When they lay tracks, they try to lay them during the hottest time of the year so they'll be at maximum expansion.
Alternatively, rather than right angle cross-cuts they can do the acute slip-cut that allows the tracks to slip by each other --I think the main drawback is wear with these expansion joints.
The normal gapped joints lead to the clickity-clank and also have an issue with compaction of the railbed.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 23.1 ms ] threadAlternatively, rather than right angle cross-cuts they can do the acute slip-cut that allows the tracks to slip by each other --I think the main drawback is wear with these expansion joints.
The normal gapped joints lead to the clickity-clank and also have an issue with compaction of the railbed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqmOSMAtadc
The problem is that the planet gets ever hotter and so the temperatures of 20 years ago (or more) are far below today's averages.