Pain or Urban Myth?

[petewood]

sell it to Pink Floyd for use as their next album title.

Don't roll your eyes at me! Dumber ideas exist,.

Not many dumber ideas than trying to persuade Waters & Co. to re-form Pink Floyd for an album!

 

[empip]

Do not be harsh on the Cookie ... !

 

[SparkyTris]

Don't train toilets empty onto the tracks or something? could this potentially be a problem (the unlikely scenario of a dribble of liquid running all the way down to the pick-ups?), or do they only have them on lines with overhead power?

That's an interesting point. train toilets certainly used to empty onto the tracks, I don't know about the latest generation of rolling stock. It's obviously not that much of a problem; you could imagine that the rush of air under the train would immediately "atomise" or otherwise break up the flow of water immediately it vents, thereby much reducing the chance of energy getting up into the car.

The old trains had a sign "do not use toilet when train in station". I always imagined this was so as not to foul the tracks in a public area. There might be another motive though - with no moving air to break up the flush the chances of an electrical path are higher. Then again, there is rarely a 3rd rail in a station.

Judging by the amount of sparking that occurs (particularly in snow), it takes a lot more than a trickle of water to cause a problem for the 3rd rail pickup system

 

[johnny_t]

Guess it depends on a couple of things......

On the Southern Region, the third rail is outside of the main rails, so it is unlikely that water would flow straight down onto the third rail anyway, but even if it could (maybe in some of those places where tube trains and main line trains share tracks, as I believe the tube live is in the middle), then the current needs to go somewhere - If the water in the bowl is insulated all the way to its exit from the train then again there is no problem.

If however, you sought out a mainline train running on tube tracks, stuck one hand into the bowl, touched some of the trains earthed body with the other, and flushed using your foot, then you may be in trouble.

 

[Softus]

Leaking - that's a new verb for it!

It opens up all kind of possibilities, like "I was leaked as a fa*t", or "I leaked myself laughing", or even, albeit rather obscurely (and very pointlessly) "leaked and broke".

 

[empip]

All one did not want to know about rails .. http://www.abtus.com/Rail/Glossary/glossary.htm

 

[Nige F]

. Then again, there is rarely a 3rd rail in a station.

So how does the train get out of the station-if it stops there

 

[SparkyTris]

So how does the train get out of the station-if it stops there

Not sure, maybe the engine goes so far along that it gets on to the pickup at the end of the platform...? Maybe the engines have a bit of stored energy to get them past obstacles like this.

 

[johnny_t]

We need someone who lives in the Southern Region to go and have a look for us, but I thought there was some, though possibly reduced, 3rd rail availability in stations - They know where the collector is going to be in relation to the front of the train, trains stop at standard points in the station, and they just make sure they have enough rail available to ensure continuity of supply.

With regard to weeing on the third rail (TM) I have had a bit more thought on this. Assuming that your feet are earthed, and that wee has about the same resistance as a human body, and you are stood on a 3ft high platform, and the distance from your feet to your personal wee-exit point is about 2.5 feet then you will have a potential divider between the 750V rail and earth of 5.5 - 2.5.

In other words, I could end up with a voltage of about 240V DC applied to the end of little johnny_t, which I could do without.

Having said all that, I guess that a concrete platform and a pair of boots is going to insulate you reasonably well. If you're a boy scout standing in wet grass though, that's when the electric fence'll get you.....

 

[SparkyTris]

you are stood on a 3ft high platform, and the distance from your feet to your personal wee-exit point is about 2.5 feet

Aha! but with increased height, TexMex's original theory starts to apply - the stream of fluid tends to accelerate apart, separating into small drops, causing the stream to become of higher resistance.

[/quote]

 

[securespark]

although, is 254mm normal?

Uncle Simon says the average size is 152mm, but that it's more what you do with it.....

 

[Softus]

sell it to Pink Floyd for use as their next album title.

Don't roll your eyes at me! Dumber ideas exist,.

Not many dumber ideas than trying to persuade Waters & Co. to re-form Pink Floyd for an album!

Perhaps, but one dumber idea would be to refer to Pink Floyd using the name of the only founder member to have left the band of own free will and who lost a legal battle to retain title to the band's name

 

[toomanyprojects]

With regard to the above post about trains dumping toilet waster out the bottom of their trains and attomizing in the rush of air. Well I would be able to tell you if that works but...

Ok so we drilled a hole in the bottom of our car and plugged it with a bath stopper. This hole was to dump urine out of sobe bottles that we peed in so that we don't have to stop to pee and waste TIME.

Physics lesson. roll down the windows to create proper flow, other wise you get sprayed. Getting sprayed with pee is not fun.

lessons learned.

 

[confidentincompetent]

Hope all you lot dont try this at the same time!! I can just see the headline; entire train network pisruppted due to wrong kind of **** on the line.

 

[empip]

Be able to pick out the 'notters' ..... 'Oh hi, you must use the forum, had any shocks yet?" .....
"Nah, only when I looked where guys never usually look when group spaying ."