Trackulence

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Greg_Lewis
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Trackulence

Post by Greg_Lewis »

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Builder01
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Re: Trackulence

Post by Builder01 »

Thumbs up!!
ccvstmr
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Re: Trackulence

Post by ccvstmr »

Well Greg,

In actuality, there is a bit of truth to the cartoon. Trains rounding sharp curves or traveling downgrade are applying brakes. That force has a tendency to push the track in front of the train. Contrarily, trains accelerating or traveling upgrade have a tendency to push the track behind the train.

You might not see such track movement in the real railroad world. One of the reasons for "rail anchors" is to restrain such track movement...other than to minimize expansion/contraction of the track as a result of temperature changes.

In our scale railroad world, I've seen rail joint gaps disappear at the bottom of the hills most likely for the same reason. Luckily, we don't need to remove a rail section and move that back to the top of the hill! So while none of us will ever see a "washboard track"...the concept is still very real. Good cartoon...thanks for the chuckle! Carl B.
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NP317
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Re: Trackulence

Post by NP317 »

Gary Larson. My all time favorite carton creator.
And now you know more about my sense of humor.

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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Trackulence

Post by Greg_Lewis »

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Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Trackulence

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

Well, if the track gets real bad just ask for more...
e7c3a620845ebc758f2bad9698ddaf5f.jpg
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rkcarguy
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Re: Trackulence

Post by rkcarguy »

If the bumps in the track were offset from each other, it would nicely portray the old bolted rail that got super lumpy.
I have childhood memories of my mother backing her car back up from a RR crossing, because the 40' gondola's of coal heading the power plant on the 40' jointed rails were bucking so badly she was afraid they were going to derail lol!
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Trackulence

Post by Greg_Lewis »

rkcarguy wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:52 pm If the bumps in the track were offset from each other, it would nicely portray the old bolted rail that got super lumpy.
I have childhood memories of my mother backing her car back up from a RR crossing, because the 40' gondola's of coal heading the power plant on the 40' jointed rails were bucking so badly she was afraid they were going to derail lol!

Hey, you don't have to rely on childhood memories. There is some track out there that is still like that.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
rkcarguy
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Re: Trackulence

Post by rkcarguy »

Greg_Lewis wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:07 pm
rkcarguy wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:52 pm If the bumps in the track were offset from each other, it would nicely portray the old bolted rail that got super lumpy.
I have childhood memories of my mother backing her car back up from a RR crossing, because the 40' gondola's of coal heading the power plant on the 40' jointed rails were bucking so badly she was afraid they were going to derail lol!

Hey, you don't have to rely on childhood memories. There is some track out there that is still like that.
Sadly this was a GN and then MILW line that was abandoned and finally torn up about 20 years ago, land auctioned off to the adjacent property owners. The remaining stuff is all fairly new BNSF trackage, so the only fix available is on YouTube, stuff like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzNc57PYTeE
ccvstmr
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Re: Trackulence

Post by ccvstmr »

rkcarguy wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:52 pm If the bumps in the track were offset from each other, it would nicely portray the old bolted rail that got super lumpy.
I have childhood memories of my mother backing her car back up from a RR crossing, because the 40' gondola's of coal heading the power plant on the 40' jointed rails were bucking so badly she was afraid they were going to derail lol!
There was an old joke about such track where the cars were rockin' and rollin' so much, that the rear end train crew could read the car names while seated up in the cupola (not really possible, but made for an interesting joke). Carl B.
Life is like a sewer...what you get out of it depends on what you put into it!
I don't walk on water...I just learned where some of the stepping stones are!
I love mankind...it's some of the people I can't stand!
Jtrain
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Re: Trackulence

Post by Jtrain »

There is an silent movie with Buster Keaton called Our Hospitality that had a train going over a track similar to that.
https://youtu.be/--cSbGU86Aw?t=1066
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Trackulence

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Jtrain wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 10:55 pm There is an silent movie with Buster Keaton called Our Hospitality that had a train going over a track similar to that.
https://youtu.be/--cSbGU86Aw?t=1066

Thanks! That's awesome! BTW, Keaton did all of his own stunts in that era, and in one of his other films he broke his neck during a railroad water tank scene in Sherlock Jr.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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