Trains.

[alicephilippa]

Ok, so I left the office at 4:55pm, I should have got home by 7:15pm. I actual fact I got home at 8:40pm

This was the result of, apparently, 2 things:

1. "adverse weather conditions", and
2. a power failure near Stockport

Adverse weather conditions? It's always adverse weather conditions. Either it is too cold, too wet, too many leaves, too hot, &c. Just when are the conditions suitable to actually run trains? If I believe national Rail, probably never.

Alice.

Comments

[dracven.livejournal.com]

There were several problems last night, one was a points failure outside stockport, a power failure near Manchester Piccadilly and yes because the heat makes the tracks expand trains have to slow down as the track could technically become wider than the train axle.

As the man who works for them. I got home at 7pm after trying to catch a 4.42 train.

[alicephilippa.livejournal.com]

Oi. Don't spoil a good rant. :)

Add "congetion caused by a broken down train" into the mix.

What really p's me off though, is that whenever anything goes wrong, it normally seems to be blamed on environmental factors.

As the man
Ah, so you are their sole employee. :)

Alice.

[dracven.livejournal.com]

Generally it is weather related problems though. The tracks are a fixed width and heat makes them expand so the train wheels could technically fall off and cold makes them contract so the axles on the train are too big for the tracks. Also this leaves on the track stuff, as you probably know there's little traction between rail and wheel as both are smooth, when this is coupled with leaves inbetween them braking distances are increased therefore speeds are decreased leading to delays.

I'm not their sole employee as I have no soul! ;p

[alicephilippa.livejournal.com]

I thought that with continuous weld, the problem was lengthwise expansion and contraction, leading to buckling.

Traction problems on slippery rail? That's what sanders were for.

Alice.

[dracven.livejournal.com]

"Traction problems on slippery rail? That's what sanders were for."

Yup which is why last Autumn there were much much fewer delays due to leaves on the track than in previous years.

You do get possible buckling as well leading to cracked rails.