Extreme Heat Buckles Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Tracks
DURANGO, Colo. (CBS4) - It's not just roads that are buckling under Colorado's extremely hot temperatures. Railroad tracks are also feeling the heat.
According to the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, the heat buckled tracks on their line on Monday. When it happens it's called a "sun kink."
"We repaired it last night. We had to get our trains back. Crews went out early this morning to assess that the repairs were satisfactory and we were running our normal three train schedule today. We don't anticipate any further sun kinks this summer," railroad spokesman Christian Robbins said in a statement.
Statement From The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
Intense heat expands the metal, curving and misaligning rails into what is called in the industry a sun kink.
While the temperature differential we experience in Colorado was part of the contraction/expansion yesterday of our rail line, the kink happened where in that system there was a weak point due to a recent smoothing of our track for passenger comfort.
The D&SNGRR runs an historical mountain railroad unlike any in the world but our paramount goal is safety first and we check the line from Durango to Silverton five times a day with our motor cars and Maintenace of Way crews.