alphasI had a fire chief in the suburban area around Pittsburgh tell me some years ago that piping with fire hose fittings on each end was permanently placed underneath the tracks in several key industrail locations in his area. Apparently, the hydrants on the other side of the tracks were on a different system with very low GPM capacity, so this enabled the firefighters to use a very high GPM system.
When I was a kid in the early 1950's living in Pittsburgh one of the TV stations in introduction to their 6 PM new cast had a film clip of a B&O passenger train operating along the river and severing six or seven fire hoses that had been laid across the track with, with a great explosion of water.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
tree68 Overmod This makes me wonder on Euclid's behalf whether special troughs between ties could be installed, ready to be easily swept out to fit a firehose at future need... Given the number of times that I can recall the need to lay hose across tracks in my area, it would be a waste of time. As MC points out, a simple phone call will stop the trains, at least for a while.
Overmod This makes me wonder on Euclid's behalf whether special troughs between ties could be installed, ready to be easily swept out to fit a firehose at future need...
Given the number of times that I can recall the need to lay hose across tracks in my area, it would be a waste of time. As MC points out, a simple phone call will stop the trains, at least for a while.
And I'd be tempted to look for nearby culverts before I'd go to the trouble of digging out between ties...
In any case the 'digging' would be no more than clearing and sweeping the channel enough to get the hose through without puncture.
A post in another thread, about girder rail alternatives, raises the possibility that this could be a metal channel actually spiked transversely to the adjacent ties, which would offer a bit more 'usable channel area' than the precast concrete I was imagining.
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Overmod tree68 Overmod This makes me wonder on Euclid's behalf whether special troughs between ties could be installed, ready to be easily swept out to fit a firehose at future need... Given the number of times that I can recall the need to lay hose across tracks in my area, it would be a waste of time. As MC points out, a simple phone call will stop the trains, at least for a while. Ah, but Balt has already alluded to the problem there: a simple phone call to whom? Even running to the nearest crossing and calling the number on the 'blue plate' will not help if you, in your haste, ignored the crossing of the other parallel railroad a few yards away... And I'd be tempted to look for nearby culverts before I'd go to the trouble of digging out between ties... What I was suggesting is a 'pre-dug' channel laid between two adjacent ties, with enough bending strength to hold the ties upright under load. You would put spacers in this during 'ballast regulation' and might want covers (with vents and drains, perhaps distinctively covered) in low-vandalism areas. In any case the 'digging' would be no more than clearing and sweeping the channel enough to get the hose through without puncture. A post in another thread, about girder rail alternatives, raises the possibility that this could be a metal channel actually spiked transversely to the adjacent ties, which would offer a bit more 'usable channel area' than the precast concrete I was imagining.
Ah, but Balt has already alluded to the problem there: a simple phone call to whom? Even running to the nearest crossing and calling the number on the 'blue plate' will not help if you, in your haste, ignored the crossing of the other parallel railroad a few yards away...
What I was suggesting is a 'pre-dug' channel laid between two adjacent ties, with enough bending strength to hold the ties upright under load. You would put spacers in this during 'ballast regulation' and might want covers (with vents and drains, perhaps distinctively covered) in low-vandalism areas.
Police and Fire Departments that don't know 'the lay of the land' in their territories of responsibility are a danger to themselves and those they have been formed to protect. Not knowing the contacts for the railroads in your territory is a cardinal sin.
BaltACD Not knowing the contacts for the railroads in your territory is a cardinal sin.
Our dispatch has those numbers on speed dial. I can just call them, and they'll make the call. That's important on the law enforcement side than on the fire side - malfunctioning crossing protection is much more common than fires adjacent to the tracks.
A problem in areas with a lot of small volunteer departments is relatively frequent turnover in the command ranks. We can hope that the knowledge gets passed along, but with any one department maybe getting one call a year involving the railroad, it's not necessarily high on anyone's list.
CSX passes through twelve fire districts in the county. The short line only touches one.
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...
tree68 BaltACD Not knowing the contacts for the railroads in your territory is a cardinal sin. Our dispatch has those numbers on speed dial. I can just call them, and they'll make the call. That's important on the law enforcement side than on the fire side - malfunctioning crossing protection is much more common than fires adjacent to the tracks. A problem in areas with a lot of small volunteer departments is relatively frequent turnover in the command ranks. We can hope that the knowledge gets passed along, but with any one department maybe getting one call a year involving the railroad, it's not necessarily high on anyone's list. CSX passes through twelve fire districts in the county. The short line only touches one.
So only one district has even the potential of notifying the wrong party. Responder mentions railroad - Bingo! Call Railroad(s).
I saw the same video several times in the "emergency operations" classes I attended back in my younger VFD days. If I remember correctly, it was cited as an example of where an Incident Command Officer gave an order to notify the RR but didn't check to make sure it had been it had been followed up.
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