White painted rails

[Ken.W]

Isn't this why the tops of airliners were traditionally painted white. Reflects the heat and keeps cabin cooler

Or the cab roof on 91s / DVTs given how 'good' the air-con is on these trains

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Interesting that some locations with pointwork where one might expect the white-painted rails, eg Worting Junction, don't have this feature.

[Southernman46]

Interesting that some locations with pointwork where one might expect the white-painted rails, eg Worting Junction, don't have this feature.

and you won't ...............  

 

That's because when I was Track Maintenance Engineer for the Woking area we made sure that all the Hot Weather Precautions and rail stressing, etc. etc. was done properly and therefore we didn't need to spread white paint everywhere and hence show everyone that we couldn't do the perfectly adequate engineering required to prevent the railway bending in the heat or the need to impose ridiculous ESR's

 

and those that we taught and have come after have continued that culture ..................................

 

Sorry if that sounds a bit arrogant but hey we were there to do it right

[dp123]

and you won't ...............  

 

That's because when I was Track Maintenance Engineer for the Woking area we made sure that all the Hot Weather Precautions and rail stressing, etc. etc. was done properly and therefore we didn't need to spread white paint everywhere and hence show everyone that we couldn't do the perfectly adequate engineering required to prevent the railway bending in the heat or the need to impose ridiculous ESR's

 

and those that we taught and have come after have continued that culture ..................................

 

Sorry if that sounds a bit arrogant but hey we were there to do it right

 

 

Hear, hear.

[PenrithBeacon]

Re my earlier post on Preston.

 

The track there is clearly very old probably 1950s. Flat bottom, jointed on wooden sleepers. It might just need all the help it can get!

 

Regards

[Trog]

Re my earlier post on Preston.

 

The track there is clearly very old probably 1950s. Flat bottom, jointed on wooden sleepers. It might just need all the help it can get!

 

Regards

 

Do you mean adjusting the joints and oiling the fishplates?

[Pete the Elaner]

In summer the sun rises a long way north of due east and sets a long way north of due west.

Not true for the UK.

Only true for locations south of the tropic of cancer & the UK is around 25-30 degrees(ish) north of this line.

[Reorte]

Not true for the UK.

Only true for locations south of the tropic of cancer & the UK is around 25-30 degrees(ish) north of this line.

It still rises north of due east and sets north of due west in summer. If it didn't I'd never get any sun on the front of my house, which faces north west. And the further north you go the further north of that line it rises and sets, to the point where it's possible for it to go right around to the north without setting at all, which is the Arctic Circle. The tropics mark the furthest places north and south that it'll ever be straight overhead.

[Derekstuart]

Engineering bodges to astronomy in only 3 pages. That's pretty good going. I wonder if it will be a discussion of antique Italian recipes for spaghetti by page 6.

 

(tongue in cheek btw)

[Edwin_m]

The tropics is the region where the sun is directly overhead in the middle of the day for some part of the year.  Rails in the tropics would benefit less from white paint, because in the hottest part of the day a lot of the sunlight would be falling on the shiny part on top. 

[PaulRhB]

To be honest the shiny part is usually only about a third of the surface you see on top, sometimes less.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I'm not surprised there's no sound accompanying this footage.... 

 

[Reorte]

I noticed this morning that only one of the tracks of my local stretch of white painted rails had been white painted. Then I noticed that it had steel sleepers, the unpainted track had concrete.

[Ian J.]

It's to do with relative North (from your current location) versus absolute (North of the Equator). Most of us, when thinking of the position of the sun, or where the wind comes from, use an absolute thinking (I may be facing North and then turn to face South, but East and West don't change in absolute terms, only in that they swap their handedness relative to my orientation).

[Pete the Elaner]

It still rises north of due east and sets north of due west in summer. If it didn't I'd never get any sun on the front of my house, which faces north west. And the further north you go the further north of that line it rises and sets, to the point where it's possible for it to go right around to the north without setting at all, which is the Arctic Circle. The tropics mark the furthest places north and south that it'll ever be straight overhead.

We never have a North facing sun in the UK & your statement conflicts with itself.

 

You get sunlight in front on your house because it faces partially west, not because the sun ever gets north of the UK.

 

If the tropics mark the furthest places where the sun ever gets overhead (That bit is true), how could anywhere North of the tropic of cancer ever get a North facing sun? It would have to pass overhead to change between North & South facing, but it can only do this for places between the tropics.

You've got your point about the Arctic Circle a little confused. How could the sun possibly get further North as you travel further North? Taking this to the extreme, you can't get any further North than the North Pole. Every direction from there is South.

Within the Arctic circle, the sun simply stays above the horizon for at least a day a year. It rises in the South East & sets in the South West.

[Reorte]

Weird, thought I'd replied to that already.

 

I didn't say that the sun never gets north of the UK, I said it gets north of due east and due west (i.e. it rises roughly north east and sets roughly north west in summer). Any north-facing wall in the UK will get the sun on it at some time during the year (as long as nothing else is in the way) because the sun is north of an east-west line at some time, even though it spends more time south of that line in the UK.

 

Go to the Artic Circle and the sun will pass through every point of the compass, above the horizon, at midsummer, including due north, without ever being overhead. It doesn't do that further south (i.e. in the UK).

 

Note that "north of due east" means everything between east and north, not due north.

 

In an attempt to move back on-topic, waiting at the station this afternoon I noticed that both sides of the white-painted rails I mentioned earlier are painted, on a line running approximately north west to south east, so one side will receive a lot more sun than the other.

[Southernman46]

It makes no difference where the sun shines from - the point is - do the HWP engineering right and there shouldn't be any need to splosh white paint anywhere ..............

[Edwin_m]

A few seconds on Google will demonstrate that the sun rises well north of due east and sets well north of due west in the UK in summer.  If it works, here is the link for midsummer in London:

 

http://suncalc.net/#/51.5,-0.117,12/2016.06.21/22:59

[andyman7]

Maybe the rails are painted white by the same people that make crop circles..... 

[stewartingram]

Maybe the rails are painted white by the same people that make crop circles..... 

 

Or the guys we have on the Underground that polish the rail tops at night*, moonlighting (should that be sunlighting?).

 

Stewart

 

​*I believe they exist because the rails are always shiny in the morning!

[Classsix T]

We never have a North facing sun in the UK & your statement conflicts with itself.

 

You get sunlight in front on your house because it faces partially west, not because the sun ever gets north of the UK.

 

If the tropics mark the furthest places where the sun ever gets overhead (That bit is true), how could anywhere North of the tropic of cancer ever get a North facing sun? It would have to pass overhead to change between North & South facing, but it can only do this for places between the tropics.

You've got your point about the Arctic Circle a little confused. How could the sun possibly get further North as you travel further North? Taking this to the extreme, you can't get any further North than the North Pole. Every direction from there is South.

Within the Arctic circle, the sun simply stays above the horizon for at least a day a year. It rises in the South East & sets in the South West.

I'm with you Pete, the Sun is always South of you in the UK (and the North Pole-duh). But Edwin's Google post seems to take into account the curvature of the Earth giving a slightly distorted logic to the argument.

(In the same way that you'd see the Sun sooner if you flew over the North Pole at midnight in Summer from Greenwich than in the other direction).

 

A pub quiz punch-up waiting to happen methinks!

 

C6T.

[The Stationmaster]

I'm with you Pete, the Sun is always South of you in the UK (and the North Pole-duh). But Edwin's Google post seems to take into account the curvature of the Earth giving a slightly distorted logic to the argument.

(In the same way that you'd see the Sun sooner if you flew over the North Pole at midnight in Summer from Greenwich than in the other direction).

 

A pub quiz punch-up waiting to happen methinks!

 

C6T.

 

Do not overlook the fact that the earth is tilted on its axis as well as rotating around the sun.  That helps explain why in the Northern Hemisphere sunrise and sunset in the summer will occur north of due east/due west.

[Classsix T]

I didn't Mike, but then my head started to hurt!

 

C6T.

[Trog]

Within the arctic circle unless you are actually at the North pole from where every direction is south, the sun is going to be due north of you at local midnight during the summer months. How often you see this is going to depend on just how far north you are.

[enz]

Greetings people

 

I'm thinking there may be some confusion with dawn and zenith going on here. North of the tropics the sun will be south of you at it's zenith (local noon / highest above the horizon / lunchtime) but it does rise and set north of due East in summer.

 

Isint it amazing what you need to know when modelling railways. Regards - E