Pipelines look good all of a sudden.

[scaramanga]

This happened a couple of hours from where i am.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/lac-megantic-que-train-derailment-what-we-know-so-far-1.1357911

[ungeheuer]

Humans.  We think were pretty effin smart, don't we?

Having a train load of combustibles not roll away from stationary doesn't seem like rocket science....

And yet    .

Pensées à la collectivité touchée par cet événement......

[brimo]

Humans.  We think were pretty effin smart, don't we?

Having a train load of combustibles not roll away from stationary doesn't seem like rocket science....

And yet    .

Pensées à la collectivité touchée par cet événement......

meme ici.

The story I heard today was there was a minor fire on the loco and the fire department shut the motor down which caused the brakes to lose air pressure and they released. I would have thought the brakes worked opposite to that, as in you must have air to release the brakes.

[ungeheuer]

meme ici.

The story I heard today was there was a minor fire on the loco and the fire department shut the motor down which caused the brakes to lose air pressure and they released. I would have thought the brakes worked opposite to that, as in you must have air to release the brakes.

I'm confused about this too coz I also understood that a train's braking system relied on a fail-safe of  "no air, brakes ON".

[ducpainter]

I'm confused about this too coz I also understood that a train's braking system relied on a fail-safe of  "no air, brakes ON".

Not sure about trains, but air brakes in a truck will lock without air.

There was some question whether the engineer had also set the handbrake, which is a manual device.

It's supposed to be set according to regs.

[scaramanga]

Scary thought;One local news team filmed themselves , in the same area, climbing into nearby train locomotives that where unmanned ,unlocked and running. These trains where hauling numerous petroleum and other hazardous chemical rail cars. Nobody ever came by to see what they where doing.

[spolic]

Going with the french from the above posts. Here is word derived from the French language: Sabotage    ?

[ducatiz]

Pipelines are sabotage-able as well.

Unless they are buried 50 feet underground.

[LowThudd]

Pipelines are sabotage-able as well.

Unless they are buried 50 feet underground.

More than a few times the Alaskan pipeline has been punched through with a rifle. Usually an angry native hunter whos family have been hunting caribou there since prehistory, and now have trouble feeding their family on occasion. Nothing is perfect, everything has it's downside; except for growing your own eco-friendly biofuel. Even that has problems, when food crops are used.

[ducatiz]

More than a few times the Alaskan pipeline has been punched through with a rifle. Usually an angry native hunter whos family have been hunting caribou there since prehistory, and now have trouble feeding their family on occasion. Nothing is perfect, everything has it's downside; except for growing your own eco-friendly biofuel. Even that has problems, when food crops are used.

The caribou have flourished around the Alaskan pipeline because it has just enough heat to keep the ground nearby from freezing -- so grass grows sooner in the spring and later in the fall.  If they aren't finding caribou, they are blind... :-)

From  http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm

"Thirty years later we can see the effects of the pipeline on the caribou. Walter Hickel, a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and governor of Alaska, said that the caribou herd has not only survived, but flourished. In 1977, as the Prudhoe region started delivering oil to America's southern 48 states, the Central Arctic caribou herd numbered 6,000; it has since grown to 27,128. Alaskas Department of Fish and Game Web site reports that in general, caribou have not been adversely affected by human activities in Alaska. Pipelines and other manmade objects have been built to accommodate caribou movements, and the animals have adapted to people and machines."

[LowThudd]

New one on me. Must be upset about something else, or just drunk.  We all have bad days, but that is going a bit far.

[muskrat]

The caribou have flourished around the Alaskan pipeline because it has just enough heat to keep the ground nearby from freezing -- so grass grows sooner in the spring and later in the fall.  If they aren't finding caribou, they are blind... :-)

From  http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm

"Thirty years later we can see the effects of the pipeline on the caribou. Walter Hickel, a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and governor of Alaska, said that the caribou herd has not only survived, but flourished. In 1977, as the Prudhoe region started delivering oil to America's southern 48 states, the Central Arctic caribou herd numbered 6,000; it has since grown to 27,128. Alaskas Department of Fish and Game Web site reports that in general, caribou have not been adversely affected by human activities in Alaska. Pipelines and other manmade objects have been built to accommodate caribou movements, and the animals have adapted to people and machines."

I've had the pleasure of going to pump station 1 and all the way to the end and can say, first hand, that there is NO negative impact on wildlife to date.  I've done this trip in winter and summer and you can barely believe your eyes.  Too bad the reports are favoring whatever agenda they might have.  Simply put, the amount of money and effort spent on the north slope by BP and Alyeska to keep everything pristine is absolutely incredible.  We do a shittier job in the lower 48, by far.

[ducatiz]

I've had the pleasure of going to pump station 1 and all the way to the end and can say, first hand, that there is NO negative impact on wildlife to date.  I've done this trip in winter and summer and you can barely believe your eyes.  Too bad the reports are favoring whatever agenda they might have.  Simply put, the amount of money and effort spent on the north slope by BP and Alyeska to keep everything pristine is absolutely incredible.  We do a shittier job in the lower 48, by far.

There has been no negative impact, except very limited issues which are dealt with quickly.  A lot of that probably has to do with the amount of oversight due to the noise about that pipeline so it actually may have worked to achieve the right end. 

The caribou were nearly on the endangered list in 1977, and now their numbers are 5 times what they were when the pipeline was being built.  One of my hunting buddies says they occasionally will do a "two fer" on the hunting licenses because the caribou are getting too numerous.

[Speeddog]

Oddly enough, in searching for how train brakes work, Wikpedia had this reference:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-train-narrative-insight-idUSBRE96801Q20130709

Best explanation I've seen yet on how this unfolded.
But didn't explain the apparent lack of truly fail-safe brakes.

This:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_air_brake

Explains how the Westinghouse air brake works.

Apparently, it's only fail-safe as long as there's air supplied under pressure.
And only functional as a parking brake if it's a two-pipe system.

[Ddan]

The caribou have flourished around the Alaskan pipeline because it has just enough heat to keep the ground nearby from freezing -- so grass grows sooner in the spring and later in the fall.  If they aren't finding caribou, they are blind... :-)

From  http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm

"Thirty years later we can see the effects of the pipeline on the caribou. Walter Hickel, a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and governor of Alaska, said that the caribou herd has not only survived, but flourished. In 1977, as the Prudhoe region started delivering oil to America's southern 48 states, the Central Arctic caribou herd numbered 6,000; it has since grown to 27,128. Alaskas Department of Fish and Game Web site reports that in general, caribou have not been adversely affected by human activities in Alaska. Pipelines and other manmade objects have been built to accommodate caribou movements, and the animals have adapted to people and machines."

To say that human activities have had no adverse impact on caribou is a little disingenuous. Yes, since the 70's or so some of the herds have seen increases, but most are still no where near their historic sizes.  There are also some significant declines reported in recent years put at least partly to more erratic winter weather, which the pipeline has certainly contributed to.  More directly, the warmth around the pipeline is actually melting the permafrost which then releases more CO2.  

Here is a Wiki list of pipeline leaks in the US since 2000.  It's a long list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_21st_Century