Why The Polar Express would Explode
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 พ.ค. 2024
- Have you ever watched the movie, The Polar Express? Well, have you ever considered the fact that The Polar Express could potentially explode, completely wiping out everyone on board? If so, sit back and relax as I show you the facts behind why the Polar Express probably wouldn't have been able to make it to the North Pole!
This video is a revise/update to the previous video of the Polar Express I did last year. You can check out that video by clicking here: • What if the Polar Expr...
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Thank you for all the comments and support! Apart from a few comments, many of you are very kind and bring up points that I would have never thought of when making this video. Please know that this video in particular was done only for good fun, I didn't expect this video to blow up (but here we are).
Many of you brought up points that disagree with the fact that the Polar Express would explode. It's great to see many of you thinking outside of the box, I love the idea of discussion and responded to many of them already. however, I keep seeing the same points brought up over and over. To make things easier, here is a list of points many of you make that I already responded to:
1. The water would stick to the back of the locomotive due to the engine going downhill
- While it's true that water will stick to a surface if enough force is applied to it, it does not apply to the movie. The only way for water to stick to the back of the engine as it's going downhill is for the Polar Express to be accelerating faster than the velocity of a falling object on earth (aka gravity). There is evidence of this NOT happening in the movie. As the train crests the hill and goes downward, the speed alone would have launched both the Hobo and the Boy off of the roof of the car due to the sudden acceleration. In other words, the locomotive would need to accelerate from its near stopping point at the top of the hill to more than ~9.81 m/s^2 (32 ft/s^2) or 21.8 miles an hour compounding exponentially per second. This would also mean that as the locomotive rushes down the hill, (assuming that the locomotive is attached to the track) both the Hobo and the boy would float away from the train since again, the locomotive would need to be accelerating faster than the velocity of gravity. This does not happen in the movie and therefore we can deduce that the water in the boiler does not stick to the firebox as the locomotive goes downhill.
2. The Engineer and Fireman could have completely filled the boiler with water before going down the hill
- Filling the entire boiler with water would mean there would be no place for steam. The Engineer and Fireman will always leave space in the boiler for steam to pressurize. If there is too much water in the boiler then water might enter the regulator and destroy the cylinders in the process. Water, unlike steam, does not compress and will essentially blow out the cylinder heads if they enter into the cylinder. This is why you will almost always see steam coming out of the cylinders whenever a steam locomotive is starting up. That is the Engineer opening the cylinder cocks to allow for any leftover water to exit the cylinder.
3. It's a Magic Train
- Yes it is, I'm glad we watched the same movie
4. Boiler Fusible Plugs
- Some people were confused in the video since I got a few of my steam locomotive terminology wrong here, thank you for the corrections in the comments. Fusible Plugs are designed to let water (which instantly vaporizes into steam) into the firebox to put out the fire to prevent a boiler explosion. From the information I found online, they worked but usually didn't help much with putting out the fire. It was more used as a warning system that the water level was too low for the engineer and fireman instead of a preventative measure. What I meant to refer to was the Crown Stays. Crown Stays in some boilers can be used to prevent it from exploding by only allowing a certain part of the crown sheet to fail rather than the entire component, leading to a full-on explosion. When this happens, it causes a backdraft inside of the firebox, sending steam from the boiler into the cab. It's not the best situation for the Fireman and Engineer, but it's better than the entire. locomotive blowing up.
Chris with a K is a channel I do for fun on the side. I don't have the time to respond back to all the comments on the videos, but I will try my best to respond to the ones on this thread.
Thank you again for watching, Happy New Years!
Duet 12: 1-4
1:07 "when we, when we get there, thr polar express!" **Angel noises**
This magical train uses science beyond our understanding, but the engine uses inertia dampeners and artificial gravity.
This scared me 😖
@@Choochookid7470 I worry for humanity... its a kids show.
Steam locomotive crews working in the Rockies would routinely raise the water level considerably in the boiler before descending steep grades, to avoid the risk of running a “dry crown sheet”. The crew of the Polar Express ran that run enough to be aware of the danger involved with that grade and act accordingly. Just an observation from a professional boilerman….
The grades in the movie clip are far beyond too steep for that engine to operate on. The boiler would have to be like 95% water to keep the crown sheet covered on the downhill. At that level, the water would overwhelm the steam pipe in the steam dome, and flood the engine with water, blowing the heads off the cylinders.
Curious since the train is in deep winter would climate temperatures affect the boiler in that grade?
The grade is insane, there's no amount of water that sould save it. It would also be impossible to climb on rail without racks, but let's keep that aside for a moment.
On top of that, before trhe downhill section I reckon the engine would prime (which means, water gets in the steam pipes to the pistons; the regulator valve is in a dome above the boiler exactly for that reason, to prevent any water getting on it, but with the boiler barrel angled as much as shown in the movie there's no saving). That's VERY bad, because it would jam it open and you'd lose control of the throttle. Search Blue Peter to get an idea of what happens in those circumstances.
I also reckon the firebox would fail during said climb: with the engine under such stress you'd have to shove in coal non stop to maintain power, but at that angle not only the coal on fire would pour out of the hatchet if you'd dare to open it, you wouldn't be able to cover all its area even if it had some kind of impossible design made to contain the fire in at crazy angles. Uneven fire distribution would weaken the grate.
@@the_dudeabides complete impact would depend on the thermal conductivity of whichever metal or alloy is being used. But the boiler and piping would have to be highly insulated otherwise you would have water pooling in the pistons.
What about killing the fire before they go down the hill? If the downhill grade is steep enough, is that an option?
In conclusion.
The Polar express is built different.
It's a series of V12 diesel engines with a holographic fire-display for entertainment and educational purposes 💪
Made outta that magic bro
Built different built stupid
Unbeknownst to him, there’s actually a scene where a flux capacitor is shown for 2 seconds.
And the best plot patch in the land:
CHRISMASS MAGIC
So in back to the future, part three when the boiler exploded while it was still on the tracks in real life, it would’ve shredded Dr. Brown and Clara?!
Theres alot of factors that dictate what kind of boiler explosion you can have, but overall, they would either be blown a couple hundred feet away or shredded apart lol
@@ChriswithaK great video
I don’t think that was a boiler explosion. That was just the third log kicking in. You can see the boiler explode after the train leaves the tracks, about half a second before it hits the ground.
By the time the boiler exploded as #131 tumbled off the trestle, Doc had already rescued Clara on the hoverboard. All the business with the rivets popping and the flames rolling out the stack was the #3 presto log kicking in and beginning to overheat/overpressurize the boiler.
Doc being Doc, I figure he screwed the safety valves shut to ensure the locomotive would get up enough pressure to go 88mph, but I'm also fairly sure he would've turned the injectors on before he left the cab to ensure the boiler didn't run dry prematurely either.
It looked like the logs had some extra spice in them to give the fire more power, making a fuel explosion in the fire box would definitely give a good effect, maybe not to much to Blox the firebox to pieces, but it would blow out of every gap and create a lot of heat...maybe not to the extend of what was in the movie...but it could look similar.
7:07
And that's why mountain climbing engines like the ones at the Mt. Washington Cog have tilted boilers! When climbing up a 27% grade they need their boilers to match the incline of the mountain so the engine doesn't explode
Or at least the firebox has to always be on the downhill end.
The other option is to have a flash boiler.... that intentinoally does what the cause of the problem is in the video by separating the steam supply from the water container and injecting the water at the rate you wish to create steam.
truly interesting thank you
Hey, I’ve ridden that one. It was pretty cool.
Since the polar express is made to run that route. It might be possible that some design considerations had been taken to make the train capable of surviving those angles.
Like a tilted boiler that someone else mentioned.
@@kevinmencer3782 what about a tilting boiler.
@@kevinmencer3782 tilting boiler wouldn't really be necessary for the upgrades, the horizontal boiler would affectively turn into a vertical boiler, of course you'd have to fire from an odd angle but you wouldn't suffer an explosion, on the downgrade however they would have to kill the fire almost entirely and let the locomotive drift downgrade (considering how hard the locomotive would be working on the upgrade the fire would be completely gone by the time the reached the top anyway) of course this would be easier to do on an oil burner but still possible with a coal burner. Really Thought if your going up or down a grade that steep you probably have bigger fish to fry considering you'd probably go tumbling head over heals down the mountain lol.
I do have to wonder if the speed at which the polar express was going would have been enough to force the water in the back. (kinda like spinning a opened water bottle and having the water stay at the bottom rather than spilling out)
even if the polar express did explode it propably did not kill everyone with a blast radius of 50 feet the front car of toy parts would protect the kids, i coulden't find the acctual length of the cars but they were Aprox 75 feet and only the boiler would expold not the tender so the blast would not reach the kids. would the derail-ment hurt Absolutly yes Fatlae I dout it. (Sorry for my bad spelling)
the melting plugs in the crown sheet are a warning system to the crew, rather than a preventative measure, as engines have exploded with those things melted through.
It gives a bit of protection, since the Hotspot gets bend down and separates the top layer from the flames.
But yes, you are already in trouble when that happens and when you ignore the signs you dead.
i still find that black and white thumbnail with the exploded train creepy
@@stanleybochenek1862
It's a real image, you can hear the story from Qxir. It was pretty devastating.
You forgot the tunnel. The boiler would have exploded right as they entered the tunnel amplifying the blast as it had only two directions to travel. The momentum of the wreck would have pulled the unshredded cars inside the tunnel which is now a furnace.
Brutal
It’d be cool to see a video of all the necessary implications the polar express would need in order to operate in reality. Considering that canonically the Polar express also strangely has a working flux capacitor, seen just after the gold pin flies off the throttle.
Wait what?!
Robert Zemeckis loves to include things like that in his films
It's ridiculous to assume the train is actually steam-powered. It manipulates time and glides on top of ice. It's powered purely by Christians spirit, with a boiler for show.
I’d like to think it was designed by Doc Brown, (Christopher Lloyd also plays Santa in a few films) but this movie takes place the late 50s
@@benmoore2253 Since when is time an issue for Doc Brown? :D
the hill is so steep that the 1225 wouldn't have even been able to climb it. still pretty good analysis though.
There’s a lot of elements I skipped over since I only wanted to focus on the boiler explosion, it was just a fun idea I had while watching the movie as a kid
oh hey!
Yeah no amount of “I think I can” is going to get that iron horse over that hump.
That grade is so steep, the Shays wouldn't have even been able to climb in such icy conditions.
This is a fun video. The explosion is not caused by the water instantly turning to steam when reaching the firebox. Since we are talking about a modern (mid 20th century) Berkshire locomotive, the explosion becomes more interesting. What actually causes those explosions is the sudden cooling of the crownsheet which causes a crack. The water in the boiler is already under extreme pressure so it remains in liquid form even past the boiling point. When that crack forms, the pressure has a means of escape and with the sudden decrease in boiler pressure, all of the water, which is already well above the boiling point, instantly turns to steam and escapes through that crack turning the boiler inside out and launching it into the air.
Thank you for the actual scientific explanation! Video was good but he was vague due to ignorance in some areas
You know, giving that this is a known train with a very reliable arrival time, you probably would have a rescue team sent out pretty much immediately, so realistically you could have a team of elves out in 3-4 hours, allowing for the possible survival of some children.
The children would die quite quickly from the cold because 1 it is night so it is a lot colder, 2 they are wearing nightclothes so they have very little insulation against the cold so by the time any search party got to them all they would find are frozen dead bodies
Children are smaller than adults therefore succumb to exposure faster. Considering that grown adults develop hypothermia at -50f/-45c within five minutes before succumbing within the hour children in their night clothes have no chance.
Even if they huddled in mass next to the hot coals of the blown out boiler that would buy them maybe an hour at best before the beyond freezing open air rips the heat from the coals, then their bodies.
Santa was fully aware of what was happening he also knew his engineers, despite how bumblingly stupid they seem at first, had the entire thing under control.
Well to be fair during the scene on glacier gulch, the G-force from the engine going down that area would have done somekind of damage.
Yeah, I have a feeling this train isn’t made to go *230* mph pushing *7* gs
Well I feel like a train wouldn't function very well on a GODDAMN ROLLERCOASTER
Not to mention you'd have the equivalent of going past the red line on a car, unless you have a sort of governor
The engine would probably start suffering from the side effects of excessive G force after everyone is in a coma from the sudden whiplash tho
Well we are not sure what kind of magic is on that train, it could have some kind of magic stabilizer that cancels out extreme G forces on the inside as well as stuff that helps to nullify part of the weight on the ice which is one reason why it did not break immediately.
maybe the engineers prepared for this and filled the boiler with water to its limit so if the water sloshed to the front there would still be enough water to say cover half the crown sheet at least giving enough cooling until the train reaches the bottom of the hill
Considering they drove it on the ice like legends I'm gonna trust they know what they're doing
@@robcowboy2713 same
but there's a problem, your priming the boiler which is harmful to the valve and pistons as you'll wash away the lubricant and the water may fracture the cylinder head or pistons, so which is why i think with the polar express, theres a pipe at the front of the boiler, that pipe runs all the way over to the crown sheet, controlled by a electrical pump like in fish tanks feed, that when going down hill the pump will take the water at the front of the boiler and shower it over the crown sheet to atleast keep it cool
@@victoriamaynard722 fair enough although with that second part the pump would have to be pneumatically controlled since I don't think electric pumps that powerful existed when the movie took place
@@doge_sevens eh fair enough, probably powered like a westinghouse airbrake system
as a guy ho enjoys steam, this was very informative and correct info on how boilers can explode and the workings of a boiler.
But if the crownsheet weakens, that doesn't lead to a boiler explosion. At least, not in the way depicted by the pictures. Remember, for a boiler to explode, the thing that has to fail is the shell. The outer layer of steel. That is the actual pressure vessel. As the water comes back in contact with the firebox, some will evaporate and generate a pressure surge, however, since the water was all at the front, where much less heat is transfered. That means, steam production rate goes significantly low. Since the loco is still using her pistons (that means the steam consumption rate is the same), the pressure will decrease during all the time she's going down. Now as the water sloshes back, it'll create a pressure surge, as i said, BUT, since the pressure inside the boiles has gone down, and the water is pretty difficult to bring to a boil, i'd say the shell would be perfectly fine. Maybe some valve or piston damage, but no explosion.
What COULD happen is that the firebox's top weakens from high temperature changes. Basically, what happens when you pour hot liquids in a cold glass. The fast reduction of heat, combined with the extra stress from the pressure surge and the deformation that could occour while it was overheated, might lead to a failure, but of the firebox.
Which basicallly lets all the pressure from the boiler inside the firebox, and since the only way out of the firebox is directly inside the cabin...
Yeah, it's not a good scenario for the enginneer and fireman...
I actually based my theory/hypothesis on the 1977 Bitterfield Boiler Explosion and Ghettysburg firebox explosion. When it comes to overpressure and a boiler explosion, it's not the crown sheet vs shell giving away that determines whether or not the boiler explodes. When the water comes back to touch the overheated crown sheet it not only instantly increases the boiler pressure, but it also substantially weakens the crown sheet itself. In other words, regardless if the boiler does or does not get over-pressured from the water instantly evaporating into steam, the increased pressure combined with the rapid cooling of the crown sheet will cause it to fail. To clarify, it is not the boiler nor purely the pressure itself that fails during a boiler explosion, it is the weakened crown sheet and therefore the firebox that causes it.
When you say "since the pressure inside the boils has gone down, and the water is pretty difficult to bring to a boil" while on the surface it may make sense, it actually makes no sense at all. The water in the boiler becomes harder to boil as the pressure inside GOES UP. This is due to molecules in the water being pressed down together harder in a pressured environment. It is also the reason why the water in the vacuum of space will start to boil at room temperature. So as the pressure inside goes down, the amount of steam generated stays about the same (up until a certain point of course). Increased steam pressure will not damage valves or pistons. The only thing it will do is maybe set off the pop valve
What you explained in your second paragraph doesn't make sense since a failure of the firebox WILL lead to a boiler explosion. What I think you're confused with is the protection boilers use with crown stays. These are the supports for the boiler and in modern steam locomotives and are typically designed to prevent a complete failure of the crown sheet. They can allow for one part of the crown sheet to fail first before any other part causing only a small section to bulge out instead of the whole engine blowing up. What you described was a blowback/backdraft. This will happen when the integrity of the firebox stays in place, but the pressure from the boiler still manages to leak into the cab.
No, the engineer and fireman will likely be fine because at this point, they had left a little girl in charge of driving the train.
@@teenytinybricks even better
My understanding has been that a weakened crown sheet is the most common cause of boiler explosions. Low water is more dangerous to a boiler than high pressure, though the two are connected as steam generation increases exponentially as water levels decrease. If the fuseable plug fails to melt, the crown sheet weakens from the unregulated heat from the firebox below until it cannot handle the pressure of the steam above it. More often than not, this happens when water flows back over the crown sheet, instantly flashing to steam in a violent way. The thing to remember about boilers is that all of the water only remains in its liquid state due to pressure. It is well above the boiling point. This means when pressure drops from a rupture and the steam has a path out, all of the water flashes to steam. Steam takes up 1600, yes 16 Hundred times the volume of water. What happens next is basic, tragic chemistry that is capable of sending a engine that weighs upwards of 100 tons 25 feet in the air and sending hot shrapnel as far away as 1000 yards. Steam engines statistically are safer than US Highways, but as with any machine, they must be respected and understood to be run safely. When and engine is cold, it is owned. When an engine is being fired, it owns you. The second an engineer forgets that, you are headed for trouble.
It’s also mostly safety valves not being able to hold the pressure surge
man, really well put together video, but the train goes UP a hill, I think that's when all logic goes out the window lol, trains already struggle with hills so one of that scale is just bananas
This was made to be a fun video, not to over analyze every aspect of the movie
Maybe there's gears and a rack
Momentum exists too. That thing was running at far beyond its realistic speed already from the insane downhill beforehand. Should have enough force to make it over the smaller hill.
The Polar Express locomotive was based off of the Pere Marquette 1225, a locomotive that was mainly used on the Nickel Plate Berkshire railroad lines here in the USA. Looking at the movie the way they designed it seems slightly modified from the original, but it's one of my favorite steam locomotives from when I was a child. My uncle introduced me to railfanning when I was very young, so even though I'm not into it as much anymore, it's always cool to me relearning these things about American steam locomotive history. The railroads were what originally was the backbone of the United States and it's economy. Lovely video
The movie does a fairly good job of depicting 1225 as it looks in the book it's based on. The book is based on Pere Marquette 1225, but with a bit of artistic license... and many years between it being seen in person and when it was drawn, Van Allsburg played on 1225 when it was on display at Michigan State... a minimum of 16 years before the book was illustrated. The biggest change and only thing of significance is the enlarged pilot up front. In all the model train version, that and a bit of piping detail is all that is changed from a standard Berkshire model. I like the look, but the O gauge models I have do a great job of showing an issue this video doesn't consider... that extended point hits the third rail on any significant grade, and would hit the roadbed and ties in real life on a steep grade change.
Because it's impossible for a Berkshire to go down a 129 degree grade without crashing at the bottom and exploding on impact.
Given that 129 degrees is about as steep as Takabisha or Shellraiser, wouldn't the train fall off the track?
@@alaeriia01 yes
The Bitterfeld boiler explosion happened in 1977, not 1997. At that time, Bitterfeld still was part of the German Democratic Republic, or simply East Germany, which was a Eastern Bloc state and due to its economical situation was still running steam engines regularly.
Admittedly the grades on the track in the movie are way steeper than anything a real steam locomotive could handle, and the curves are so tight the train literally snakes around the mountain (something no real, and quite rigid, steam boiler could ever do.)
Also a bit of a pet peeve that the throttle is pushed to be opened instead of pulled.
Do I still like the movie? Yup. Who wouldn't want a steam locomotive that was all powerful and could go anywhere? Galaxy Express 999 appeals for the same reason. Steam train in space!
This was more of a fun video if anything else, it wasn't supposed to make anyone resent the movie.
@@ChriswithaK
I get that, no worries. Ultimately get it that it's a fun holliday film as well, just can't help the inner steam nut chiming in sometimes.
Ultimately don't resent the film at all, it's one of my favorite Christmas movies. One of the little things I liked was the Lionel train under the tree at the end of the movie. It's a short blink-and-you'll miss it thing, but it's a nice nod to Christmases of yesteryear (and today, have a Lionel under my tree).
Needless to say the film really gave Lionel a shot in the arm, the Polar Express is one of its best selling themes for train sets and so on for years now.
Glacier Gulch is listed as a 129° grade.
For comparison, this is a 121° grade: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takabisha#/media/File%3ATakabisha_under_construction_3.jpg
You will notice that the train, which is not locked to the track like a roller coaster is, would fall off.
@@ChriswithaK yeah no i get it; just could have been slightly better researched, that’s all; still, overall good job! :)
My great grandfather died in the boiler explosion of a freight train in South Carolina around the turn of the century. Investigators surmised that they may have underestimated how low they were on water when they attempted to pump fresh water into the hot boiler on a stop.
Pieces of the engine were found up to a quarter mile away.
That all said, the potential for the boiler of the Polar Express to blow never occurred to me while watching the movie.
But what has always did itch me a bit while watching the movie was how the engineers guided the engine back to the tracks when it left the ice, powering the wheels like a skid steer.
I know it's just a fun kid's movie, so I've always let it go.
But this was the most glaring issue I had with the mechanics of the engine.. those axles are 100% solid, and the left side wheels cannot turn without the right side wheels in the same direction.
It made for a very cool scene of course, watching the engineer switching the valves around to reverse the wheels on one side or the other, but just made no realistic sense to anybody who understands the basics of railroad engine construction.
They probably put differential steering into the Polar Express in case something like the ice scene happened.
@wta1518 the problem is a steam engine *doesnt function* if the wheels arent linked. The cylinders and wheels are clocked so that there is at least one cylinder pushing in a positive direction at all times, with four distinct chuffs per revolution of the wheel. Unlinked wheelsets like whats shown in the movie would be physically incapable of starting the train, because as soon as one side dead-centered at either the forwards or backwards position, the other wheelset would start slipping instead of pushing against the stuck wheels. It would be like if your bike had independent pedals, there would be no way to get the other side back into a position of power stroke again.
@@callsignapollo_ Who said there can't be a second set of pistons on each wheel to overcome that?
This gets me thinking. What if the boiler had a water pump that could pump water from the bottom of the boiler to the firebox crown as to prevent it from going dry even with low water in the boiler?
Some locomotives did have water tubes which drew water from near the bottom of the boiler with an exit in the crown sheet. There were a few different designs which were called syphons or circulators. They were used to increase boiler efficiency and any safety improvements were incidental. No pumps were used to force water through these devices, they had no moving parts. Water in the circulator/syphon would heat up and rise, spilling out at the top while drawing in the relatively colder water from the bottom of the boiler. But an exposed crown sheet could still heat up faster than the water flow could control it.
A Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-6, locomotive #1642, "blew up" due to low water in 1953. It was equipped with 3 huge syphons in the firebox, but the crown sheet still ruptured. The expanding steam from the explosion exited through the firebox and lifted the boiler off the frame, flinging it in a cartwheel over to land upside-down in front of the rest of the locomotive.
These explosions are not due to the water suddenly heating. When the crown sheet ruptures the boiler pressure is released. This lowers the boiling point of the water, which tries to turn into steam immediately. The sudden expansion of water into steam is the explosion.
@@steveboguslawski114 darn, well scratch that idea I guess
This was fun. Hypothetically, if the regulator can work almost directly from the steam injector then assuming you had 3/4 of a glass of water in the boiler as you crested the hill you could run with the injectors fully open all the way down the hill without melting the fusible plugs and without over filling the boiler. Still a very risky situation of course 😂 but I reckon I could do it 😁🚂
"I want to go FULL THROTTLE down this hill. Do you understand me!?"
It’s hilarious how something that sounds absurd on paper (going full throttle down hill certainly sounds nuts) is actually a necessity for fear of death in practice. It’s like when you have a ship listing from taking on water. Logic says taking on even more water is insane. However counter flooding is mandatory technique to avoid having the ship capsize entirely.
What if, since it’s a magic train, the boiler was 100% full, that the water wouldn’t slosh around? 🤯
One thing I’ve learned after taking industrial safety courses in college, are that pressure vessels, i.e. boilers, are no joke. They need to be maintained regularly. Cause well, explosions. Numerous cases of boilers being over pressured and launching the tank and shrapnel into low earth orbit have been documented.
Although I will say it’s a slightly different scenario with boilers. With boiler explosions, it’s a result of letting pressure build up to far (which is still possible in steam engines) but the case made in the video is where water sloshes back onto a hot piece of metal, instantly flashing the water into steam.
The key takeaway here is how much water expands when heated. I think it’s like 1600 times the volume of liquid water. When that happens, pressure builds immensely and cause cause all kinds of catastrophic failure.
That being said, the polar express is a magic train.
I heard when doing research that melting the safety plugs of a steam locomotive was the worst shame for a locomotive engineer, here in france, there was the special expression "faire fondre les plombs", which translates into "to melt the leads (plugs)", this expression stayed well after the age of steam locomotive, as the expression begun being used in electricity when someone makes the fuses blow up, and now the little derived expression is "péter les plombs" which means to go rampage
Awesome video! I have a Historical Boilers License to operate historical steam engines and boilers. I was actually thinking the same thing when watching the movie this past December lol. Keeping the crown sheet covered is ALWAYS #1 priority. I was thinking the Polar Express would also explode because the operators left kids in the cab to tend the fire. The kids talked about adding coal and where the “breaks” were, but never discussed injecting water. 😂
8:28 The part when you added the Canaan is hilarious it fits perfectly
I admire the attempt to explain why a train that ran without a track, could climb 80 degree gradients and was Tokyo drifted on ice would actually explode.
I choose to beleive the "boiler" actually houses a fusion reactor to power the gravity field generators. This would explain why the train doesn't need a track or even obey the laws of physics. The appearance of the "train" is just to comfort and amuse the children. The coach cars are just regular train cars that are indrectly affected by the "steam engines" gravity drive, hence why they can partially defy traditional physics from time to time.
@@ChaseKongoogleplus Now that’s something I’d believe
With how many times the kids have wanted to watch this movie the past few weeks an explosion wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
I believe why the polar express didn’t explode, it’s because the locomotive has some kind of cooling system that goes right to the fireboxes and has a lever that opens and the closes a hatch where the cold air is going right to the hot fireboxes and when the steam engine goes faster and faster it opens by the the higher train speed automatically
I mean, there are literally safety systems built for this kind of thing IRL. So it’s not hard to believe that a train that runs on literal magic wouldn’t have a far more superior safety system than that, or at the very least somewhat equal to them lol
1:35 This train I believe is the Pere Marquette. The inspiration for the Polar Express.
Thats is correct!
Minor detail: it’s not THE Pere Marquette, but rather just a Pere Marquette locomotive, number 1225 to be specific.
@@indiscriminaterailfan By Lima Locomotive Works.
@@SanityLoser Yes.
Yes 1225 was the basis for the locomotive in the Polar Express but with a few changes.
I think the biggest detail that u miss is the train accelerates very quickly down the hill probably pulling some G's which would keep the water from just sloshing forward as if the train was still and tipped forward
I was thinking this, and looking for this comment. But I don't know enough about the structure of the boiler to know whether that inertia would keep enough water over the crown sheet or not.
My new favorite youtuber! hell yeah bro ‼️
Ringo: But luckily no one was hurt
Nice to see something like this from someone who was a Railfan as a child.
The Polar Express sure is a magical train.
Thanks for making me remember one of my childhood movies I used to play all december!
thanks for dismantling my number #1 favorite childhood movie, whether or not it was christmas. in fact, this movie introduced me to a never ending love for trains
This is really professional. You did a great Job!
well yes but it wasnt 1997 he doesnt know the german rule that they count backwards it was 1979 and not 1997.
@@mr.atomic2970 well that’s a simple mistake. I didn’t know that they counted backwards either
@@BMMEC6000 yea ik it isnt well known if u arent a german speaker.
Your applying real world physics to a Magical train. A train that literally summons it's own track into existence to go places with no rail tracks the prior hour.
Thank you! I always find these sort of things where people take an obviously magical thing, and try to apply conventional science to it.
I really don't understand why people hate the visuals so much. a
As a child I never felt scared of the faces. The uncanny valley thing is overblown.
From the title and thumbnail I burst out laughing, and from the first few minutes I was still laughing. Great Video!
This is great as an engineer in training revisiting old stories I grew up with it's interesting to see what mayhem would accrue when we apply full modern day logic to them.
What if, the crew had known about the route and knows to kill off the fire right at the summit and let the train start to coast down the line and restart the fire in the firebox?
It takes hours to cool the firebox down and more hours still to bring it back up to heat.
@@Hammerandhearth I would suggest if the crownsheet was already soaked in water when it climbs the hill, it would be able to stay relatively cool for some time, if the crew put off the fire the temperature in the firebox should stay around like 400-600C with opened firebox hatch, well below the level crownsheet could be weakened, I don't think when they coast down the hill they can't be start adding fresh coat and wait a little bit to relighting the fire, using the basically still hot crownsheet, but not instantly blow out level of heat, to turn enough steam to powering the engine with lesser pressure of steam to continue the journey.
That is a true statement, if you kill the fire and expose the crown sheet thereafter, the risk of a crown sheet failure drops immensely. It’s the raw heat of the fire hitting the top of the unprotected firebox that causes the failure to begin with.
In WDW’s Railroad, they have a system that will kill the fire if the water gets too low
So In a nutshell the reason why explode is that too much water into the firebox = steam = increased density making it explode since not enough room to to fit all the steam
@@macapia3148 basically yes and not enough discharge volume to get rid of it fast enough. If you've ever heard of an autoclave they are basically a massive tank with a locking door that holds steam to treat parts at high pressure. Much larger than any locomotive they sometimes explode destroying entire buildings.
Bro i Just discovered your Channel I LOVE IT you're doing a great Job greetings from Italy ❤️✌🏻
Plot twist: The polar express has coolant in the heating area but not too much coolant.
I had a feeling there was more to the train going over those roller coaster tracks. But I never could never figure it out, but thanks to this video now I realize what it was.
btw there is a flux compacter on the train you can see it in one Sean
Awesome video with some excellent technical information re steam locomotives. We are always allowed a suspension of disbelief for these movies, but your analysis on this was great!
Excellent video, the type of fun stuff I always like to see more of on TH-cam.
My personal explanation though? The clearly hyper-competent engine crew put out and de-heat the firebox on the way up the hill with just the right timing to ensure they crest the top but don't have the heat to explode when they reach the bottom. Must be a hell of a maneuver to pull of every Christmas Eve, though.
The polar expressed spawned my fear of trains. Immensely powerful, unstoppable forces you can’t get off of. The multiple times the kids are holding onto this death machine for dear life, like when they’re speeding down this roller coaster mountain thing, and the cracking ice, and the caboose detaching with the kids inside, just praying they don’t fall into the void, their fate in the hands of a giant, incomprehensible power that is not alive, and will not save them. AND THE TIMES WHEN THEY’RE RUNNING ON THE ROOF. THE SNOW COVERED ROOF THAT WILL JUST LET THEM SLIP OFF AND DIE. DIE A SPEEDY, HORRIBLE DEATH.
Ya I can get that, I started liking steam locomotives more because of the movie
@@ChriswithaK I have a respect for how cool and sophisticated and powerful they are, but when a train goes by I run. Too loud.
I love how he uses real footage of the actual basis of the polar express
Wow! Great video.
So what I’m hearing is that the protagonist is diving fast first directly into a perfectly timed cataclysmic explosion. I can’t help but picture the fireball scene from T2, thanks for that
I'd imagine the Polar Express would have a water scoop like the GWR meaning the boiler would be too full to fail. Moor likely the cylinders flood and the draincocks freeze, leaving them strended.
As interesting and informative as this video is, and as real life physics and steam operation are true; I can’t help but think back to the original theme of the movie and arc of our hero boy where he shows some evidence of doubting life at the north pole and the whole Christmas package, yet the hobo tells him, “seeing is believing.” And of course, our hero boy goes through the entire arc of his entire adventure to where he only comes to terms that he simply needs to believe in the spirit of Christmas to which Saint Nicholas confirms besides hearing the bells ring. “The true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart.” That is the timeless theme I will always remember from the movie.
And at the same time, it’s great to be further informed on the operation of steam engines.
Before actually watching, calling it now: it’s either because we never see them stop to refuel and take on water, so they should’ve run out, or it’s because on multiple occasions we see it on very steep grades that could very likely expose the crown sheet.
Epic and interesting video!
Theory: The polar expresses fire box was contained in an airtight water filled tank keeping the fire box's outside from reaching a too high a temperature. Probably explaining why the train was so long
you know someone is about to get nerdy when Alphy's theme starts
What's the other two songs again?
@@blaster1185 1 alphys 2 idk 3 true lab 4 the core
I forgot this movie existed, and I remember how much I loved it. Simpler times.
The water doesn't flow to the front of the engine because its accelerating as fast as the locomotive is
Not true, as seen in the movie they’re not accelerating fast enough. If that were the case, all the characters would have been immediately launched upwards as they crested the hill
The Polar express is based off a Real locomotive (the 1225 Pere Marquette)
Aside The Main locomotive that everybody uses as a Photo for videos or Being heard as a SCP because of its boiler explosion is the Chessiepeak & Ohio T-1 locomotive
ohio? nice
Not real Ohio
@@interstellar_.4. Indeed the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad, A serving railroad since 1869
It's really spelled *Chesapeake* & Ohio since I accidentally spelled the first half wrong
B&O > C&O
5:35 then. the boiler explodes
The pics of the broken train was so funny and the comparisons 😆😂
Cool!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Wouldn't the inertia keep the water in the back of the boiler even during the uphill? Of course, it wouldn't last the whole way up, but it would still help.
So glad I saw this after Christmas
I appreciate you using primarily shots of a Berkshire to keep accurate to the polar express.
Debunk: The Locomotive Boiler is Completly filled
And
It's magic
And that’s the final nail in the coffin
@@lordseelenfresserdemonking1168 EXACTLY!
Then the locomotive would “lift” the water sucking it into the steam chest and the pistons. You’d see water being thrown out the stack
If you completely fill the boiler you will literally blow the cylinders apart. Unlike steam, water does not compress so as the cylinder heads move back and forth with water in them, the only place they can go is outward. This has happened a few times on the railroad, the one that comes to mind is Blue Peter
Imagine the real 1225 explode
That would be crazy
That would be sad 😔
Not just sad just tragic
Brother how do you not have more subs that was fantastic
idk how this guy doesn't have more subscribers
This video is actually very interesting! I’m glad you mentioned it was a magic train because I’m sure someone (totally not me) would have gone on a small tirade about how it’s a magic train. It would be very interesting to see what it’d be like to see how the Polar Express would go kaboom! The video gets a big old nuke to the like button from me! 👍
Maybe the reason the polar express did not explode in the movie is because of the force of going down may have pushed the water in the back
Guess the guy doesn't know his laws if physics. 😑
@@RyohuHajimeRX-0UnicornGundam I guess
@doghara Since coal is more denser than water, it takes more force to move it.
The Polar Express didn’t explode cuz it’s a Movie lol, they’re not gonna show kids and body parts flying around. As for the water, the train crested the hill at a low speed. If you watch the clip I put in, they don’t get lifted up until they start going down. That’s because they went over the hill slow and started accelerating after they started going down. If you apply your logic to the movie, everybody including the engineer and fireman would have been thrown back to the back of the engine which didn’t happen
I’m honestly so surprised people don’t understand this, I thought it was super simple so I didnt even include it in the video. Guess I was wrong lol
@Ryan Hayes That is true, but the coal in the engine is much lighter than the engineer, fireman and characters in front of the locomotive. It’s a true statement but it is not true in the sense of the movie
And so the algorithm brings together 2 Chris with a K's.
I drove 5" and 10" steam locomotives in a circuit in the mountain for years and i can say that for sure would be a massive explosion xDDDD super nice video i like It so much and you have veeeery good vibes, instant sub :)
0:01 that's my reaction when I saw this beautiful looking locomotive 0:53
As someone who goes to see the real life Polar express eever year, I can confirm that every so many years the drain is down for extensive maintenance (probably to remove that scale stuff)
Love the accident part!
Thank you TH-cam recommendations
2023 needs a Polar Express/Snow Piercer crossover
Finally someone explains why a train going at a 45° angle is unrealistic.
I remember my dad saying something: "Never let the facts ruin a good story." however this is a good video, nice job.
Y’a know I saw a video about boiler explosions a while back and watched that movie last night… I had this exact thought.
😂😂 😬 Jayzuz...that ended so darkly. 🤘
Edit:
The East German crew had a locomotive change because the locomotive they had before was broken.
So they take the reserve in Berlin, but with the locomotive they didn't look for the water only for coal. So they drove to Bitterfeld.
The accident was then covered up by the Stasi.
I remember the channel history in the dark did that.
@@kevwebb2637 I think he had make a video about it, but i know about this accident from the good german Train TV shows :D
wanted to add the same comment, it really was neglect by crew and not time constraint by company.
@@balin1600 Yes there was no time pressure at DR
one thing i think would be different is that there would probably not be any survivors that could be coming out of the train. After the locomotive explodes it would most likely make the cars derail and slam into the mountain. At the speed the train probably had at that point the impact would have had so much force that the cars would be ripped off of their bogies and compressed to at least half of the trains original length making the chance of survival pretty small.
Amazing
I would bet money that the crew would have been able to anticipate the water moving, and manage the temperature of the firebox accordingly.
I liked the video, just had to agrue a little :P
Funnily enough, when you named that example of the accident in Bitterfeld, you were the first person like ever to mention my hometown
At first I was thinking it would explode because the cold would weaken the steel and that would cause something to fail so therefore steam explosion. I was not expecting the real reason to be the train nuking everything because of the water shifting when going down that hill.
Great video, I was going to suggest maybe they put the fire out when they got to the top of the hill, but there is still clearly smoke coming out of the engine, so I guess it's just movie magic.
Of course, that's assuming the engineer fails to respond to the level in his sight glass dropping, and adding more water from the tinder to fill the void in time.
'Tis magic, Chris T. Mas.
I’d love to see a Polar Express: Explosion Cut. It’d be a very short movie!
Dude, you made my pitch-black heavy metal heart so happy 😎
That was the best 11 minutes of my life