Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Trivia type question
I recently enjoyed a train ride on the Downeaster to Boston and back. My question is 'How many standard rail road ties did I travel over" It is a little silly I admit. But the correct answer should be the product of two facts. The number of miles of track the train travels on the Portland to Boston route and how many average railroad ties are in a mile of track?
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8 comments:
A typical mile of rail contains approximately 3,000 ties. portland to boston is about 106 mile. so you went over 310,000 ties.
Mrsdeere
Your on the right 'track' but you have to read the question carefully as they used to tell us.
The actual rail distance is 116 miles, not 106. So if the 3,000 ties per mile is correct, that would mean about 348,000 ties...
Mrs Deere gets credit for the first correct general answer. A Ray gets credit for a more detailed follow up answer. The final winner will be anyone that can find a written source that would let us calculate the number of ties in a mile. All I know is how many feet there is a mile. I may have to go measure some local track!
Here's the reference for tie spacing for the B&M. Can't get much better than that!
And by the way, the track distance between North Station is 116 miles and NOT 106 miles...
Ray - Do not see the reference link.
Anyway I declare this trivia question ended. I do see a reference on the Internet to 3000 ties per mile on average and I agree with 116 miles of track to Boston.
348,000 is correct for one way but I said I went to Boston 'and back' so I was looking for that answer times two or 696,000.
John,
Here is the link:
http://www.discoverlivesteam.com/magazine/69.html
Also interesting. I figured out last night spacing would be 21 inches if you had 3000 per mile. That seem to close for me. Last time I tried to walk down the track, I don't remember taking short steps. A more normal pace might be 27in, Military marching is 30in, but they 'step out' pretty good. Dosen't matter, nowdays I stay OFF THE TRACK completely!
thanks
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