This attempt at grade crossing protection is doomed to fail.
http://www.odometer.com/lifestyle/9137/23-road-construction-fails-completely-lacking-common-sense?utm_source=fbk&utm_campaign=9137-fde-15051811&utm_medium=referral&pid=null#slide/14
Thank goodness I didn't have my morning coffee to my lips when that page loaded.
At least they didn't park the truck on the tracks.
I have heard that it was intended as a spoof.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
This has been circulating for WAY too long.
The line was closed for maintenance so the fire department took the opportunity to troll the world. And that they did.
It only takes a few seconds to do a search to see if these things are legit or not.
10000 feet and no dynamics? Today is going to be a good day ...
This picture may have been a spoof (some people are way too gullible) but in a history of Chicago Surface Lines, there is a picture of different types of firehose bridges for rubber-tired vehicles or streetcars.
CSSHEGEWISCHThis picture may have been a spoof (some people are way too gullible) but in a history of Chicago Surface Lines, there is a picture of different types of firehose bridges for rubber-tired vehicles or streetcars.
Here's a description with illustrations of one. When I was about 5 years old and saw one of these things in a picture I wondered how a real train would get over such a thing, and actually figured out a kind of solution: use multiple parallel pipes of small diameter, with an aggregate hydraulic resistance equal to or lower than firehose lines, and weld them together so that the actual 'rise' to the center of the bridge was not more than a couple of inches, "railhead" and all. A flow-smoothed manifold like a 4-into-1 header collector on either side, to a standard firehose connection, voila!
Then provide multisection approach and departure rail sections in manganese steel, with inside flanges and strong crossbars and connections, to give acceptable approach and departure angles for whatever power you expect to encounter (or the 'grounding' height for low equipment like well cars, although we didn't have them yet by then, dates me I know). Not as light as the trolley solution by any means ... but to a five-year-old, it could work!
Canadians had a more interesting solution just after WW1. This involved putting a socket next to the track near each hydrant, and providing a vertical pole arrangement with a piece of pipe across the tracks above the line of a cat or trolley wire. This hinged down to the ground, where firehose would be attached to both ends of the pipe and the arrangement winched up to vertical with a rope tow and then locked, the hoses hanging down on either side. Not that difficult in principle to extending the idea to clear stack consists.
In practice, I'd think the leverage would tilt the sockets right up out of the road, or start bending stuff. But it remains an interesting idea to implement ... if not as capable of generating amusing memes. (I am sure, for instance, that somewhere there is a spoof of one of those inspirational posters that has this image on it...)
There are pictures online of the SLSTA crew filling the tender of 1522 with a firehose. In one, the firehydrant was on the other side of a parallel track, so they dug a bit of ballast out from between the ties and under the rail and passed the hose through the gap, under the tracks. They got their water, and rail traffic on the parallel track was not impeded. Problem solved.
Wish I could find it....
Digging out the ballast has been done numerous times. One problem with that is the size of the supply hose we use these days. While 2.5" and 3" are still in use, many fire departments now use 4" and 5" hose for supply. The 5" can supply 1000 gallons of water per minute for a good distance before the pressure has to be boosted by another pumper.
Sometimes a culvert provides a better (if less direct) solution, as long as the hose can be gotten through it.
The immediate solution is to simply call the railroad and shut traffic down. If the incident will be going on for a while, other solutions, like digging out ballast, can be employed.
Victrola1 This attempt at grade crossing protection is doomed to fail. http://www.odometer.com/lifestyle/9137/23-road-construction-fails-completely-lacking-common-sense?utm_source=fbk&utm_campaign=9137-fde-15051811&utm_medium=referral&pid=null#slide/14
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy Siding Victrola1 This attempt at grade crossing protection is doomed to fail. http://www.odometer.com/lifestyle/9137/23-road-construction-fails-completely-lacking-common-sense?utm_source=fbk&utm_campaign=9137-fde-15051811&utm_medium=referral&pid=null#slide/14 Heck- even I can see the darned thing wouldn't work. Unless the train was moving at a crawl, the set-up shown would act as a ramp. The train would launch like Evil Knevil on a motorcycle. Who can predict if the train would land correctly to align the flanges between the rails?
Heck- even I can see the darned thing wouldn't work. Unless the train was moving at a crawl, the set-up shown would act as a ramp. The train would launch like Evil Knevil on a motorcycle. Who can predict if the train would land correctly to align the flanges between the rails?
Does not appear to be constructed of 'substansial' materials - railroad wheel and flange would slice through these 'ramps' like a knife through butter.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
IF this was real and the train cam through the hose would have been cut in tinot three pieces and there would be water shooting everywhere.
Having been on a work train when we cut the fire department hoses outside Richmond, CA, I know what would have happened.
If they would have only put down the ramps ...
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