Never too old to have a happy childhood!
They must have hired the Maume and Western MoW crews.
From the legend on the back of the yellow trolley, this is in an eastern European country. I noticed that the trolley wheels run in channels, and not on top of the rails. I wonder if the "mainline" tracks are in the same country.
Whoever owns the track must not have much in the way of resources for track maintenance.
Johnny
Speeding up the video and shooting with a very long lens doesn't do much to help.
Although there is some pretty bad track there.
I would imagine many logging lines were just as bad, back in the day.
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...
DeggestyI noticed that the trolley wheels run in channels, and not on top of the rails.
Those are normal girder rails intended for installation in pavement.
With track like that, who has need of a roller coaster ? (or any other amusement park ride)
The narrow gauge exacerbates the effect - a 1" dip in a 3' gauge is about equal to 1.57" in standard gauge track (4'-8-1/2" / 3.0'). I thought the train with the orange locomotive was about to fall over, if the engineer hadn't moved to the high side !
More seriously, this illustrates the resiliency of the flanged rail on steel rail and the flexibility of the trucks (wouldn't want to try this with a GE with the 'roller-skate' trucks); also the attentuating effect of a long wheelbase vehicle. The late tracks planner and railfan John Armstrong would have had a lot of fun with this. (Try running an auto over that and you'd bump your head against the side window and roof !)
- Paul North.
P.S. Compare with the 'roadability ' of the M1A2 Abrams tank at 5:20 to 5:35 of 7:00 in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1oXoHUqlNg
Paul_D_North_JrP.S. Compare with the 'roadability ' of the M1A2 Abrams tank at 5:20 to 5:35 of 7:00 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1oXoHUqlNg
Yes, but look at the rebound on a couple of the idler suspensions; and more particularly, look at the effects of weight transfer a few seconds later during the crash-stop demonstrations. If those wheels depended on typical-size rail-wheel flanges (let alone worn or sharp ones with hollow tread!), and you had the typical trackwork in the 'dancing train' videos, things would not be so likely to go well... I would like to see the effect of a combination hard stop and 'slue' to one side on M1A2 track retention...
I recall a stretch of state highway that we used to go over on the way to an uncle's house in the early 70's that was easily as bad as that track. Top speed in a car was about 40 mph. Anything faster, and the car would buck all over the place and you couldn't steer.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
And people pay lotsa $ to ride these rides @ the fair....
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Murphy Siding I recall a stretch of state highway that we used to go over on the way to an uncle's house in the early 70's that was easily as bad as that track. Top speed in a car was about 40 mph. Anything faster, and the car would buck all over the place and you couldn't steer.
A lot of I-20 in MS was like that in the early 80's. There is a layer of clay under a big portion of the state (Yazoo clay) that expands when wet and contracts when dry, and breaks up the concrete. There was always repair work going on.
The soldier talking about it claimed it come to a complete stop from 30 MPH in 10 FEET. I don't know how fast it was moving in the crash stop demo in the video, but it took a LOT more than 10 FEET to stop.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
SALfanA lot of I-20 in MS was like that in the early 80's. There is a layer of clay under a big portion of the state (Yazoo clay) that expands when wet and contracts when dry, and breaks up the concrete.
The problem with !-20 over into Louisiana was worse. The subgrade, whatever it was, would allow the slabs to twist (without breaking) relative to each other. The leading edge of the slab would get a bit low and truck tires would hammer down on it, preferentially lowering it even more. What you then got was a series of short inclined ramps, needing power to 'drive up' just as a grade would, followed by sharp drops off the high end onto the low side of the following one... mile after mile after mile. And no cost-effective way to jack it, grind things level, or even pave or veneer to produce a flat surface on the tilted slabs. This is a little bit like the mechanism producing low rail joints, but it's as if only the piece of the following rail were worn down and the ties under it pumping, and the rail were rigid in vertical deflection...
I remember watching work on I-40 in the late '90s where the whole width of the roadway, all the slabs and reinforcement down to the subgrade, was being hammered to pieces and removed whole. This was likely to be similar.
Supposedly the reinforcement has been carried between slabs in the replacement so the rotation of edges is tied. I have not driven I-20 west of Birmingham in over 25 years so I really have no idea how the situation was fixed.
challenger3980The soldier talking about it claimed it come to a complete stop from 30 MPH in 10 FEET. I don't know how fast it was moving in the crash stop demo in the video, but it took a LOT more than 10 FEET to stop.
You are looking at a test on smooth pavement with the road treads installed, so the stopping distance is related to the coefficient of melting rubber on concrete. The "crash stop" occurs with sharp grousers on appropriate ground, capable of absorbing the (considerable!) kinetic energy or coupling it into something that converts forward momentum into vertical forces, and there it can be VERY short indeed.
I thought I knew what rough riding was like until I was given my first crossing of a rocky river, at speed, in an 88 Land Rover. As soon as you exceed the travel of the bump stops and compress the tires, with at least a foot worth of compliance yet to go, you will find out just how fast a momentary acceleration can be.
Where is the Octopod when we need it?
I drove I-55 on the completed section south of Jackson, Mississippi from 1962 to 1965. It also had the ups and downs. I do not remember going over them when I drove from Louisiana to Canton in 2003. Perhaps a fix found had been and applied.
DeggestyI drove I-55 on the completed section south of Jackson, Mississippi from 1962 to 1965. It also had the ups and downs. I do not remember going over them when I drove from Louisiana to Canton in 2003. Perhaps a fix found had been and applied.
I-80 in the Pocono's in the late 80's. Towed up to Pocono Raceway and the rough ride broke 3 of 4 tie downs on the race car. Doubled up on the tie downs for the trip home.
SALfanA lot of I-20 in MS was like that in the early 80's. There is a layer of clay under a big portion of the state (Yazoo clay) that expands when wet and contracts when dry, and breaks up the concrete. There was always repair work going on.
Ah, Yazoo clay. Back in the late '60's I was riding with a local to Yazoo City from Jackson, and he pointed out a section of highway that had slid down hill to one side. They just paved a straight section to bypass it, and you could see the old pavement about 30 or 40 feet down the hill. By the way, I think there is something in the water in the Yazoo City area. Those were the freindliest people I've ever met.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Deggesty I drove I-55 on the completed section south of Jackson, Mississippi from 1962 to 1965. It also had the ups and downs. I do not remember going over them when I drove from Louisiana to Canton in 2003. Perhaps a fix found had been and applied.
I've driven that stretch many times and I remember that wavy stretch south of Jackson, but I think the worst problem area is I-10 in Louisiana for about 3 or 4 miles west of the Mississippi border. The usual way to build a highway down here is to dredge a canal, then pump sand into it, let it settle for several months, then build the highway. I've been told that they experimented with letting the highway just float on the mud on this stretch, and every few years it turns into a serious roller coaster. I've frequently seen truck trailers parked on the shoulder with "broken backs." They just keep re-paving it every few years.
Paul of Covington SALfan A lot of I-20 in MS was like that in the early 80's. There is a layer of clay under a big portion of the state (Yazoo clay) that expands when wet and contracts when dry, and breaks up the concrete. There was always repair work going on. Ah, Yazoo clay. Back in the late '60's I was riding with a local to Yazoo City from Jackson, and he pointed out a section of highway that had slid down hill to one side. They just paved a straight section to bypass it, and you could see the old pavement about 30 or 40 feet down the hill. By the way, I think there is something in the water in the Yazoo City area. Those were the freindliest people I've ever met.
SALfan A lot of I-20 in MS was like that in the early 80's. There is a layer of clay under a big portion of the state (Yazoo clay) that expands when wet and contracts when dry, and breaks up the concrete. There was always repair work going on.
The Yazoo clay is so bad (at least in the Jackson - Yazoo City area) that there is a thriving industry called "mudjackers" who will come in and pump concrete (I assume) under building foundations when they settle unevenly due to fluctuations in the Yazoo clay underneath. It is not uncommon to see people watering their foundations in dry periods in an effort to avoid the clay contracting and breaking their foundations.
I worked in Yazoo City while in MS, and the folks there ARE very friendly, as were all the MS natives we met. By the way, you should sample the products of the Mississippi Cheese Straw Co. in Yazoo City - very tasty (don't have a financial interest in the company, just a satisfied customer).
In recent years a solution for building roads and railroads across swamps, silt and other similar "challenging" soft ground is to use blocks of expanded polystyrene as the foundation. Unlike soil, sand, crushed rock, etc. polystyrene has a significant tensile strength combined with a very low density, so it spreads loads well and is buoyant in waterlogged soil.
Caption for photo (screen grab) in original post: "That'll buff out."
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