General Discussion (Model Railroader)

I hope this is not against the forum fules. Here is a video of a tanker car imploding. I assume it is real and from a vacumn situation. Does anyone know what, where, why they did this?

http://www.break.com/index/tanker-implodes.html

Brian.

As many people as there were watching it, it has to have been deliberately staged, and is somewhere in Europe. 

The video has also been posted in the Trains Magazine forum under the title, Tank Car Collapse.

Here's some shots courtesy of csx-sucks.com.

http://www.csx-sucks.com/pictures/?vac1.jpg

http://www.csx-sucks.com/pictures/?vac2.jpg 

According to them, when they steam clean a tank car, they have to keep the valves open. They closed them, steam condensed, created a vacuum, and WHALLA!! Instant scrap metal.

Most of the time, it is done to old tank cars for demo purposes on the importance of tank car safety,

Phil 

jeffrey-wimberly wrote:

Yes, it is real. This actually happens. You can do the same thing with a rectangular can like the type paint thinner comes in. Put a little water in the can and boil it. Now screw the lid on and let the can cool. As the steam condenses to water the pressure inside the can drops and air pressure outside causes the can to collapse.  Amazing what 14.7 PSI can do.

Sounds like you did that for your science class project too.

Here's a real incident. I took the photo a few years ago. Haz-mat crews had just emptied the car. It had been in a moving train of entirely tank cars with petroleum products. Evidently, a modern tank car is constructed well enough to not cause a possible major derailment when this happens.

Here is another example. I suspect the company who received the car did the cleaning and capped the tank before it cooled off.

http://www.delta.edu/slime/cancrush.html

Rich 

Very simple explanation for why this happens (not how it happens)......

quitting time on friday is 4 pm,

it is friday,

boss says this tank needs cleaned today,

it takes at least 1 hour to clean it,

it is now 3:30 pm,

you and Bubba spend 20 seconds contemplating which shortcuts you can take to knock a few minutes off,

you and Bubba figure if you keep it sealed it will get hotter quicker (and therefore cleaner quicker),

You and Bubba decide NOT to open any venting valves until you are almost done,

while cleaning you and Bubba begin discussing the plans for the weekend,

Bubba is gonna drink alot of beer,

you are gonna drink alot of beer,

you both agree that you both will drink alot of beer,

Bubba says "Its 3:55! 5 minutes til quitting time",

Both you and Bubba figure the other opened the vents,

Bubba and you get all the stuff put away and make a mad rush to the time clock,

You and Bubba punch out at EXACTLY 4:01 PM,

on the way to the parking lot you both hear metal making sounds it ain't supposed to make,

Neither of you think anything about it,

the boss comes running up screaming "you guys destroyed that tank car"

Bubba says "It ain't us boss!, we was way out here!"

moral of the story-

NEVER EXPECT QUALITY ON A RUSH JOB ON FRIDAYS!