whatever at an appropriate temperature that was average for the expected climtic conditions.The result being that they would only contract a little bit in extreme cold, and only expand a little bit in a heat wave. I can sort of understand that, except that temperature extremes in Germany and France(with their more continental climate) are wider than in England. Yet these wily foreigners dont seem to be having the same problem. Maybe they use a different kind of steel?
    Anyway, it's all quite amusing, and to the old favourites of the wrong kind of snow and the wrong kind of leaves, we can now add heat as the thing that catches us unawares.
    And to digress, to the "wrong kind of leaves". It's a funny thing, but if you're boating, leaves can stick to the propellor and form a great mass which slows you down. You'ld think they'd fly away from a moving prop, but surprisingly thet are drwan towards it. And the inriguing thing is, oak leaves are the worst offenders(I have oftten observed this). I presume it is because the scalloped edges make them more able to interlock and form the solid mass that coats the prop. Interesting, huh?
   (this has already been mentioned above): just to expain to non-British readers: the reason I called this thread the "wrong kind of heat" is that many years ago bad winter weather caued train delays, and a luckless British Rail spokesman blamed the delays on the "wrong kind of snow". This has resulted in derision for the railways ever since, and any reason for delay is lampooned by variants of the "wrong kind of" phrase.I got in first yesterday, but a glance at today's English newspapers shows all the articles deploying phrases like "wrong kind of heat" or "wrong kind of summer". It has become an ongoing folk-joke.

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 08:13 AM

This is probably complete BS but maybe GG's width bit goes along with Noreens idea of stretching the steel.

Steel is elastic up to a point. Presumably when it is stretched, it's width would narrow. Maybe when the stretched steel expands, rather than gain length, it reduces the tension caused by the stretching and widens slightly in the process?

As I said before, probably BS.

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: greg stephens
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 08:15 AM

That sounds quite convincing. You mean they stretch it while it's hot, so it sets with that tension built in? Doesnt explain why it works in Germany better than in England, though.

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: harvey andrews
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 09:35 AM

Having made over twenty tours out there I can say just about everything works better, Greg

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: greg stephens
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 09:40 AM

Sausages, schnitzels, sauerkraut, clean streets and Franconian white wine I'll grant you, Harvey. I think we do better on cathedrals, fiddle tunes, and scenery changing quicker as you drive around. The jury's out on beer, I'm still researching this.

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 11:16 AM

I don't know greg, I was wondering even if they could even stretch the steel cold...

As for the drift and the beer, I don't know. I haven't sampled much German beer and I'm quite happy with my local beer. Woodfordes brew few nice ones as do Wolf, etc. and of course Adnams brewery in the county below me...

Subject: RE: BS :wrong kind of heat
From: Gareth
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 03:25 PM

For what it is worth, here is the BBC's explanation

Hmmm!!! 60 MPH restrictions on the West Coast Main Line. Time to bring the Princes/Coronation locomotives out of retirement.

Gareth