Post #2739331

2026-01-06 22:02 UTC

@evdelen@mstdn.ca @Aurora_Bee@deadinsi.de the snow on the rail head is not the problem. It's the point rails freezing to the fixed rails, and the snow in the switch and the frog compacting and freezing solid. Mainline rail has a crossection of 70cm^2, and weighs 54kg per meter. It's a giant heat sink. So you can't heat the rail to melt the ice. And you can't put anything directly where the freezing happens, because it would get crushed between rail and point rail pressing together, or rail and wheel flange.

Replies (2)

@PalmAndNeedle@norden.social 2026-01-06 22:08

@evdelen@mstdn.ca @Aurora_Bee@deadinsi.de cars on the other hand are made out of mostly air, compared to rail. Body shell panels on modern cars are below 1mm in thickness. It's not strange, it's thermodynamics meets an axle load of 22.5t that's transmitted through a contact surface that's smaller than most coins, to say nothing of the dynamic loads. Steel on steel, not rubber on asphalt. You roll a car over a coin on the road, the coin is fine. Do the same with a train car it's crushed and flattened

Open ##2739332
@evdelen@mstdn.ca 2026-01-06 22:10

@PalmAndNeedle@norden.social @Aurora_Bee@deadinsi.de True, but you can get 2 kW heat strips, and that's using our measly 120v split-phase power here in North America. Yeah, rails are a large heat mass... ultimately an electric approach would entail keeping the entire rail warm (er than ambient) at all times so that contamination is dealt with the moment it makes contact with the rail, then probably having something on the exterior of the rails, at the sides to combat any snow buildup that impedes movement. Also, maybe automate frequently moving the points to move any snow clear of the working area, with a lockout of that system a few minutes before a train arrives. Or... what about just vaporizing anything that's contaminating the surfaces, maybe insulate points and pump some traction power line voltage... 🤣 25kV will fix everything!

Open ##2739334