@nikc1313
As a train driver this was absolutely fascinating. Really gives me an appreciation for what the engineers do through the night when I clock off. Great video.
@davidgriffiths827
I've been working as a metallurgist in rail manufacturing, welding, and failure analysis around the world for 40 years and this is far and away the best explanation of the thermite welding process that I have ever seen.
@Garf_Is_King
3:50 "all experiments were performed under the supervision of professionals with proper safety precautions" all while homeboy is using a torch with the ciggy still lit, God bless.
@Guy_Incognito118
3:55 the timing of saying "proper safety precautions" while showing a guy using a cutting torch with a cigarette in his mouth is underrated
@MegaBassThumper
I was a foreman on rail thermite crews for about 6 years, and this video is awesome! They need to start showing this video in our training classes. We get the handbook and go over what we should/shouldn't do, but gloss over a lot of 'why' we should/shouldn't do these things. It's also interesting to see the little differences in welding procedures, one I noticed was that after we shear the weld, we put an insulating jacket over the rail to slow the cooling process even further. Another is when first fitting the two halves of the mold to the rail, we hold the molds tight to the rail and grind them against eachother side to side to help get a tight seam. Not as necessary on new rail, but essential on old worn-out tracks. Looking forward to the next video!
@FelixMCFrosty
I did this for about a year with terrible pay. Back breaking daily work, really makes you appreciate the things that go on behind the scenes to keep a solid infrastructure going.
@JeffGeerling
I also learned recently thermite is used to form continuous copper ground bonds at broadcast tower sites! It's cool to see it in action.
@davidwilliamallen
Veritasium on a generational run right now. Great to see this lovely long term channel grow.
@Chiltonization
7:45 that ash on the cigarette is amazing! Artist at work.
@KonkaBass
I don't know why but this video, this series, has felt like what I remember the discovery channel being. That channel has stopped being like that years ago but I'm glad Derek is here to carry the torch on.
@offshorebear
The question was "Why don't railroads need expansion joints" the answer was "we mechanically restrain them" and viola, a 27 minute video. Fine, subscribed.
@bobbates7343
As a retired long haul truck driver who used to haul things from California USA to Toronto Canada. I saw many many trains that were hauling what most people call shipping containers. I always came away thinking that my hauling some form of vegetation all that way was silly . The trains should be able to make the trip fast enough to handle the food being moved. Now it was not just the speed of the train that was the problem but the speed at which the shipping containers were lifted off the train and put on the truck that takes the goods to what is sort of the final place. That went fast sort of . The driver of the truck had to quickly move the truck into the right spot then pull away rather quickly but the line up to get into that part of the system was sometimes hours long. That has to be fixed. Then I would have no problem with things that are being moved from one side of North America almost all the way to the other side all being done by rail. Such a huge savings. Still millions of trucks and drivers but we would all be going on shorter trips and most often home at night
@jbran7817
7:50 how to spot a professional: it’s the guy chain smoking while working with both hands
@happydays334
the correct way to start a new year!! Thank you Veritasium
@samx1555
I worked at Sydney's central station as a structural engineer during a rail shut-down weekend for maintenance. The rail technicians were doing rail welding and were kind enough to explain this whole process and mechanics. They were working under a time constraint so i didnt want to bother them. It was so cool seeing a deeper dive on this and knowing the basics of everything they taught me in a 5mins conversation.
@EagleEyeShooting
I worked as a signal maintainer for BNSF Railway for 15 years. Went to many trouble calls for broken rails. In the desert, the thermal expansion and contraction is an understatment. Broken rails are the root cause of train delays in what my territory was called "The Transcon" during peak season. This was the squeeze from shipment that got offloaded from the bays in California, any delays here set the schedule on delivery to our clients like UPS, FedEx ect. Peak season starts the day after Thanksgiving all the way till the first week of January. This is also the worse time period for broken rails. Needless to say, I spent a growing bond between my track supervisors and track department, often helping my fellow brothers weld rails even though I was in the signal department. We all had a goal when the trouble call took place early morning 3AM... 4hr drive in the middle of nowhere, we all wanted to get the job done as fast but as safely as possible. This video was a great documentary to the insight of this process
@uzaiyaro
I was waiting for a train many years ago, and they had just upgraded to concrete sleepers. These need continuous welded rail, so they were doing the welds on that night. I showed interest, and they got me down off the platform onto the track, and they let me hold the torch and light one of the ceramic pots off. I’m proud to say that a main line has one of my welds.
@farzaadkhaan
I was managing a railways superstructure construction team in my country. There we made 65000 rail welds. Later I moved to Halle city in Germany were the video was made. Nowadays I am doing something else but the video meant a lot to me. I missed all my hardworking colleagues in railways industry. When you ride safely on a train please do not forget those sweaty faces.❤
@xtianeskay5166
Derek, your thermite videos part 1 and now part 2 are the most detailled science videos on your channel. I mentioned it on a comment under the first video: i think Goldschmidt did an extraordinary good job on conveying not only an overview of the topic but letting all of us be part of all the technical details of thermite. They took a lot of their working time to not be productive and instead showing you all of the process. I think the videos you created from all that information make a lot of young people getting involved into technical jobs - that is awesome! And now that I hear that you have collected enough material to even create a third video I am really overwhelmed. Great job, Derek! Great job, Goldschmidt! Solche Unternehmen brauchen wir! ❤❤❤❤❤
@veritasium