Why is Metra catenary teal?
Posted Jun 25, 2022, 9:49 AM UTC
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For the same reason the Statue of Liberty is.
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Oxidated copper wires probably
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It's rusty copper.
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Oxidised copper. Rust is oxidised iron.
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That's a cool fact. I didn't know there was a distinction. Verdigris is a cooler word than rust too.
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Google why the statue of liberty is the colour green
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[deleted]
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That is the cable as it oxidizes. It is actually encouraged as long as it is not caused by caustic Chemicals… this “Patina” will actually protect the inner layers of cables in normal condition. ( non standard condition may be cable used in high salt areas such as close to a seaside ). Once the cable gets “Color” as seen here… it pretty much stops and that is when it ( the Patina) is acting like a protective layer.
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That is fascinating
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Older British Catenary on 25Kv AC is exactly the same colour. Plenty of it still round Liverpool and Manchester.
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It’s copper
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Don't tell the meth heads.
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Technically isn’t this south shore line’s catenary? Or do they run on metras tracks?
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metra is chicago and surrounding small cities/suburbs, vs south shore line runs from chicago to i think michigan city indiana. they do run on the same tracks between somewhere in chicago and millennium station.
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Runs all the way to south bend. It’s the last passenger rail service in Indiana :/ didn’t know if they used metra tracks
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There is still Amtrak in indiana, Goes from South Bend to Chicago, NYC, Boston, and DC.
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They run on Metra Electric Line from downtown Chicago to Kensington. CN Chicago sub runs parallel to Metra Electric here (it used to all be IC). South Shore freight also uses the access at Kensington to the CN Chicago Sub to connect to NS and BRC at 95th St.
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It's on MEDs tracks so yes it's on both Metras tracks and wires.
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I'm a simple man. I see the South Shore, I upvote.
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🤝🏼
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Because it's made from copper rather than aluminium, and that's because it uses only 1500 volts, which makes the additional losses from aluminium hurt more. It's not a concern at 12000 volts as used e.g. in the Northeast Corridor.
a lovely patina
Does this mean the trains are much slower?
No, because they run higher amperage at lower voltage.
In England, some lines still run at 600vdc on third rail, and those lines can run up to 125mph on Victorian era track.
The speeds in the us are dictated by a few factors:
Caltrain in the Bay Area run trains on diesel at 85mph
In Holland the entire network with the exception of the high speed network runs on 1500vdc, and trains run up to 110mph(maximum for safety reasons and the distances aren’t so large)
Belgium runs at 3000vdc, and speeds up to 140kph (85 mph)
Nah, not really (btw that's 1500V DC vs 12kV AC). The BR Class 442 reached 108mph on 750V DC third rail and the AGV can reach 125mph on 1500V DC.
The South Shore Line has a max speed of 79mph, which is the top speed allowed by the FRA for most railways. I'm sure they could go at least a bit faster if allowed.