• LegoBrickOnFire@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Those are things that regulate the tension in the overhead cables on train tracks. With the variation of temperature cables tend to contract/expand and this systems allows the cables to do so freely with a constant tension provided by the weights.

    • verstra@programming.dev
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      5 months ago

      These are so simple and yet so clever. When i noticed them the first time i started noticing them everywhere (on all rail infrastructure).

      • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I as well. Seattle transit, NEC Amtrak and NJ transit live off of these. If these systems work for them, they’ll work for us all

      • someacnt_@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Is it simple? It looks quite complicated, but maybe that’s just me forgetting how to compute forces.