The high temperature in Needles, CA, is projected to be 122°F today.
This is on BNSF's Southern Transcon.
So, what effect does such high heat have on railroad operations?
The primary effect is that sometimes they run trains more slowly to reduce the dynamic stress on the track during the hottest part of the day. What temperature triggers the speed restrictions will vary with the locale, depending on what was chosen as the "neutral" laying temperature (the compromise between heat in summer and cold in winter). That's with welded rail, which is by now becoming almost universal on main lines. It will also depend on the quality of the ballast holding the track in place, and probably whether the ties are concrete or wood.
In Canada certain branch lines will not operate during the middle part of a hot summer day, and that may also be the case in the USA. Although they use jointed rail, the joints may not be as free to expand and contract as they were in the glory days when the section crew would oil them a couple of times a years. Add in gravel ballast instead of interlocking rock, and a smaller ballast section too and they can be as susceptible to heat kinks as the CWR on the main line.
John
On NYCT all cars are air conditioned, but... Older cars are moved to the out door lines in the summer so that their air conditioning will not have to work so hard, and the newer cars are moved to lines that stay in the tunnels for most of their run. So at the moment the R-32 cars are moving to the J and the Z lines, while the R-160s are moving to the A and the C.
In the winter they will switch them back again. (The newer cars are better insulated to fight the cold). They try to keep cars of one type all together so that a particular shop will not have to carry parts for all of the different cars.
The R-32s joined the railroad in 1965 which makes them 48 years old. If they treat the old ladies well they will keep on running., for they are made of stainless steel, and Budd did a good job on these. The slightly older R-27s and R-30s are long gone from the property. They were Carbon Steel, and when it came time to refit them with air conditioning, they were just too heavy. They were scrapped LONG before their time. Their IRT counterparts, the R-33s were all in service until just about five years ago, when they were replaced with the R-142s.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Yeah, its a shame, the R27, R30 and "SMEE" cars were some of the best looking subway cars...
Was in New York this spring, the R32s are looking quite tired, scuffed, dirty, and scratched, but they were a joy to ride. Caught them on a Downtown C service from Grand Central.
When the heat is this high, are diesel locomotives affected, besides dynamic brake efficiency?
From somebody familiar with Needles, Bagdad, Siberia, Ash Hill and that neighborhood:
(1) the rail is watched carefully above neutral rail temp. (already higher than most places)
(2) Locomotives find new and inventive ways to overheat (and sometimes burn)
(3) Mechanical reefers of all kinds fail
(4) Normal maintenance work comes to a standstill (still too hot to work for long, unless it's an emergency)
(5) endposts in insulated joints fail faster, rail & joint pressures greater
(6) asphalt at road crossings are gloppy messes, plastic anything deforms
....and the fears with late day storms multiply (flash floods / cloudbursts like nowhere else I've ever been)
NorthWestYeah, its a shame, the R27, R30 and "SMEE" cars were some of the best looking subway cars.
In 1966 I rode the almost new R-30 on the (RR) train to Whitehall Street, from there the NAVY sent me to Vietnam via boot camp at Great Lakes.
One of the toughest rail environments in the world! Are there special procedures locomotive crews go through when it is this hot?
Stay safe!
Lion, they were green then, right? Oh, what it would've been like to be there..
Thank you very much for your service!
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