3 ms·
This is what I was also initially thinking, but after a bit of reading [1] I quickly learned that the actual problem is not some leafs neatly sitting on top of
by danbruc 5y ago
This is what I was also initially thinking, but after a bit of reading [1] I quickly learned that the actual problem is not some leafs neatly sitting on top of the rails but leafs being turned into a wet grime [2] that gets worked into the surface and makes the rails really slippery. Other candidate solutions for the problem are plasma and laser treatments, so I think they considered using fans and brushes before. The problem is probably closer to removing oil stains from concrete than blowing leafs off the lawn.
[1] https://www.railengineer.co.uk/cleaning-the-rail-head/ https://www.railengineer.co.uk/cleaning-the-rail-head/
[2] Non-native speaker, not sure if that is the proper term.
- OJFord 5y agoGreat link, more informative (even if not so newsy) than the submission IMO. And that's a fine term for it.
- StillBored 5y agoYah, its pretty clear from those pictures its not the leaf but the resulting compressed pulp, which looks pretty similar to the stuff I spray off my driveway every year with a 3200psi pressure washer. That i largly a mix of leaf/etc with black mold, which actually grows into the concrete pores. Which makes me wonder why no one bothered to try something like that, are pressure washers common in the UK? Mine is hardly the highest PSI, and it frequently needs to be turned down because at that pressure it can actually etch soft concrete. And at 2.5GPM its not using a lot of water either.
- jrockway 5y agoPressure washers are the current solution to this problem. Here's a news article about the LIRR switching from a 4000 PSI pressure washer to a 20000 PSI pressure washer: https://www.amodernli.com/lirr-launches-new-tech-to-fight-leaf-season/ https://www.amodernli.com/lirr-launches-new-tech-to-fight-le... (From 3 years ago.)