ICE & FIRE on the Railway
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2022
- A fire on railroad tracks is not always a bad thing, especially when it's #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #shorts
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Legions - Jo Wandrini
Footage:
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Most mechanical, construction, or state jobs don't allow you to wear shorts regardless of the weather. It's a safety thing. You're lucky if you get to wear T-shirts
Omg yes!! No matter how hot we have have to wear trousers and and the least the company t shirt and as I'm from the UK and the company is cheap there is no summer and winter uniform so the t shirt and even the polo is damn hot in the summer and in the winter doesn't even matter because you'll still have your company jumper, fleece, bomber jacket and at times rain coat so why can't they make the t shirt and polo more breathable.. and don't get me started with the headwear
@@fun2510mate I hate uk uniform. It's shitty polyester everywhere. Our shirts are crappy too
@@fun2510 in california pretty much all hard labor workers can be found wearing shorts
@@GrenadeLauncherYT I've never seen construction workers in shorts
Although from experience I can say this is in south east Asia where there are very little safety rules, it’s because wearing trousers is cooler 🧊 and the rails may be soo hot they could burn their legs on them.
Can’t wear shorts because you’ll look like a custer, on hood
osha moment
osha
%100 OSHA
*DAMNIT, OSHA!!!!*
Touch those rails with your ankles or or calves for free hot branding
Finally we have found it, every plumber’s nightmare. The pipe stretcher
why would it be their nightmare? the joke of telling the new guy to get the pipe stretcher would just end with them actually finding it?
@@salvadordollyparton666
My god... the horror... 😅
I wish I had one wait are we talkin bout plumbing pipes or another thing?💀
Actually, railroads install propane switch heaters that come on automatically to prevent ice and snow from causing problems.
Similarly, when replacing the rail in the winter time the track was heated using very large propane heaters that heated the rail to 107°. This helps to prevent sun kinks due to expansion in the summer & broken rail in the winter from the rail contracting.
Shorts are not worn because they aren't approved safety gear.
Some do some dont
Those are used on switches not on the actual rail lines. If the switches are frozen they won’t be able to throw or have correspondence.
@infunerous666 I worked on both steel and a tie gangs. Here in the northwest, they are used quite a bit. It's been a number of years since I was on a steel gang but we always used one. Depending on what the install temperature needed to be for that section of track at that location.
Prevents the rail from both breaking when it's cold and sun kinks when it's hot.
The automatic propane heaters are used on pretty much every dual control switch on bnsf railroad. If the dispatcher is going to throw the switch, it's probably going to be heated.
If I'm going to throw it, it may or may not be heated.
Someone on a train in the the winter probably: "Why is it so hot all of a sudden?"
That one guy: "Oh, its just that the tracks are on fire."
Train controller: "Nothing to worry passengers, the tracks are only on fire, perfectly normal"
Passangers: " Oh just tracks on fire,nothing to worry about"...(sudden realisation) "Ohhhhh nnnooooo!!!"
@@andreipoplauschi180 😐😐😐😐😐
@@andreipoplauschi180 It not called a train controller mate😐😐
@@doimoi958 but does it matter tho,the idea remoans the same whatever the guys function is
"HOW DO WE SLEEP WHILE OUR BEDS ARE BURNING"
"why aren't they wearing shorts?" -OSHA education flashes back like a 'nam memory-
You don’t wear shorts to any manual labor job generally lol
@@Sean_Regan fuck that shit, catch me flashing ankle to all the other warehouse fellas
@@Sean_Regan I only wear shorts pretty much no matter the temp lol, California concrete worker
@@Sean_Regan oil to poo to make a dark bed pretty to make a a dark yandere story tol
😅
@@sirslayerca4704 there you are, Californian numb skull..
In Chicago the rail lines have gas pipes running along with them that have open flames to roast the tracks in the winters. Crazy.
LoW cArbON transport
Maybe pump cool water in summer
Those are switch heaters to keep them ice free in winter so they can move.
When they went to install the last section of the St Louis arch they were delayed a couple hours and the heat of the sun had stretched the legs enough where the last piece didn't fit. They used fire trucks blasting water on the base to shrink the legs and fit the final piece. This story made me think of that.
“Hey go grab me the track stretcher out of the truck”
“Good one dude, not the first time I’ve heard that one”
The track stretcher does exist🤣
@@kevingrubb9835 "go get the bolt stretcher" is a common hazing ritual for apprentices when the old fart needs to get some work done. It'll flummox the hell out of the newbie for a hour or so while the old guy does real work distraction free.
The apprentice in this joke realizes that a bolt/track stretcher doesn't exist, and knows that the old guy is hazing them, so they refuse to go get it, even though it actually exists.
There is actually a tool call a rail stretcher
@@kevingrubb9835 The 'Track Stretcher' does exist and I've used them in Toledo in the 1970's on the Penn Central Railroad. But it was faster just to pour burning diesel fuel 39 feet in one direction and 39 feet in the other direction.
You could easily watch the two pieces of rail come together. Also was used in fixing 'Pull Aparts'
@@phillyphakename1255 if the apprentice is smart enough. They’ll know they are being messed with and still go search for the board stretcher for hours while getting paid. Just following bosses orders haha
I'm a track worker and have never heard of icing the rails. It looks like they're just messing with the new guy.🤣🤣
It would make sense for that not to even be a real thing in the first place and the reason why is simple logic… Just think about it… what do you think would be the effect of sliding a piece of freaking ice along a tiny segment of the rail a little bit? Sure, it would cool down a tiny bit but it would instantly heat back up… you know how much money it would cost to have dudes running around with blocks of ice on the tracks to “cool them down on hot days”? 😂 cmon… it’s steel… it doesn’t care about a “hot day” it’s not some greasy operator sweating nuts with a grimey tshirt smelling up the local convenience store… it is a railroad track… it’s going to take a lot more than that to give it meaningful noticeable problems…
Now! If we are talking about repairs and installation, then definitely, it would make perfect sense to cool or heat localized chunks of rail with huge ice cubes to make the tolerances required for welding the rails together… but after that, as the OP said, it’s basically down to messing with the new guy.
Cheap chinese steel.
Yes they are gonna mess with him by buying a huge ice cube. If they wanted to mess with him they'd use regular ice cubes out of the freezer and have him rub then all over the rail. Smh.
@@theenzoferrari458 they could have just made it you know
Fun fact
ICE IS FROZEN WATER
@@fontaineking3317 Most rail Steel on class 1s comes from Japan, USA, Australia or Canada.
Pants serve as PPE. Also keeping covered with lightweight clothing helps keep you cooler and you're less likely to get dehydrated as much.
The fire on the tracks is also used to heat the rails to weld them back together after they had already cracked. Often a rope soaked in a flame ale substance is run along the rail, lit on fire, then the crack is welded since the track expanded with heat
They ain't wearing shorts because if you kneel on a steel rail in extreme heat you gonna burn the shit out of your exposed skin
That's not the reason though. They're Asian, that's why
Who's kneeling on the tracks?
@@castleanthrax1833 When you have to crouch down to do something on the ground
Same reason you don't see firefighters wearing shorts. Lol. In warm weather, shorts can be nice.. But when it gets beyond a certain temperature.. You go right back to long pants.. And even big heavy coats. Also just look at the Arab Bedouin dudes, who've worn big robes and full head and face coverings for hundreds, hell thousnsds of years. Sometimes protecting yourself from the heinous sun beating down is more important than being slightly cooler to the ambient air, which is already over 100 degrees anyway. Although in reality. The railroad workers not wearing shorts is probably down to a health and safety/OSHA regulation more than anything else. Tripping over a rail or losing your footing or something and then falling on those loose pointy ballast rocks, is a son a bitch with shorts on.
@@blackhawks81H exactly
One correction: the tracks in the clips aren’t on fire, the switches are, and it’s prevention of icing that they do it in this instance. They do use the process for heating rails to stress free temperatures in winter.
Yes exactly
I came for the reply, and i was not disappointed
I came for the food…
I just came
Exactly, the RWS story "the flying kipper" is an example of why you should do this
Just saw some crew did that on some rails the other day! This video explains what they were doing! Thanks much!
“Go ice the tracks” has the same energy as “Go find me a left-handed screwdriver” or “go collect me an exhaust sample”
Imagine you were shorts, and accidentally touch the tracks
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Those tracks are set on fire to defrost the switch points
I think you're right, and Not What You Think is actually wrong
points are set on fire to prevent ice from locking them, it's a fairly common practice in Chicago(shown in the video) in particular
100
@@PrinzEugen176 And on Long Island. Gotta defrost the switches for them to work.
Came here to say the same thing. That video is from Chicago. Other places have propane heaters that blow hot air in and around the switch points.
I used to work AC and when it's 120+ outside and your on a roof you don't want any sun on you. Our uniform was long sleeves and pants no exceptions and it's actually way more comfortable
Impressive! Great upload, thanks!!
The workers are not wearing shorts because it is not what you think.
Very original.
A#1 comment!
Cue PHub intro
@@thegiantratthatmakesalloft9415 thank
@@Naturexyz-ow1ri Actually, no. I take it back.
I remember when the tracks were set on fire in the clips you used. IIRC those in particular were used to keep the switches from freezing up because of the record cold that year
Thank you. Was looking for this comment. That is the real reason.
In Canada they just use gas fired hot air blowers
@@srpacific areas of the U.S. have gas fired switch heaters also. Setting fire to switches is an old technique that isn’t used often anymore. Then again China is still mired in steam engine technology in places, so I don’t expect them to be using more modern equipment for such things.
Stretching rail with fire is a sight to behold. I've done it on jointed rail a few times using diesel soaked cotton ropes 90 feet each side of the the break.
Imagine a train cart/handcart that rides on ice blocks.. just sitting on top sipping a beer as you slide slowly down the track 🤤
You come up with some of the most surprising non-fiction topics. I hope you can keep this going. It’s refreshing.
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If you've ever done anything in construction you'd know why they aren't wearing shorts
Not necessarily. All depends what type of construction, the job site requirements and the materials you are dealing with.
@@seanriopel3132 if you've ever done anything in construction you'd know that every job site requires pants.
Residential construction workers are like OSHA who . I wear shorts
@@phillyphakename1255 what an idiotic thing to say 🤣
@@phillyphakename1255 Definitely depends on the country. In some hotter countries shorts aren’t uncommon whatsoever.
The Gornergratbahn in Zermatt even has metal inserts they put between two pieces of rail in winter and remove for summer. This is to make the gap smaller and the ride more comfortable
The fire is so the interchanges(where you can switch between tracks) don't freeze up, not so they don't crack.
The “tracks on fire” is actually a system of natural gas burners that are lit when there is a risk of snow or ice freezing the switches.
(I think that footage is actually the LIRR yard near Jamaica Station, but could be totally wrong)
@Marty Fourre Ahh! Thanks for the correction!
If the tracks get too hot, most likely trains will have to slow down to a painfully low speed. I’ve seen this happen on a railroad I live next to and it’s called heat restrictions. It was going slower than my running speed. On a super hot day the rails can get very very hot and like I said trains must slow down.
Yeah it's a real problem out here in the middle of bum f*** nowhere USA because our rail is in so bad of a condition because the company's just don't give a s*** that when they do run it during the summer they might as well just get out and push it it is going so slow
@@combatarcher3101 yeah, but there isn’t anything to cool it down as they don’t ice them down here.
Its because they expand with the heat, and when they expand, the gap between the molecules increase making it easier to deform it
@@mdenizcoban exactly that, yes.
@@LucedaleRailfan you probably knew it but i wrote that just in case if that one dude that knows nothing wants to ask that
Roofers wear jackets and sun hats in the blistering heat. That sun will burn right through you when you're out there everyday.
I know they heat tracks at switches in snowy environments. Back home I knew of a spot they had propane tanks and a track heater system
OSHA, plus long sleeves shirts (I know you said shorts) but long sleeves help protect you skin from the sun burning you, plus your sweat sticks to the clothing making it wet, so when you get a breeze it cools you down.
I love explaining how that works to new guys
idk about those special sleeves, but that's just boiling me alive
@@pal181 regardless of wetness having something covering your skin from the sun is important. People living in deserts wear robes because it reduces the heat and radiation of the sun. With proper layering it's like both insulation and having some airflow to keep you cool.
@@AhuizotlXiuhthat’s also one of the original ideas behind the handkerchief a lot of construction workers will wear either a yellow or orange one under a hat blocking sun and cooling them off when they sweat
it's best to stay covered up when it's really hot out bc it protects your skin from the sun and keeps you cool
Also keeps from burning yourself on the hot rails
Fuck that. Much rather wear shorts where the air can wick moisture away than wear trousers where your crotch turns into a swamp.
That’s what people in cool weather places say
@Null nah, i'd just learn my lesson and not kneel down on hot rails in future. I work with hot engines everyday, it's amazing how quickly you learn not to blindly stick your arm down the side of an exhaust manifold to try and retrieve a dropped socket.
@Null work trousers don't tend to be loose fitting and they also tend to be dark colours that love to absorb sunlight.
It wasn't ice it was wax and the fire was after Tony Hawk (The Unrecognized Star) has done some sick darkslide. :)
Nah, that would be Rodney, Daewon, or Haslam lol.
The fire is only at interchanges so the mechanism that changes which track goes where doesnt freeze.
@@003SOK That's where each skate letter is and you can only get it with a continuous grind.
Is that the pedo that got killed in prison?
@@rangerjones5531what in the world are you talking about
"At times tracks are set on fire"... those times in Chicago being pretty much the entire winter
I went to Japan on exchange in high school, coming from Australia I've never had to deal with a winter cold enough to affect transport. I was a bit worried one morning taking the train to school when I saw that the tracks were on fire in some places, but I was told they do this specifically under the points so they don't freeze together.
The burning areas are switches that need to be ice-free to move properly.
The fire is a rope that you lay on top of the bottom flange of the rail and it heats the track up to close gaps.
In Italy, they paint the sides of the rails by a white paint to reduce heat absorption. Quite a neat trick.
Same reason why a lot of Mediterranean houses are painted white; to reflect the sun's heat.
You could sit on the ice and slide along the rail. Like reverse ice skating!
95% of the time you use heat to distress 200ft of rail at a time while installing new rail. -Railroader here-
set on fire to reduce the likelihood of cracks... Definitely an american that wrote that part.
European (mostly scandanavian) countries have been setting pointwork on fire for decades, in winter and snowy / icy conditions. This is because while you can remove snow from the rails... ice is a real danger for points not switching to the right track if frozen. You can send a guy out to check every point and crossover to de-ice it... Or you can install gas pipes and igniters on every install. When it goes cold... turn on the gas and ignite the fires. Heat melts ice, rails warm up and retain heat for several hours. Preventing ice. So you just turn the burners on every few hours and it de-ices the pointwork and surrounding rails. As a bonus effect it also warms the grease on the sliding surfaces for the points and allows them to slide easier.
Amazing how thermal dynamics work.
"How do we keep the tracks from being damaged by the cold?"
No one:
Metra:
"SET EM' ON FIRE-"
OSHA. I have to wear pants all summer outside
Love your videos sir !!
🥉
The fire you see spiting out of the tracks in that shot from the air is when it snows , probably to keep all of the tracks hotter then the outside temps so there are no gaps because they would probably shrink a bit in the snowy weather
You got it 1/2 right about stressing¿ but, the switches you showed with fire on them, those flames are to keep snow and ice out, and to keep them Opperastional.🏁
What outdoors hard work job lets you wear shorts?
Tennis.
Man going around giving out medals in comments 🥇🥈🥉🏅
I got a trophy
@@supercat4539 😂
Keeps sun off of em, and when you sweat ,that breeze hit …. Boy you be feeling like heaven on earth
That clip with the "tracks on fire" is NOT to "reduce cracks" but is to remove ice and snow from things called switches, also known as turnouts/points, so they actually work.
It's like saying a salt truck is putting salt on the road to prevent the road cracking from the cold.
You know I feel like making someone "Ice the tracks" has the same feeling as making an apprentice go find a "left-handed screw driver" from the hardware store
Fun fact. While there is no left handed screwdrivers, there is left handed crescent wrenches. Really
Ahhh....memories.
An airline Captain asked a new female flight attendant to go back and ask the ground engineer for a loan of their left-handed screwdriver. She did so and suffered some serious ribbing from everyone in the vicinity.
A strange personal item appeared in the Captain's coffee sometime later.
The lasting effect was that Airline Captain thought it wise to bring his coffee in a thermos thereafter.
Please do not ask how I know this.
@@johnd1727 what was the strange item?
Or a wood strtcher
It has been known for some of the apprentices to be sent to the stores to ask for a long weight (wait !). They were there for a very long time.
Up in Conway Pa, they have an old jet engine secured to an old flat car that they use to melt snow in the winter
"stretched a few inches"
Meanwhile they're being pulled a full foot closer together
”What do you do for work”
”I light shit on fire 😂
Man: Pours oil on the tracks as a joke
Tracks: Catches fire
They don‘t wear shorts bc they arent allowed to…
As a former Railroad employee, shorts were banned. Hats with hoods can’t be lost or blow away if a close passing train blows it of your sun scorched head
Wow! I had no idea. That’s really interesting!
Workers dont wear shorts only UA-cam commentators
The on fire section is literally just so that the twins don't derail as they cross over those sections of tracks and sometimes you catch them on fire to prevent points and switches from freezing up
Just electrically heat them. Fire is for caveman’s
@@foundinstpetersburg They're using it to stop ice from building up to stop switches Freezing and not operating correctly so fire is the best Option because electric heating equipment has to be out all year and is kind of expensive.
The reason why this tracks were set on fire was to actually prevent the frogs from the switches from freezing together.
Normally there are warmers but I forgot which country it is but in that particular country they just set them on the fire
Could you imagine wearing shorts near tracks so hot they need ice on them? Also OSHA doesn’t let most people wear shorts on job sights when it involves tools
The ans is: it's not what u think
Very interesting
this track is on fireee 🔥
I didn't think there would ever be a video in this channel without "it's not what you think".
Amogus
🏆
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The switches are set on fire to keep the ice buildup from detailing trains, as well as stressing
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There's an awesome Blues Metal Fusion album cover artwork idea here
The amount of POWER you would actually need to manage to stretch steel is mind boggling.
Absolutely phenomenal!
You can tell a man has never worked a day in his life when he mentions shorts at work
Wearing long sleeve and pants keeps your body temperature cool, depending on the material, rather than wearing shorts which means your skin comes into direct sunlight
The fires on the tracks are for switch junctions to ensure they can switch properly.
Train conductor be like: yooo this track's fireeee!
"So I ice my wrists" 🚫
"So I ice my rail " ✅
Some jobs even if it's uncomfortable it's just more practical to wear pants. It's 95-100 degrees here during summer and I have to wear pants to keep my legs from getting torn up.
"I'm going off the rails on a crazy train"
- said a passanger upon seeing the flaming tracks
In my region of Russia annual temperature difference is 60 degrees Celsius (from -30 at winter to +32 at summer). Continuous welded rails are laid on railway passed through my town. I have never seen rails specifically heated or cooled. Compressed air is used to clear snow from railway switches.
I remember years ago, when I was pretty young, me and my dad walked the tracks in town at night in the winter, and we noticed the splitter area was snow free, turns out they had a propane heater setup to keep them working properly,
I do work around my farm and I rarely do it in shorts. I also work as a firefighter and while we are authorized shorts, I still prefer pants because for me, they look more professional.
Me on day 1 in the railroad yard:
Foreman: "Hey, new guy! Go get the rail stretching machine..."
Me: "Yeah, right! You keep it next to the left handed screwdrivers, right? I ain't falling for that."
Can’t tell you how many rail stresses I’ve done in my life 😩
I've learned about this is primary school years ago, it's always cool
Track sections are set alight only at crossover switches to stop switch freezing in position
The tracks are on fire so the switches don't Ice, they are usually connected to gas lines.
To answer your shorts question, it's because if the osha guy sees you wearing shorts he's gonna have a schitzo meltdown
A reason to not wear shorts in the heat is to sweat less and prevent dehydration. Pants allow saturation of sweat plus you have a level of insulation that will keep you cooler.
They cover up because it avoids direct exposure to the sunlight. Because if you have, say, two layers of thin porous clothing, you sweat into the inner layer, and and then that water evaporates between the layers, and since evaporation is a cooling process, you have cooler-than-outside air around your body.
Those fires that you showed are to prevent snow buildup in the switches.
Ice sled racing on those tracks every summer
Around here fire on tracks is to keep switches from freezing up so they work
Some places near me had wooden planks below the rails a few years ago, would have been fun to light the rails on fire
Working on anything hot enough to need iced is probably something you don't want to touch with bare skin
When the tracks are stretched, they are welded together using thermite. It's much quicker and easier to do it that way.
Omg amazing work😮😮🎉