# Can some one explain this?



## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Can some one explain this?











Massey


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Earthquake, perhaps. Or maybe flash-flood errosion / ground shift from the culvert below the overpass.

We had some earthquake track shift pics not too long ago ...

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?p=84744&postcount=14

TJ


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I will post the answer after a few more replys 

Massey


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Oh ... so you know what cause it?

New thought ...

The distorition is very "focused" ... a clear point of lateral impact. Makes me think that a semi rig or something big whacked into the cement wall structure supporting that close side of the overpass. Must have been one nasty collision.

TJ


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

Well I can tell that is on some sort of an overpass. It looks like there could have been a land slide on that part and caused it to move. Could have been an earthquake. Could be a camera trick as you can see a lot of track that is out of focus so it could just be a normal curve but through camera tricks looks a lot sharper. Thats all I really have as an awnser to it. It could have always been photoshopped but evidence has proven otherwise at times. Could it be that ice has moved the rails in such a way since this is in a greenish area and could get snow possibly.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

This was taken back in Febuary 2011 in New Zealand after the big earthquake they had. This is where the fault line is (actually the fault line is where the bridge is) this picture shows just how far the land moved durring the quake.

Stuff like this is just mind boggling to me. It is incredible the amount of power to do that to the steel in a matter of seconds, yet the ties are wood and still intact, the rails are still in gauge. One would think that the steel would just twist and buckle while trying to stay in shape but this just shows that he steel stayed with the ground and changed it's shape. I wonder how hot the rails got durring this deformation?

Massey


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

I wonder where the rails managed to get enough slack to move that much. A little I could understand but that is several feet of deflection so the rail would have had to tighten up to allow that movement and still be in gauge.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

gc53dfgc said:


> I wonder where the rails managed to get enough slack to move that much. A little I could understand but that is several feet of deflection so the rail would have had to tighten up to allow that movement and still be in gauge.


I can only come up with 2 explainations:

1. There is a break in the rails that is out of the picture

2. The metal has been streached.

Either one is possible but with out being there on the scene it is impossible to determine.

Massey


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I am going to say the metal has streached to that shape. Here is why. Look at the way the rails are mounted to the ties. They are bolted down inside and out side which will make a very tight fit to the tie. Here in the US we either nail the tracks to the outside only or we use a spring clip on the inside and outside when using concrete ties. either one I would imagine the rails would be able to come loose from the ties in a situation like this. I could be wrong tho, look what happened with Hurricane Katrina, the tracks were washed off the bridge but stayed together.

Massey


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I've seen a number of these pictures with similar looks. They're done by earthquakes, at least all I've seen. There was a bunch of them posted a few months ago.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

There's one other explanation: the camera. If a photo is taken down a great length of track, it's possible for a lot of very widely-spaced, gradual deviations from straight to be visually compressed into a short span in the photo.



I have a much harder time explaining this, but when Big Ed decides he's gonna do something, there's no reasoning with him:


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Foreshortening:
Definition: Foreshortening occurs when an object appears compressed when seen from a particular viewpoint, and the effect of perspective causes distortion. Foreshortening is a particularly effective artistic device, used to give the impression of three-dimensional volume and create drama in a picture. 

Easily done with a telephoto lens.


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## prhea1st (Oct 13, 2011)

It is photoshopped- not real


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

I'm gonna say Photoshop!!!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

It can very well be real.

Earthquakes are a powerful source.

It has happened.
Rails can bend you know?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Reckers.....you think that guy is on the right track?:laugh:

He should have put the tunnel going into the back of his head.

I wonder what he did to his front?


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Wondering how the road bed stayed relatively straight in the first pic yet the rails are severely distorted?

The second pic looks like flood damage to me.


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## prhea1st (Oct 13, 2011)

Although possible, the two photos shown are photoshopped. I use photoshop every day and can tell you where the clues are that gives it away.



big ed said:


> It can very well be real.
> 
> Earthquakes are a powerful source.
> 
> ...


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

prhea1st said:


> Although possible, the two photos shown are photoshopped. I use photoshop every day and can tell you where the clues are that gives it away.


Are you saying this can't happen in an earthquake? If so, I'm saying you're wrong. 

You seem to think that someone went to the effort to photoshop all these photos? Railroad Track Earthquake Damage, I'm saying that's absurd.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

IN the pics above if you look at the road bed you can see where the ties used to be. The ground shifted which caused the tracks to bend but when the ground returned to its former location the tracks were not able to come back with. There have been many accounts of this all over the world, and it helped scientists plot fault lines back in the 1800s. The balast is dusturbed and pushed out of the nicely groomed bed. By the amount of balast thrown I am going to take an educated guess and say that the ground shifted to the west (in relation to the photo) first, that is where the balast is thrown the farthest. The next shift to the east was not as powerful and did not throw the balast as far. The whole system was then loosing energy and when it shifted back to the west it was not as fast or as powerful leaving the tracks more to the east. I would guess that this hole thing happened in about 5 to 10 seconds.

Massey


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Good thing there wasn't a train on the tracks at the time.


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## prhea1st (Oct 13, 2011)

2 of the 3 photos are photoshopped and have circulated the internet for years and are pretty well known photoshopped items.
And I never said it can't happen only that these photos in particular are not real. You are not the first to think them real nor will you be the last.
There are numerous photos that are. Just not these.



gunrunnerjohn said:


> Are you saying this can't happen in an earthquake? If so, I'm saying you're wrong.
> 
> You seem to think that someone went to the effort to photoshop all these photos? Railroad Track Earthquake Damage, I'm saying that's absurd.


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

Those are all photoshopped. A earthquake does happen but the ground would show signs of the rails moving more than the little bit of rocks on each side. these were all photoshopped.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

x_doug_x said:


> these were all photoshopped.


Right, and I should believe you why?


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## prhea1st (Oct 13, 2011)

One of the photos I think is real for the record. The one where there is elevated disturbance and twisted track, There are two that have horizontal movement only under the train tracks(unlikely if not impossible) and not the earth past the ballast areas on either side.(the photo is cropped so as not to show too much of this) The earth would have substantial movement on both sides and not just under the tracks and track bed. The side that shows blown out would have the opposite reaction directly opposite of the blown out areas.(It is straight) Lastly, the photos have circulated for years and have also been used in photoshop classes not the least of which I have attended myself. You can google it and see for yourself and you will find it within photoshopped archives as examples. 




gunrunnerjohn said:


> Right, and I should believe you why?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I suspect some may be photoshopped, my comment was addressing the contention that all were fakes.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I will try to fine the helichopter fly over of the first pic I posted. It happened last Febuary in New Zealand, and it was all over the news. The helichopter was flying over the fault line and this was not the only thing to show odd damage like this. There is a building that was split in half and offset by about 2 feet. A bunch of odd stuff can happen in an earthquake.

Massey


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

A good friend of mine lives in a tiny town called Lyttelton, some miles SE of Christchurch in NZ. The Feb 2011 quake epicenter was pretty much smack-dab in his backyard. He's described to me how things moved around like giant bowls of jello, including massive building foundations, train tracks, etc. Mother Nature does have her nasty ways ...

TJ


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