Morton Salt is famous for its logo, shown above
Our pun here is based on the fact that earlier this week, a sprinkler system pipe burst in the Maine Street Station, above Scarlet Begonias and Byrnes Irish Pub, flooding both establishments. Reports are that it will take weeks (into months?) to repair the damages and reopen.
It occurred to us that Downeaster diesel locomotives stop in the ‘back dooryards’ of both restaurants, as shown in the photo above. Looks like no more than 20 feet or so away from the structure. The trains arrive, and the engine idles until it leaves, exposing the ground and the building to considerable vibration loading while it sits there. This happens multiple times a day, 365 days a year, and has been going on for more than 3 years now.
We can’t help but wonder whether this atypical vibration loading on the building structure and internal piping systems and such could be the cause of the pipe failure. The building is too new to think deterioration is the culprit. Vibration of this frequency over this long time span, at the very least, could put unusual stress on pipe fittings and junctions, we would think.
We also wonder whether building design and construction took this unusual vibration loading into account, and made appropriate adjustments to typical standards and reinforcements.
Only the Shadow knows for sure, and we’re confident that if the Downeaster and/or JHR enterprises are culpable in any way, we’ll never hear about it.
We wouldn’t want to spoil the perfect reputations of those who service our perfect town, would we?
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