Why don't these houses fall down?

[PhilH]

Have a look here - surely even at slow speeds given the weight of these trains there must be a lot of vibration going through the ground, especially going over joints which must shake the houses given their proximity to the track.

 

Are they specially strengthened or something? 

[trisonic]

Well, as you say, the train would be going very, very, slow.

Wood frame houses are almost an artform over here. I went through an earthquake in a wood frame where my seat felt as if I was in a small rowboat on a lake passing through some wake - not a crack in any wall - I'm sure my old Mum's brick built house in Essex would have had a partial collapse.

 

If you search for "Street Running" you'll find even closer encounters (mostly taken around 3:00am - which is even more amazing).

 

By the way I've stood right next to one of the more modern American locos and you can feel them through your feet just on tick over.

 

Best, Pete.

[PatB]

Well, as you say, the train would be going very, very, slow.

Wood frame houses are almost an artform over here. I went through an earthquake in a wood frame where my seat felt as if I was in a small rowboat on a lake passing through some wake - not a crack in any wall - I'm sure my old Mum's brick built house in Essex would have had a partial collapse.

 

If you search for "Street Running" you'll find even closer encounters (mostly taken around 3:00am - which is even more amazing).

 

By the way I've stood right next to one of the more modern American locos and you can feel them through your feet just on tick over.

 

Best, Pete.

 

I agree with regard to wooden framed houses. I've lived in one for the last 15 years and although the local clay soil expands and contracts and shifts all over the place, the house suffers no real ill effects. Mind you, it's possible to tell a lot about the weather by which doors won't close or come unlatched spontaneously .

[Adrian Wintle]

Wood-frame houses on substantial foundations (likely with 4'+ basements). With low speed trains the vibrations aren't at an amplitude or a frequency that is going to cause a problem.

 

Friends of mine used to own this house https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=44.242852,-76.606826&spn=0.000004,0.002588&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=44.242852,-76.606826&panoid=0BzvveBa8k-imwcIjRmhzg&cbp=12,234.79,,0,-8.75

That is the CN main line behind the shrubs, so 70+ mph freights would run by at a reasonable frequency. What is now the driveway used to be the road leading over a level crossing, so you got the noise of that too. The house was over 100 years old and had no issues (at least none from its proximity to the rail lines), nor did the similar vintage barn in the back yard.

 

Adrian

[dave1905]

The only way that's a problem is if the train derails into the house.  Otherwise, no big deal.  If you look at the east cost or major cities there are main tracks running right next to buildings all over the place and many are brick or stone. 

[DavidB-AU]

Same street, different house. I would gladly live in this one! (Provided of course it had a decent basement for a layout...)

 

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=452215

 

Cheers

David

[trisonic]

One of my favourites:

 

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=420231&nseq=34&favsearch=1

 

 

Best, Pete.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Trains used to rumble past  - slowly - many trad construction houses in the UK. I particularly recall a location on the Bodmin and Wenford route where rushing out of one cottage front door might have been unfortunate if a rail vehicle had been passing on the track inset in the road surface.

 

Different source of ground movement, but I love the fact that the whole planetary surface wobbles about tidally, with a typical range of about a metre of movement. All very slowly, the fundamentals being of the order of 0.00001 Hz or smaller. Nonetheless your house or any other structure is bobbing about on these tidal waves, like a very very slow motion replay of a ship on an ocean swell.

[Eggesford box]

and think of all the wooden signalboxes/interlocking towers either side of the pond, especially where they where by pointwork or diamonds.

[DanielB]

My love of US prototypes just grows with every one of these awesomely random threads!

 

Keep them coming!

[JWB]

US wooden houses since the 19th century have almost universally had "balloon" construction, with generally 2 x 4 stud walls supporting an outside skin and inside lath/plaster or wallboard. This style of construction is extremely flexible and tends to survive earthquakes very well, especially if the framing is bolted to the foundation. The same applies to rail traffic, although the residents certainly hear and feel passing trains in these situations. Location, location, location, as the realtors say.

[298]

One of the line-up on Pine St, during the Yakima Valley Trolley Centenary in 2007....:

 

 

I'm not aware of any buildings falling down near the network of lines.

[Fat Controller]

A friend of mine lived in the house behind the white van in this image:-

http://goo.gl/maps/SDhig

The house was built at about the same time as the railway, and retained many of its original features (alabaster ceiling roses and so on)- until the night BR tried out the Dynamic Track Stabiliser during the upgrading of the East Coast Main Line. This machine was intended to enable the PW Engineers to hand back possessions without having temporary speed restrictions whilst the track bedded in; it did this by simulating a stream of heavy trains running continually, using vibration. In retrospect, not the best way of doing this in an urban area..

[alfsboy]

I agree with regard to wooden framed houses. I've lived in one for the last 15 years and although the local clay soil expands and contracts and shifts all over the place, the house suffers no real ill effects. Mind you, it's possible to tell a lot about the weather by which doors won't close or come unlatched spontaneously .

My  wooden front porch /lobby, call what you will is like that .long past its sell by date but much loved with its old worldy glass. Its never still ,expanding ,contracting ,leaking .it comes into its own Christmas with lights out side and inside and a christmas tree all lit up .The rest of the year it sulks and threatens total collapse .Thank god for wood hardener.Trouble is to replace it means a large chunk of house is left to the elements until replaced

Street running in the US is absolutely fascinating  but rarely modelled .

A large store  built over the railway in Ilford called Bodgers used to shake rattle and roll and fill with smoke when a Liverpool street bound express went through Ilford station flat out .The whole station shook  .it got even worse when diesel powered expresses roared through ,always flat out  but at least no smoke .

[PatB]

A few years ago I had a few hours to kill in London so I had a wander around the bookshops on Charing Cross Road. One of them was a glorious, traditional secondhand establishment (stock, premises and proprietor ) with tiny narrow aisles, huge, unstable piles of books and that wonderful smell of old paper. A sign said 'More downstairs' so I followed it to the basement. There, a further sign said the same thing and I followed a further, tiny, winding staircase into a realm of ancient whitewashed brick arches and, yes, further unstable shelves and stacks of stock. I'm a largish chap and it was sufficiently cramped down there that movement was quite restricted. Then a train passed underneath  ; by the feel of things about a brick's thickness beneath my feet. Close enough, certainly, to make me examine what visible floor there was for signs of convexity . What worried me was the way the teetering piles of literature swayed and shifted with the (considerable) vibration, making me wonder if I'd even be found if they collapsed on me and whether rescue crews could get me out even if I was .

[trisonic]

Another oldie but goodie for Newb US Street Runners the awesome West Brownsville PA:

 

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=401450&nseq=43&favsearch=1

 

 

Best, Pete.

[F-UnitMad]

Street running in the US is absolutely fascinating  but rarely modelled .

Agree totally about the fascination - especially from this side of The Pond...... but maybe it's rarely modelled because of one inconvenient thing- it tends to highlight the lack of movement from the rest of the traffic. I have a video of the awesome "City Limits" layout - superb modelling, but I much prefer looking at photos of it (in a Kalmbach mag one year) than watching the video, as to me the moving train just shows up the static traffic.

[PhilH]

Another oldie but goodie for Newb US Street Runners the awesome West Brownsville PA:

 

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=401450&nseq=43&favsearch=1

 

 

Best, Pete.

 

Haven't seen that one before - that's a cracker Pete

 

Good job shortliner never posted it..it would be 'that's a crackerJack..'

[shortliner]

I guess that's classed as a "time of the year" joke!

[Eggesford box]

I used to work in an all wood signalbox. The passing of trains was not so noticeable as much as when the wind came round in a certain direction and the box would move noticeably. I had an official visitor one day when that happened and he made a grab for the lockers being taken by surprise. I maintained my best, blank, why are you doing that, nothings happened expression. Mind you, it was built over the top of a drainage ditch which could not have helped the integrity of the cornerposts. Then again that was over 25 years ago and the box is still there.

[F-UnitMad]

Here's a house I would like to have lived in...

 

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=204131&nseq=3

 

"lived in"; past tense, as according to the caption, this was the last train, in Sept 2007.

[PhilH]

You certainly get a real feel for the size of US locos in that shot - looks like an O gauge loco on an HO layout to me.

[DavidB-AU]

Here's a house I would like to have lived in...

 

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=204131&nseq=3

 

"lived in"; past tense, as according to the caption, this was the last train, in Sept 2007.

Sadly the tracks have now been removed.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/5gEFm

 

Cheers

David

[DanielB]

Shame. Looked like an interesting railroad.

[The Bigbee Line]

Having a Casey Jones moment are we ?

Why hasn't Casey Jones been repeated?

 

On the subject of houses close to railways, I was born in a house near the railway and when steam trains passed, the ornaments rattled on the mantelpiece.  Steam was phased out by Oxted diesel units and the rattling stopped.  The house was demolished in the 1980's for a redevelopment,  Others of the same type are still standing (1920's brick built with lime mortar)