Whats the deal with oil trains that keep blowing up?

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > Whats the deal with oil trains that keep blowing up?

SpeedGem: Sep 19, 2012; by Ralp

I mean like, it is a train and it blows up. There has been like 4 last month and 2 this month already?

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-0308-rail-safety-20150308-story.html

That is just one of them, one in ontario canda is a new one.

Seriously oil trains, stop blowing up.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:34

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 02:41

Beige: Sep 13, 2004

not the trains fault imo

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:35

Sponge Baathist: Jan 30, 2010; by FactsAreUseless

Its ISIS on the homeland they just ain't reporting it.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:53

Gaybee: Jul 16, 2002

god i hate trains....

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:54

redshirt: Aug 11, 2007

Explosive medium OP.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:55

Orkin Mang: Nov 1, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

i dont loving know

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:56

My Imaginary GF: Jul 17, 2005; by R. Guyovich

blame faulty switches like the rest of us.

that accident in lac du fondac? more a failure of culture than one of mechanics. the lac attack happened because that railway had a lax culture towards following procedure and because of that, the cars rolled downhill

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:59

STOP LITTERING: Sep 11, 2005

amityville anus posted:

Its ISIS on the homeland they just ain't reporting it.

Or the handful of people who would have been appointed to permanent jobs with the keystone pipeline. "No cushy white collar pipeline job via my local politician, guess it's terrorism for me then".

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:04

Fog Tripper: Mar 3, 2008; by Smythe

Whats the deal with airplane food?

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:06

old fat bird: Oct 27, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

if we had a pipeline this wouldnt happen

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:06

Robo Reagan: Feb 12, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

let's put a bunch of highly flammable stuff inside a mile long vehicle that takes an hour to stop completely what could go wrong

ps im gay

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:07

Tarkus: Aug 27, 2000

It's because there's about three to five times as much oil travelling over rail from 15 years ago. God forbid we put some loving pipelines in.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:10

Fog Tripper: Mar 3, 2008; by Smythe

Monstrous Dooklord posted:

if we had a pipeline this wouldnt happen

what if a train crashed into pipeline, smart guy?

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:11

king salmon: Oct 30, 2011; by Cowcaster

obama is too much of a pussy to make new regulations

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:11

Robo Reagan: Feb 12, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

king salmon posted:

obama is too much of a pussy to make new regulations

what's the point of freeing them if they're not going to make decisions

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:13

Orkin Mang: Nov 1, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

trains are just planes on rails, without wings, and not in the sky, if you think about it. actually theyre more genetically related to the common celery than say, a horse, natures train

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:15

Big Beef City: Aug 15, 2013

They just keep making lovely oil trains and they just keep blowing up I don't even know any more it's like I can't send my kids off to school without loving oil trains exploding. Ok I don't HAVE kids but if I did every goddamn morning oil tankers would be exploding right next to the house or school I mean goddamn

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:16

Robo Reagan: Feb 12, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Big Beef City posted:

They just keep making lovely oil trains and they just keep blowing up I don't even know any more it's like I can't send my kids off to school without loving oil trains exploding. Ok I don't HAVE kids but if I did every goddamn morning oil tankers would be exploding right next to the house or school I mean goddamn

oil can make you sterile so if you're around enough exploding oil trains you won't be able to have kids just something to mull over

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:17

Orkin Mang: Nov 1, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

you barely ever see a horse blow up, doesnt matter how much oil its got in it. same for a camel. more so

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:18

Big Beef City: Aug 15, 2013

Robo Reagan posted:

oil can make you sterile so if you're around enough exploding oil trains you won't be able to have kids just something to mull over

Did you know that George Bush Senior covered up over 200 confirmed cases of oil trains exploding? People in the late 80's and early 90's used to think the government was covering up UFO's but at least 90 percent of those cases were oil train explosions? YOu don't hear about that but it's true an Obama continues to keep this cover up to this day. The government doesn't want you to know that all these school "shootings" and chem trails are the result of untold hundreds of oil trains exploding constantly

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:21

SniperWoreConverse: Mar 20, 2010; Gun Saliva

Vapor pressure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdaM5Mv-TTo

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:25

Orkin Mang: Nov 1, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Robo Reagan posted:

oil can make you sterile so if you're around enough exploding oil trains you won't be able to have kids just something to mull over

i got disabled from oil train vibes and was on disability pensions for about three years. then a hidden cam caught me planting a bulb in the garden and i lost it all.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:25

Orkin Mang: Nov 1, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Big Beef City posted:

Did you know that George Bush Senior covered up over 200 confirmed cases of oil trains exploding? People in the late 80's and early 90's used to think the government was covering up UFO's but at least 90 percent of those cases were oil train explosions? YOu don't hear about that but it's true an Obama continues to keep this cover up to this day. The government doesn't want you to know that all these school "shootings" and chem trails are the result of untold hundreds of oil trains exploding constantly

i did NOT know this. do u think oil train explosions are related to swamp gases in some way? it's also been established if u think about it that spilled oil can sometimes look very similar to an alien autopsy

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:27

Robbie Fowler: May 31, 2011

what's the deal with corn nuts

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:29

F hole: May 13, 2008

this wouldn't happen if they'd build a pipeline :smug:

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:30

Zeno-25: Dec 5, 2009; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Oil tankers exploding is p crazy because when they explode they BLEVE, all the oil gets superheated and then busts open the tanker once the release valve can't keep up and you get a big cloud of superheated oil and then a big mushroom cloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-JgyQA7u0
http://youtu.be/K-tUQTw_Vtk?t=45s

Zeno-25 fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Mar 9, 2015

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:34

FuturePastNow: May 19, 2014

It's like it's flammable or something

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:37

Serak: Jun 18, 2000; Approaching Midnight.

Because you idiots keep transporting crude oil cross-country in train cars meant for 'things that aren't actively trying to explode at any given moment' like soybeans and corn

quote:

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-07-23/the-white-house-has-a-plan-to-stop-oil-train-explosions-eventually

Tank-car manufacturers, meanwhile, simply want some clarity around what kind of cars they need to build.

Much of the criticism has focused on the quality of the tank cars used to haul oil. Most accidents have involved a class of car called the DOT-111, which is widely seen as rupture-prone and insufficient to carry flammable crude oil. The same kind of car also carries less combustible things, such as soybeans and corn.

Earlier this year, Canadian regulators moved to phase out DOT-111 cars over the next three years. The U.S. proposal seeks to do it in two. The question is whether the industry will adopt tank cars with shells that are 9/16ths of an inch thick or 7/16ths of an inch. The proposal also suggests the option of including electronic �pneumatic� brakes and some kind of rollover protection.

Gotta wonder what the hazard pay to drive one of these things is these days.

Serak fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Mar 9, 2015

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:39

Orkin Mang: Nov 1, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Zeno-25 posted:

Oil tankers exploding is p crazy because when they explode they BLEVE, all the oil gets superheated and then busts open the tanker once the release valve can't keep up and you get a big cloud of superheated oil and then a big mushroom cloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-JgyQA7u0
http://youtu.be/K-tUQTw_Vtk?t=45s

i want to bleve

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:40

bossy lady: Jul 9, 1983

those exploding oil tankers are creating jobs

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:52

Mozi: Apr 4, 2004; Forms change so fast
Time is moving past
Memory is smoke
Gonna get wider when I die; Nap Ghost

hey hey

ho ho

these exploding trains have got to go

hey hey

no way

get that gas away today

# ? Mar 9, 2015 03:56

Turtle Blogger: Mar 16, 2006; My Angel

I think tanker cars should go w 9/16 thickness, even though that'll add a lot of weight to the car and reduce their carrying capacity and efficiency and increase cost.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 04:09

quakster: Jul 21, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

obama. pipeline. isis

# ? Mar 9, 2015 04:12

Blistex: Oct 30, 2003; Macho Business
Donkey Wrestler

Does anyone have that post where BT4 describes a hypothetical derailment? It was a pretty great description of train mechanics and the physics involved, and it really makes you marvel at how every train in the world isn't on fire along the side of some tracks.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 04:23

Unbelievably Fat Man: Jun 1, 2000; Innocent people. I could never hurt innocent people.

Monstrous Dooklord posted:

if we had a pipeline this wouldnt happen

yes, because the republicans would already have what they want and wouldn't need to sabotage alternate methods of moving the same thing

# ? Mar 9, 2015 04:30

quakster: Jul 21, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Blistex posted:

Does anyone have that post where BT4 describes a hypothetical derailment? It was a pretty great description of train mechanics and the physics involved, and it really makes you marvel at how every train in the world isn't on fire along the side of some tracks.

when that train in italy did a mid-air 180 a few years ago i was grateful that the only tracks near me are completely straight and level but i took a walk and they'd just built a ridiculously angled new route within spitting distance of where i live

i sure hope they won't have too much high-speed chemical transportation

# ? Mar 9, 2015 04:38

bennyfactor: Nov 21, 2008

Blistex posted:

Does anyone have that post where BT4 describes a hypothetical derailment? It was a pretty great description of train mechanics and the physics involved, and it really makes you marvel at how every train in the world isn't on fire along the side of some tracks.

Here you go:

B4Ctom1 posted:

Pretty much this. It is hard to explain not just the physics, but the amounts of forces involved.

We use throttle to create stretching or "draft" forces and dynamic braking (think of downhill engine braking in a car) to create bunching or "buff" forces.

To start with, when you are running the train, you are feathering the throttle or dynamic braking to keep "in train forces" at acceptable levels. This is based upon the terrain each part of the train is passing over.

Even small changes in grade, if there are enough of them under the length of the train, are enough to break knuckles, rip out draw bars, or derail cars simply by doing "nothing at all" at the wrong time.

In these situations heavier applications of power or dynamic brake are required to keep these "in train forces" down.

Think of a large sliced loaf of bread. I take the wrapper off of it and ask you to carry it across the room. One hand on each end should suffice. A small amount of pressure to keep the bread from being crushed and across the room you go.

The knuckle and drawbar connections between the cars seem very strong to the layman, but when compared to the amount of weight of loaded freight cars, and all of the cars behind them piled upon it, it may as well be dental floss.

You can break dental floss easily, but the difference is that it is hard to "crush" dental floss.

The poster I have quoted above is addressing something we call "train make up". THe "in train forces" can be additionally effected by the way cars or groups of cars are placed in the train. Long cars next to short cars, loads next to empties.

Generally freight trains that are not hauling a bulk of the same commodity are mixed freight. A bulk commodity train would be an entire train of wheat or coal. These trains are very heavy, and have their own set of problems, but in general do not have any issue of train make up because all of the cars are generally the same weight and type. Mixed freight trains are the most common types of trains on the main rail thoroughfares.

A mixed freight train I haul might have 25 heavy loaded lumber cars, 15 empty or loaded auto racks, 20 empty or loaded tank cars of various lengths, 30 empty or loaded covered hopper cars of various lengths, and 30 loaded or empty boxcars of two different lengths.

So for this example train of 120 cars. Lets say it weighs 7900 tons and is 9000 feet (2.75KM) long.

I am traveling along at 50 MPH.

The "head end" of the train has passed the bottom of the grade and the train is still descending the grade. As about half of the train leaves the grade I am looking ahead at the next grade to climb directly ahead. I have been using dynamic brake and need to "transition" from braking to power. I move the lever into the idle position and begin waiting my 10 seconds. In my my mind, from experience, I know that I need to rapidly, but gently begin notching through my power notches without allowing my train to accelerate past 50 MPH which I am restricted to.

The very head of the train is traveling around a slight curvature in the track. I also need to see that the next signal is green "clear" so that I do not have to formulate an entire other plan as a reduction of speed might be required instead. I see that the signal is flashing yellow "advanced approach". This will mean a reduction of speed to 40 MPH and a possible stop short of the second signal ahead.

As I am thinking of what I am to do next and waiting for the 10 seconds to pass, the next crossing becomes visible and I see that there is a truck hauling a low slung trailer with a heavy piece of equipment on it. He is blocking the crossing because his low slung trailer is stuck on the raised rail and crossing lumber that you drive across.

Without hesitation or further consideration, I slam the brake handle into the emergency position, dumping all the trainline air. I reach up and toggle the switch that ensures that the "End Of Train" device dumps from the rear as well. I bail off the locomotive air brakes because they are so powerful in a situation like this, that they can cause such a massive buff forces which will certainly derail a train. Additionally they can crumple or destroy the track beneath them.

While in earlier transition from dynamic braking to power "slack" had developed in the train. Slack is neither draft or buff, but more of a null position like rail cars standing in a yard not connected to a train. A developed space between cars where they are sort of relaxed.

As the air dumped from the train-line, the brake valves on each car sense this emergency and dump the full value of air contained within their emergency reservoir into the large cylinder that applies the brakes giving each car higher than usual stopping power.

Somewhere near the head end of the train a group of empty tank cars having such massive braking power begin to stop the train, but right behind them a group of heavy loaded hoppers presses against them, their own braking being less substantial. A tank car of Anhydrous Ammonia right between the groups which has been taking the brunt of these two opposing forces has a wheel that lifts off the rail as it is being pressed around a curve. This car, the car ahead of it, and nine of the loaded hopper cars behind it all leave the rail and head into a tiny quiet suburb in the middle of the night.

Half way back in the train where the most of the box cars are, they settle down for their stop. Still bunched because they were still descending the hill. The heavy loads of lumber fighting them as they come to a stop. Even though on straight track the, one end of an empty boxcar in the group begins to lift into the air. The opposing force of the heavy lumber cars and the stopping train ahead of it is too much. As it sets back down the wheels miss the track and begin to erase the track, all of the cars behind it having no track to ride on begin to take paths of their own in each direction.

Near the back of the train the auto-rack settle down hard. Harder than the group of heavy lumber cars ahead of them. This causes one of the long 500+ pound (230kg) draw-bars in the third auto-rack to be sheared from place. For a moment it tumbles through space, whistling though the wind in contact with only the air. Then it strikes a tie and the car passing above it in vaulted, only inches off of the rail, and a carload of new rangerovers tumbles end over end into a reservoir of drinking water.

The drawbar is angry, propelled by its last impact it drops onto the rail for a moment derailing a load of mini coopers, a load of corvettes, a load of ford diesel pickups, and a load of prius. The last of the autoracks ram into those derailed and the drawbar impales itself through the bottom of a boxcar piercing 20 cases of aged Glenfiddich.

Back on the locomotive, pressed forward by the loads behind, we cover the half mile to the stuck trailer in about 45 seconds. My conductor sees that the piece of equipment is a D9 Caterpillar bulldozer and screams like a woman as he jumps from his window at 35 mph. The fall from 15 feet in the air certainly would have killed him but instead he tumbled and struck feet first shattering his legs in 20 places and cartwheeling to his death as his head exploded when it struck the hard granite ballast some 20 times or so in the cartwheeling tumble. It takes 24 hours for them to find his body under crumpled boxcars.

I run out the back door to the second locomotive where I lay down in the cab. The impact at 35 mph is brutal. The second locomotive which I am on climbs under the front locomotive. The third locomotive does the same to mine. When the locomotive comes to a rest, is on its side, and both my arms are broken.

I drown, face down, in 200 gallons of brownish, blueish sewage from a chemical toilet long overdue for a cleaning. But my dignity is preserved because a fire from the combined 12,000 gallons (45.5 Kiloliters) of fuel burns for 3 days incinerating me and most of the locomotives completely.

The undocumented worker driving the truck with the wedged trailer disappears.

During the conductor's autopsy, trace amounts of THC from a brownie he consumed 3 weeks earlier while on vacation in Amsterdam are found to be the cause of the accident.

It was also noted in the government report that the cellphone of an engineer on a different train following ours was "on" at the time of our impact, and this may have contributed to the wreck.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 07:00

Moridin920: Nov 15, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

to jack the price of oil obviously

# ? Mar 9, 2015 07:50

Robo Reagan: Feb 12, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

i could go for some jacking oil right now

# ? Mar 9, 2015 07:51

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 02:41

Harrower: Nov 30, 2002

People really fuckin hate pipelines. Also Lol at train engineers that try to stop the train because some moron is on the tracks. Just plow through that poo poo, anyone loving around near train tracks deserves to get hit.

Harrower fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Mar 9, 2015

# ? Mar 9, 2015 08:04

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > Whats the deal with oil trains that keep blowing up?

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