gauge railway workshop to yard

Jun 07, 2024 Last reply: 2 years ago 27 Replies

Makes sense to develop this. Heard of plants which absorb so much arsenic that logic says try to work-out what advantage they could be getting.

If I recall, in history - eg. Roman times? - substances like iodine (?) were obtained from gathering, drying and burning seaweed - so in-essence "phytomining"

Here in Cornwall there area areas of mine tailings where nothing has grown in more than 150 years

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"Ode to Arsenopyrite"

Best wishes, Rich S

Makes sense to develop this. Heard of plants which absorb so much arsenic that logic says try to work-out what advantage they could be getting.

------------------------------------ A possible explanation is that they can't tell Arsenic from Phosphorus, but have evolved to tolerate it.

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"However, given the similarities of As and P—and by analogy with trace element substitutions—we hypothesized that AsO43– could specifically substitute for PO43– in an organism possessing mechanisms to cope with the inherent instability of AsO43– compounds.."

Much heavy metal and radioactivity poisoning is similar, for instance Strontium is similar enough to Calcium to make radioactive Strontium-90 easily absorbed and incorporated into bones etc. They are toxic because at some point they don't act similarly enough to the lower weight atom they were mistaken for.

The Romans also acquired Sodium Carbonate (soda ash) for glass making from saltwort plants. It could have made soap for them, if not for their hard water, so they used the ammonia in fermented urine to wash laundry. It was their strongest stable and soluble alkali, just as vinegar was their strongest acid. Chemistry couldn't advance until stronger acids were discovered. The blowpipe articles I mentioned describe how it extracts many metals.

My degree is in Chemistry, though the Vietnam draft kept me from advancing beyond a B.S., the EPA killed job prospects and I found I liked the computer electronics I learned in the Army better and jobs were plentiful. Since the courses include much Calculus and Physics it's a good general science degree that prepares one to at least understand the explanations in any technical field.

The first place I found work after the Army built custom industrial production test equipment, which required knowing both how to address the mainly electrical / electronic issues as well as how to personally fabricate, plumb and wire the machine, the small company was competitive because it was so lean and fast. They couldn't simply hire that mix of theoretical and practical skills so they taught me the construction techniques and I learned the rapidly evolving integrated electronics of the

1970's from manufacturers' literature.

Here in Cornwall there area areas of mine tailings where nothing has grown in more than 150 years

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Gauges of mine railways - I've found - with a tape-measure:

18inch 22inch / 1ft 10inch 24inch / 2ft

Didn't know of 22inch gauge before - find that is/was also the gauge of the railway around the Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland

Metric equivalent gauges which seem to exist elsewhere

18inch <=> 460mm 22inch <=> 560mm 24inch <=> 600mm

So, yes, didn't know of those. A mine I am "volunteered to" has 18inch. Friend I was thinking of when asking here - it did come down to what he's managed to blag, and that is the 22inch gauge.

Okay - well, that's a more complex picture than I knew about.

Sorry if asked this already - if you wanted to lay line cheaply - you'd go with flat-bar on its thin edge, welded to any steel you could find as ties, set to gauge and with curvature, in-situ? Bend the more "restricted" - by clearance to things around, etc.? - first, and use a gauging guide to set the other rail relative to it and weld-off to the ties ("sleepers" in UK-speak) ? Not sure how going to get a welding machine (electric) powered-up down the mine, though. No compressed-air-powered welding machine as I know of... (?!). (* 90 ;; Amps 20 ;; Volts ) ;; 1800 With 2.5mm 7018 you'd need 1.8kW - call it 2kW.

I commented as a question - down a mine you wouldn't need expansion joints due to the near constancy of temperature? Something like 100m of track might benefit from being re-laid anew.

Regards, Rich S

Sorry if asked this already - if you wanted to lay line cheaply - you'd go with flat-bar on its thin edge, welded to any steel you could find as ties, set to gauge and with curvature, in-situ? Bend the more "restricted" - by clearance to things around, etc.? - first, and use a gauging guide to set the other rail relative to it and weld-off to the ties ("sleepers" in UK-speak) ? Not sure how going to get a welding machine (electric) powered-up down the mine, though. No compressed-air-powered welding machine as I know of... (?!). (*

90 ;; Amps 20 ;; Volts ) ;; 1800 With 2.5mm 7018 you'd need 1.8kW - call it 2kW.

I commented as a question - down a mine you wouldn't need expansion joints due to the near constancy of temperature? Something like 100m of track might benefit from being re-laid anew.

Regards, Rich S

---------------------------------- My sawmill track rails are 3" x 4.2 Lbs/ft channel iron, which bends relatively easily in the weak direction without twisting like angle iron and can be lagged or bolted down through the lower flange. I bought it as scrap pallet rack, bandsawed off the end plates that had fastened it to the columns, and reused them as splices. Two 8' sections bolted together might support a centered one ton log, though the gantry track for that is double

4" channel. An upright strip alone may be forced to twist outward and buckle between its supports, even if Ixx is adequate.

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metal wear strip over hardwood might be the cheapest that will last in light service, and historically appropriate. I think in terms of custom hardwood shapes because I'm sawing oak into 6" x 6" beams or whatever I want, weather permitting - right now there's a lightning and tornado watch. Angle or tee iron can be bolted to sleepers in the mine to avoid welding and ease repair or removal; my luck would be to find just what I originally wanted right after completing the quickie version, which I then write off as bait.

A mine I am "volunteered to" has 18inch. Friend I was thinking of when asking here - it did come down to what he's managed to blag, and that is the 22inch gauge.

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My personal observation is that most US amateur collectors of heavy iron prefer muscle cars and/or smaller construction equipment to garden railways, though several tourist railways with reclaimed running gear operate. At least three people on this suburban residential street have tractors with loader buckets, and I built a hydraulic bucket attachment for mine to clear snow.

Residential tractors:

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Friend I was thinking of when asking here - it did come down to what he's managed to blag, and that is the 22inch gauge.

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