Operation Smash Hit

[scooter]

Operation Smash Hit

Smashingly fascinating viewing.

[PR19_Kit]

That test was carried out just south of the Control Centre of the Old Dalby Test Track where I worked (a lot....) in the 70s. You can just see the truck bed of the Unimog Road/Rail tractor that we used there shunting the flask into position at around 5:49 on the vid.

I went on a railtour of the Test Track in December and the guide relished pointing out where the crash test had taken place. 

[zenrat]

I love the "luggable" computer at 8:18.  Mrs z has one similar (but slightly larger).  It weighs a flipping ton.  I have no idea how she used to cart it about.

I remember this test.  Were there not claims that it was rigged as taking the impact on a corner meant that more of the impact was dissipated?

[PR19_Kit]

I remember this test.  Were there not claims that it was rigged as taking the impact on a corner meant that more of the impact was dissipated?

Yes, that's right.

But the idea was to prove that lid wouldn't leak under such an impact, which had shown up on the earlier drop tests, but the movement was miniscule.

You can still see the marks of the crash test track on the ground to this day amazingly, and the place has been radically rebuilt to test all sorts of locos and rolling stock since then.

[zenrat]

I think I went there once to look at new LED signal heads.
Gee, what a fascinating life I once lead (sarcasm).

[Rheged]

What I find fascinating is not the waste of a perfectly good class 46 locomotive, nor the way the containment vessel was undamaged.  The really interesting bit is how the carriages stood up to the event. In at least two of them, this was potentially a survivable crash.

[PR19_Kit]

What I find fascinating is not the waste of a perfectly good class 46 locomotive, nor the way the containment vessel was undamaged.  The really interesting bit is how the carriages stood up to the event. In at least two of them, this was potentially a survivable crash.

The Mk 1 coaches were pretty good from that point of view. They were the first passenger vehicles that could withstand the 200 ton end load test, and they were designed BEFORE the test was formulated!

[Old Wombat]

Ah, yes, but they are, of course, inherently dangerous because they don't have crumple zones built into their design & are, obviously, built using too heavy a gauge metal.

[PR19_Kit]

A lot of them were inherently dangerous because they were built with asbestos insulation, and it cost BR an arm and a leg to get rid of it all......