Stranded UK Trains in Snowy Weather


Interesting video. Third rail vs catenary is quite a difference. No real icing problems with catenary. Our winters out here can be brutal, but the Milwaukee Road loved he electrics because they operated better in the cold (and snow).
 
That was an arc welder. Bet there were quite a few weld spots along the way there.

You'd think someone would wake up to the fact that welding the wheels to the rails is going to stop the train moving. At first I thought it was some sort of Morse Code the driver and guard were using to communicate. 750VDC? Not the sort of rail you'd want to step onto.
 
Trains in southeast England uses third-rail electrical contact with an unprotected rail (except the Channel Tunnel route, which was built entirely new with catenary). This is different from the New York subway, which has a protected third rail, and Metro North commuter services around New York, which use an upside-down system with the collection shoe under the live rail. On the other hand, the Boston subway and the Chicago L both use an open top-contact third rail. Icing doesn't seem to be much of a problem around Boston, but I don't know what's done to prevent it.

There is a Wikipedia article on everything:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transport_systems_using_third_rail
 



Back
Top