this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
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Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 8/7/2024 (self.newzealand)
submitted 4 months ago by Dave to c/newzealand
63 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

  • Something interesting that happened to you
  • Something humourous that happened to you
  • Something frustrating that happened to you
  • A quick question
  • A request for recommendations
  • Pictures of your pet
  • A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
  • Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

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[–] Ozymati 3 points 4 months ago (10 children)

The annual fucking of Wellington commuter trains by icy overhead lines has begun. If only there was some kind of power source nearby that could be tapped into and used to deice the lines...

[–] Dave 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I guess the question is how to efficiently heat the lines. Not really feasible to install fan heaters all the way along. Heating up the wire itself may not be that easy.

I went looking and found that some solutions are to either use a specially equipped ice cutting diesel engine, or some trains have a separate pantograph (the thing that goes against the wire) that is designed to scrape the ice off just ahead of where the power collecting pantograph is. Some interesting bits in this blog post.

It links through to this page that has photos of the ice cutting pantographs, though not in action.

[–] Ozymati 2 points 4 months ago

Oh neat. Unlikely to happen here, I think.

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