stewieatb t1_iy3u5rk wrote
Reply to comment by Android_slag in TIL that when it's really cold, Chicago sets its railroad tracks on fire to ensure that trains will be able to run properly and get to their destinations on time by leebruce2
Yep, we designed a lot of cable routes for EPH back when I did rail civils design. Biggest headache was just getting 240/415V power to the trackside in the right place. Some places needed new supplies or in the extreme even new substations. I can see why chucking a bottle of propane on the trackside, controlling it via the signalling and changing the bottle twice every winter is attractive.
On the other hand someone would probably steal the propane bottle.
i_was_an_airplane t1_iy5qwus wrote
Why not just find heaters that run at 600V or whatever voltage that specific track uses?
stewieatb t1_iy5xnfj wrote
Not rightly sure as I never stuck my head that deep in signalling land (signal designers are tossers). I would imagine that the 650V AC signalling power system can't provide a sustained power enough to run the heaters.
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