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Thread: Is This Only in Chicago?

  1. #1
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    Is This Only in Chicago?

    They have gas lines along the rails to make fires to keep the tracks warm is super cold weather.

    It is supposed to keep the tracks from cracking when they contract from a quick temp change.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #2
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    https://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-awe...n-w-1518853720

    One of the most important things a railroad can do is keep its switches functioning. If one important switch goes down, like the switches pictured here at the LIRR's Jamaica Station, it can shut the entire system down. Really. So when temperatures get really cold, railroads around the world resort to these gas-powered switch warmers to stop the cold and ice from shutting everything down.

    https://www.transitchicago.com/winterprep/

    •When temperatures drop and there's risk of freezing, track switch heaters are turned on to keep them from freezing
    Last edited by John Schtrumpf; 01-31-2019 at 6:36 AM.

  3. #3
    In Atlanta, the old Southern (now Norfolk and Southern) main line is next to Marta line between Linburgh Center and Five points' Even this far south they have switch heaters on the tracks.

  4. #4
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    In California Southern Pacific has let many of their snow sheds fall into disrepair and they have torn many of them out. Modern snow removal equipment has allowed them to go away.
    Bill D.

  5. #5
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    We have one snow every 20 years or so in Galveston County Texas. I did live in snow country as a boy.
    I lived in Kansas City when I was eleven. I had a Kansas City Kansan newspaper route. It was on a small mountain,
    and I would deliver in the snow, up one side, across the top, and down the other side.
    But, I was the only boy in the fifth grade that has money.
    In most cities, kids don't have paper routed any more and I think it is a shame.

  6. #6
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    Switch heaters are common in cold weather country. The vast majority are ran by propane. Natural gas is rarely available where they are located.The flame isn't visible on the ones we use. There is a blower and a duct to direct the heat where it needs to be. However when there is heavy snow fall the switches often have to be physically cleaned by hand to keep them operational. The bigger issue is ribbon rail contracts so much in those temperatures that there are "pull aparts". No matter what anchor method is used the rail moves enough to break rail and pull break bolts at insulated joints. Rail is laid to try to cover the temperature ranges it will be subjected to but with cold going so far below zero there are going to be mechanical failures. Think of it like the oil in your car. You have a chart that is related to the expected temperatures it will operate in. You try to run in the middle but it doesn't always work out. If you have to much rail then thermal misalignment is a danger. Which is worse than rail pulling apart. The track can kick sideways as much as 2 feet or more. You can imagine the result this would have.

  7. #7
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    The light rail locally has a switch in downtown Minneapolis that was constantly having problems. I suspect the heaters kept going out. Anyhow, they did a 10 day shutdown of the line downtown in 2017 or 2018 to do repairs. What they did was to simply remove all of the concrete and asphalt around the switch. They then put concrete barriers on both sides to keep people out of the open tracks.

  8. #8
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    Or you use a jet engine to blow and melt the snow at the same time. I kid you not.
    Bill D

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AgfPXH0I2I

  9. #9
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    We almost never use jets these days. Yes you can melt the snow out but that creates water which then refreezes and then is a bigger problem than the snow was. It's better to use high volume air to blow the snow away. This is usually on yard switches where it's not feasible to have switch heaters on them because there may literally be dozens and dozens of switches in a large yard. Main line switches with dispatcher control (CTC) usually are equipped with switch heaters in the regions that experience cold snowy weather.

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