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Oh no! The rails are on fire!!!!!! Actually, they're not, it is the rope soaked in diesel fuel in a plastic wrapper beside the track that is on fire! This was in an attempt to make the rail "stretch" to close a gap in the rail, and get it rebolted so trains could safely pass over it. The flare between the tracks is what was used to ignite the mixture!!!

At this "pull-apart" the rails were over 3/4 of an inch apart, joint bars on each side, and only 2 bolts in this rail, and none in the other. After the rail "stretched" long enough to get the "drift" (a steel conical spike) hammered into a bolt hole we put 5 new bolts into the joint, tightened them and were on our way again!

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