[AT] Welding Rails

[James Peck]

You have got me curious. I am going to guess resistance welding if you say that the rail ends are pushed together. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_resistance_welding

Howard Pletcher AT List Member AT List Member (mailto:hrpletch at gmail.com); The process is mostly automated and details are hidden by the equipment. The rail joint comes into the welding station, the operator cleans the ends, the door closes, and there’s 2 seconds of arcing.  My understanding is it begins with a small gap between the ends and as the steel begins to melt from the arc, it is shoved together with high pressure. I assume the rails are clamped between (large) contacts to apply the current—should have asked for more details. 

Mentioning dimming city lights, they melt 120 tons of scrap in an electric arc furnace in a batch. They said this uses the same current as the city of Fort Wayne. Fortunately they are on their own distribution lines so the lights don’t go out.