The flat wheels are easy to explain actually. The leaves reduce friction between the track and the wheels. So when the brakes go on, the wheels are quickly stopped by the brakes, but the train isn't, so it slides along the track. It's this sliding of wheel against track that causes flat points.
It's the same in the UK - they used to cut down any trees growing alongside railway lines. No trees long the sides of the railway -> not many leaves on the railway lines. Not any more....
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Originally Posted by Slite
It's incredible that the fact that the trees dropping their leaves in autumn (duuuhhh) manages to create chaos every single year, because the wheels of the trains keep slipping on the wet leaves, and because of that develop "flat spots".
I just can't get that equation through my head. Leaves = soft, train wheels = hard ... How the blazes can leaves on the track cause the wheels of the train to develop flat spots??????
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