Model Forum / General / Railroads / August 2007

On 8/25/2007 6:09 PM Rick Jones spake thus:

Don't forget, these are the same yahoos who made people believe back in
the 1970s that images from any video camera placed anywhere could be
magically zoomed in to show the writing on the book of matches (or
whatever) that gave the killer away. (And other nonsensical takes on
technology.)

Considering how badly TV and movies mangle every other technical detail of
just about everything, this one isn't that far off.

Considering the agency that's been hounding him lately (CSS - at least they
got a correct expansion for the organization) doesn't do field work, much
less assasination, what's with a minor gaffe?

Val

   The show "Burn Notice" on USA Network revolves around an agent of
one of those security agencies that has been "burned", or stripped of
his job, had his clearances revoked, his assets frozen, and been dumped
in Miami to more or less fend for himself. He makes money using his
skills to help out people in tight binds.
   In the episode Thursday night he's mixing up a batch of thermite,
while his voice-over is explaining that it burns at very high
temperatures, so hot that it's used to weld railroad ties together.
   Excuse me? Weld railroad *TIES*? A bit of a faux pas by the
scriptwriter there.   :-{D

However, according to MIT folklore, it CAN be used to weld a PCC car's
wheels to the tracks, or weld shut one of Harvard's gates.

As it happens, I once owned a push-train set that was composed of a large
steel Pacific type loco, it's tender, a gondola, and about 100' of track
that measured somewhere around 5" (?) between the rails. The rails were
steel, as were the ties, and each tie was indeed welded to the rails if not
to the other ties.

Probably didn't use thermite for the welds, though.

Pete

Steel sleepers were/are commonly used in Europe and Africa - however
I've never heard of them being welded together. That would tend to
defeat the possibility of changing worn rails!

Regards,
Greg.P.

Silly me, I use GOO to weld my ties .........................

In all fairness, the poor scriptwriter probably lives in L.A. - the city
where it seems nearly everyone believes things like shooting a person with
a .45 makes them fly back 30 feet, crash through a plate glass window, and
land in a swimming pool.

Welding wood shouldn't be a problem in a city where the laws of physics are
based on artistic license.

Concrete ties have rebar in them.