Disneyland Railroad Breaks Down, Sends Us A Sign In Front Of Star Wars Land

[Janir]

Except that depending on the cause of the break it may not have been something that would be easily detectable, even with a close inspection. If it is microfractures inside of the axle, for example, the only way to detect those is to pull the axles off of the engine and use specialized equipment- which is not something that's done on a regular basis but is part of a major overhaul of the engine.

as I said, it's something that is extremely rare, but does happen. And it's not something that can be readily or easily detected or prevented.

NDT work for something like rail wheels would require Xrays to magnetic particle inspection and some ultrasound done by the wheel casting company but in thicker sections this gets harder to do. Doing it outside of the casting company is definitely not something most companies are capable of and would require removing the wheels. Time and use can exacerbate microfractures in metal until they become a failure, but train wheels are intended to be replaced after so much time. Most NDT can detect large defects easily but microfractures are much harder to spot deeper in the casting. and to test you have to take the wheels off the car/engine to retest. Might as well just do a wheel swap and sell the metal back to the casting company or some other metal scrapper.
As Sir Willow points out its just not that easily detected or prevented.
(Used to intern in foundries when I was a young man.)

 

[josephinelcajon]

Worked on the train at Silver Dollar City for 3 years. Unfortunately axles break sometimes. It's rare, but it does happen, especially on older engines and cars. And depending on the break, they probably had to come in with a special car to lift the engine and slowly tow it back to the roundhouse. Stinks when it happens

Thank you! I would have never thought that looking at it looks like solid steel that would be the last thing to brake. Yes they must have had to lift and tow it out. I am sure if they could have just pulled it they would have.

Does anyone know if the rail road is still a separate company still owned by the Disney family? (I am not saying it is or was I was told this years ago and do not know if it is or was true)

 

[flynnibus]

Does anyone know if the rail road is still a separate company still owned by the Disney family? (I am not saying it is or was I was told this years ago and do not know if it is or was true)

No, WEDway was rolled up many years ago.