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Great Western Coffee Shop > Journey by Journey > South Western services (Data Manager: JayMac) > Car On Tracks at Wool Level Crossing 20/12/2019
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Author Topic: Car On Tracks at Wool Level Crossing 20/12/2019  (Read 3239 times)
SandTEngineer
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« on: December 22, 2019, 09:51:08 »
Oh dear.  Luck that the occupants managed to get out..... Roll Eyes
https://twitter.com/i/status/1208163556941815808
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Thatcham Crossing
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« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2019, 11:28:06 »
One has to wonder how that got there?

Presumably something combustable or flammable then came into contact with the juice  Shocked
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eightonedee
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« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2019, 11:39:42 »
Second lucky escape for a motorist on a level crossing in a week - see the Wokingham incident reported earlier
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stuving
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« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2019, 13:09:16 »
Quote from: Thatcham Crossing on December 22, 2019, 11:28:06
One has to wonder how that got there?

Presumably something combustable or flammable then came into contact with the juice  Shocked

Reports (e.g the Mail Online) say the driver turned onto the line - which seems to happen once every year or so somewhere. The car was sitting on the third rail, quite possibly making contact via a bit of the petrol tank scraped bare by its getting there. If it could also contact a running rail, given that steel is a conductor but not a brilliant one, it's quite plausible that a few hundred amps would flow. Much too low to make the supply trip, but enough to boil petrol and make patches of metal glow red.
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stuving
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« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2019, 14:40:47 »
There's probably a few more ways to set a car alight if it ends up there. If you tear a small hole in the tank, any sparking off the third rail could ignite it, as well as very localised heating at a contact point. And I think I've heard that you can get sparking between metal parts of a car body at 750V, even with little current flowing.
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JontyMort
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« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2019, 19:09:15 »
Quote from: stuving on December 22, 2019, 14:40:47
There's probably a few more ways to set a car alight if it ends up there. If you tear a small hole in the tank, any sparking off the third rail could ignite it, as well as very localised heating at a contact point. And I think I've heard that you can get sparking between metal parts of a car body at 750V, even with little current flowing.

The other way is if you fracture brake pipes, since brake fluid - amongst its many nasty properties* - is inflammable.

* I agree it has good things about it - like stopping the car - but bleeding the brakes is still my least favourite car job.

I bet they ran away quite fast.
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