For almost two hundred years trains have been clanking along over steel rails to bring people and goods from one place to another. The iron rails these heavy pieces of machinery rumble on tend to wear down over time and may not always be able to handle the pressure of so much weight running over them. An engineer might see a problem coming up ahead, but there is little they can do about avoiding the situation since it might take at least a half a mile before the train can come to a stop. A rail track inspection cannot be done while a train is racing toward a broken track.
Those who owned and operated the railroads knew that people had to go out and look at the tracks to see how safe they were, but few owners would supply the resources to make it happen. Then in 1911 a train derailed in Manchester, New York. Twenty nine people were killed in the wreck and another sixty were injured. The cause was determined to be a crack one of the rails that broke apart.
The knowledge that there was a reoccurring problem with the metal used in building railroad tracks ignited an effort to inspect the lines. The initial inspections were done visually. Inspectors were looking for issues that would cause a catastrophic failure leading to accidents.
Then, in 1927, Dr. Elmer Sperry, was able to create a magnetic induction machine that could be used to check for problems in the iron rails. The machine was placed onto a locomotive and pulled along the tracks. The magnetic induction process allowed him to measure how dense the metal was and if there were any soft or weak spots.
There are numerous conditions that can develop that can cause a train to derail. One of the things that the old time inspectors looked for was a condition called tongue dipping. The spot where two pieces of iron are joined together is normally covered by a piece of metal called a tongue. If the sides of the tongue dip downward, this can create a situation where the train might derail.
Water can have an adverse effect on the stability of the train line. The water left by rain, snow or flooding, can seep into the tiny cracks along the rails. When the weather turns cold, these cracks grow larger as the force of the ice forming pushes to iron apart.
The inspector will try to look at all the tracks. However, there are spots that are more prone to wear and tear than other spots. Places like the switchblade and head locations are known for deteriorating a little faster than the rest of the rails.
Inspectors no longer rely on only their vision to look for problems. Now when they do a rail track inspection they can take advantage of a lot of technological advancements over the years. Together they help to keep the locomotives rolling over the open plains to keep moving goods and people from one place to another.
Those who owned and operated the railroads knew that people had to go out and look at the tracks to see how safe they were, but few owners would supply the resources to make it happen. Then in 1911 a train derailed in Manchester, New York. Twenty nine people were killed in the wreck and another sixty were injured. The cause was determined to be a crack one of the rails that broke apart.
The knowledge that there was a reoccurring problem with the metal used in building railroad tracks ignited an effort to inspect the lines. The initial inspections were done visually. Inspectors were looking for issues that would cause a catastrophic failure leading to accidents.
Then, in 1927, Dr. Elmer Sperry, was able to create a magnetic induction machine that could be used to check for problems in the iron rails. The machine was placed onto a locomotive and pulled along the tracks. The magnetic induction process allowed him to measure how dense the metal was and if there were any soft or weak spots.
There are numerous conditions that can develop that can cause a train to derail. One of the things that the old time inspectors looked for was a condition called tongue dipping. The spot where two pieces of iron are joined together is normally covered by a piece of metal called a tongue. If the sides of the tongue dip downward, this can create a situation where the train might derail.
Water can have an adverse effect on the stability of the train line. The water left by rain, snow or flooding, can seep into the tiny cracks along the rails. When the weather turns cold, these cracks grow larger as the force of the ice forming pushes to iron apart.
The inspector will try to look at all the tracks. However, there are spots that are more prone to wear and tear than other spots. Places like the switchblade and head locations are known for deteriorating a little faster than the rest of the rails.
Inspectors no longer rely on only their vision to look for problems. Now when they do a rail track inspection they can take advantage of a lot of technological advancements over the years. Together they help to keep the locomotives rolling over the open plains to keep moving goods and people from one place to another.
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