It's quite probable that there is a federal tax report and/or commercial insurance document that spells out Amtrak's network mileage as of the most recent renewal or change. Even in cases where mileage based liability is minimal or nonexistent it may still need to be reported and zeroed out. Those documents would most likely be protected from FOIA requests but presumably there are other documents with similar information used for other purposes.
Exact? No. And I'm sure nobody else does either. One reason was brought up by PRR 60. Another is the ambiguity of of the term "mileage" as there is often a difference between the miles of track between the end points of the route of a train and the number of miles the train travels when going from one end point to the other. Add to all that the fact that many routes have segments with alternate paths which differ in length - sort of like a passing siding that strays away from the mainline track a small (but measurable) distance, as shown below:
Continuously welded rail (CWR) does not expand or contract with temperature (or, we certainnly hope not). The effect of temperature variation is reflected by internal force resisted by tie anchors. One mile of CWR is one mile long at 0F or 100F.And if you really wanted to get scientific you'd need to consider the seasonal expansion and contraction of the length of all that rail based on average Winter and Summer temperatures, the thermal coefficient of linear expansion of the steel rails and the total length of all the routes. That works out to a bit more than 5.9 miles. How 'bout them apples?
If that's true then what other process is causing heat kinks and cold cracks?
That is no doubt true in a perfect world with straight well-ballasted track, but I suspect curves are a natural place for those forces of tension and compression to relieve themselves by altering the effective radius of those curves without causing a visibly noticeable kink. And sun kinks do occur, as seen in this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_stressing I've felt a few dandies on the Empire Builder in North Dakota.
If the rail is hot, resisting elongation and in compression, and the anchorage is not adequate, the result is compressive buckling - a heat kink. Adequate anchorage will prevent kinks.
There was a time when the exact number to the nearest mile, for the most recent five years, was in the annual reports. Presumably at a time when there was increased service to brag about. (It fluctuated around 24-25k miles for most of the 80s and 90s.)
But did you repeat any trackage or routes? Because that statement would only be true if you only covered each bit of track one time.
Not necessarily, as my 12,500 miles covered was a lot more than the half network size of 10,700 miles...
So what routes and segments did you take?Not necessarily, as my 12,500 miles covered was a lot more than the half network size of 10,700 miles...
Ed.
I took two similar 12,000+ mile trips with the original pass, when one was only restricted by the 15 days, one could take as many trains as one could fit in. I can't quite remember my exact routes, but I did post at least one in trip reports. Not sure if reports from 10 years or more are still kept on AU? It is 11.30pm in the UK just now, feel a bit too tired tonight to search for it, but will have a search around for the route info tomorrow.
All threads since August 22nd, 2002 are still on this site. If you know the year this was, I can probably find the thread for you.
