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  • railroad elecrical supplies, was: What is a trolleybus?

    From danny burstein@21:1/5 to hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com on Mon Jan 7 22:02:47 2019
    In <c60fa514-d13f-48d6-aaf2-d2ebbc5531d5@googlegroups.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:

    Rails aren't grounded through the roadbed?

    Partially but far from entirely. Can't comment directly
    to Amtra[c]k and the commuter rails, but in the NYC subway
    system there Big and Thick and Heavy copper cables that
    help ground the tracks.

    I'm not sure just where the the other ends connect up.

    A frequent problem is that the copper thieves, or at least
    the smarter ones [a], cut into/steal them for the metal.

    When this happens, the next time a train comes through
    all sorts of ugly electrical stuff occurs and the safeties
    shut down power to the third rail, etc.

    [a] the dumber ones get Darwin Awards.


    --
    _____________________________________________________
    Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
    dannyb@panix.com
    [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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  • From Robert Heller@21:1/5 to danny burstein on Mon Jan 7 17:10:26 2019
    At Mon, 7 Jan 2019 22:02:47 +0000 (UTC) danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:


    In <c60fa514-d13f-48d6-aaf2-d2ebbc5531d5@googlegroups.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:

    Rails aren't grounded through the roadbed?

    Partially but far from entirely. Can't comment directly
    to Amtra[c]k and the commuter rails, but in the NYC subway
    system there Big and Thick and Heavy copper cables that
    help ground the tracks.

    I expect that subways are a little different than outdoor, above ground railroads. The subway tunnels might (probably) have a concrete "floor", with the rails/ties bolted to the concrete and not have anchors driven "deep" into the ground.


    I'm not sure just where the the other ends connect up.

    Probably a Big and Thick and Heavy ground rod...


    A frequent problem is that the copper thieves, or at least
    the smarter ones [a], cut into/steal them for the metal.

    When this happens, the next time a train comes through
    all sorts of ugly electrical stuff occurs and the safeties
    shut down power to the third rail, etc.

    [a] the dumber ones get Darwin Awards.



    --
    Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
    Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services
    http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services
    heller@deepsoft.com -- Webhosting Services

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