Carborendum Posted February 24, 2023 Report Share Posted February 24, 2023 (edited) So, I've been reading a lot about this derailment and the chemicals and the political firestorm, blah blah blah. What I didn't really hear a lot about was the specific cause of the accident. Google searches only took me to the latest news about it. But nothing about the initial reports. I don't know why I hadn't read anything about it in the initial days. Then I was on vacation... Anyway, the only place I could find any information was the wikipedia page on it. Quote About 48 hours later, the NTSB released preliminary findings indicating that the derailment was caused by a mechanical problem on one of the railcars' trucks* which may be connected to reports that an axle was observed throwing sparks about an hour before The crew received an alarm from a wayside defect detector shortly before the derailment indicating a mechanical problem, and then an emergency brake application initiated. * A rail "truck" is the assemblage of wheels, axles, brakes, etc. (one on each end of the car). This doesn't really say what caused the initial problem in the first place. Do they not know? Recent political rhetoric is about the braking mechanism not being good enough to stop the train in time. In time for what? The sparks that were flaring up appeared to present prior to any brakes being applied. So, what were the new brakes supposed to do? What caused the sparks in the first place? I hate the lack of information here. EDIT: https://wtov9.com/news/local/breaking-ntsb-releases-initial-findings-on-east-palestine-train-derailment# Quote The 23rd rail car was the first to derail after one of its wheel bearings heated up to 253 degrees above ambient temperature. It was traveling at 47 mph at the time of the derailment. So, was this a question of poor maintenance? Or was it some rock got jammed up there? Or was it sabotage? Anyone? Bueller? No one knows? No one cares? Because it is all Trump's fault that the higher quality brakes that were no longer mandated during his tenure as President (which passed via bi-partisan effort). Edited February 24, 2023 by Carborendum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikbone Posted February 24, 2023 Report Share Posted February 24, 2023 Vinyl Chloride - Gotta have our PVC pipes. We are remodeling our kitchen and everyone is trying to sell us Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring. We just want stone or wood. The chemicals are in high demand. Their production and transportation is just going to continue to increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carborendum Posted February 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 20 hours ago, mikbone said: ...everyone is trying to sell us Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring. ...The chemicals are in high demand. Their production and transportation is just going to continue to increase. Yes, chemicals will continue to be in demand. But I don't think vinyl flooring will be. A whole bunch of places around here started putting it in. My wife wants it for our kitchen. But we haven't been able to afford it lately. In the meantime, I've looked at floors in various locations around town. The most noticeable was our former dentist office. It looked fine at first. But after about a year or so, I noticed some distortions that were quite visible. Each plank began "cupping" -- the cross section began going upwards on the edges. I asked about this at our floor store. They explained what causes that and blamed it on poor installation. I went back to the dentist office and found that it had been installed correctly (per the floor guy's description). So, I had to figure out what else would cause it. Apparently, it is simply a weakness of flat PVC when it has been in temperature changing environments for extended periods. After a while, the price will go down because the hype will go away. And it will seem like cheap flooring like linoleum. Yes, stone or tile is a pretty good bet. But you've got to have a tile guy who knows what he's doing. It is pretty easy to mess up tile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laronius Posted February 26, 2023 Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 I was talking to a guy the other day who works for one of the railroads. He was telling me some of the horror stories that have happened or almost happened that never make the news. His take was that corporate greed has lead to a huge reduction in the workforce, particularly concerning those who maintain the trains, and the result is increasing mechanical failures. Of course that doesn't prove what happened in this instance but the seeming disinterest in the cause likely points to an issue that would make someone (with money and/or influence) look real bad, something that could have been prevented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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