I have noticed, especially on longer trestles, there are platforms spaced at regular intervals. I've assumed these platforms are for safety reasons - as a place for someone to get out of the way of the train. These platforms also have barrels on them. What is the purpose of the barrels, and is there also another purpose for the platforms, other than safety?
Absolutely...for tie fires started by sticking/sparking brakes or (in steam days) hot ash dropped by locos. "Hot-box" fires would be lubricant-source fires which could be spread by water. The overheated bearings (metal - steel, brass), would near-explosively boil the water to steam (very dangerous), and cause the metal to crystalize/shatter like glass under load/movement. Specially formulated coolant "sticks" were among crew supplies in the days of friction bearings...I don't know of any such remedy for modern roller bearings. In any case one would want to get a hot-box off a trestle or bridge as quickly as possible to avoid structural damage.
Fire fighting barrels. If you look at steam era photos, you'll see them in some other places as well. Including atop building roofs, in earlier years.
I'm not certain how sand would be useful. All of those I ever saw, which were in my region, contained water. Some were still even painted a faded red. Many rusted out after years of neglect and were never replaced, as steam was gone, etc. Others were ruined by idiots via target practice. I never saw any, flatlands or mountains, with other than water inside.
Sand works very well at putting out fires. It displaces oxygen, acts as a cooling mass, and it absorbs a lot of heat without evaporating.
Yes. I know. As I said, none of those I ever saw and there were plenty of them, had other than water. I wandered across a fair number of pile, timber or pile & timber trestles as a boy. The barrels were open topped, so could even be self refilling if/when it rained. They weren't intended to fight any major conflagration. Just to put out spot fires caused by sparks from varied sources. Once it got beyond that and the creosote took off, unless a local FD was there fast.....
And now, as and Operation Life Saver presenter, I tell boys and girls to stay off the trestles because it is dangerous and it is trespassing. My, how times have changed. On a slightly different note, I was talking the Regional Manager for the UP Railroad Police. It came out that his dad used to hop freight trains to get from where they lived in North Texas to find work in the oil fields in West Texas. He said now days he would have to arrest his dad if he caught him.
Russell- The things we did as foolish boys, we'd never do again. Well, I was also on more than a few RR bridges and trestles for work related purposes. And I was certainly much more aware of my personal safety then. Sometimes I shudder when thinking back to my youth...
That's true where it can lie - on a near level surface. But on a trestle it would only lie on the top of the horizontal timbers. It wouldn't work for the sides and bottom of them or on any of the vertical or steeply angled parts, whereas water has a better chance of 'sticking' to those parts.
