It’s that time of the year when everyone in England stops complaining about how it’s raining all the time and instead turns their attention to how it’s way too hot and sweaty and they keep getting sunburnt.

Featured Image VIA

Usually this is just excessive hyperbole, but I think this year people might actually have a point. Not only is it predicted that the hottest temperature ever recorded in this country might be experienced this week, but it’s also apparently so hot in London that train tracks are bursting into flames.

A spark ignited tinder beams on the tracks in Battersea, causing services from Victoria to Brixton to be suspended until they were extinguished. Steve White, managing director of Southeastern Railway, shared the news via his Twitter account:

Thank you to @NetworkRailSE and the London Fire Brigade for responding promptly to a lineside fire this morning and allowing services to safely resume to Victoria 👇 pic.twitter.com/9ZYibliuyF

— Steve White (@SteveWhiteRail) July 11, 2022

Wheel timbers on the bridge caught fire – they are very dry as you would imagine and although we don’t know for sure, it’s possible a stray spark set them alight. An inspection has passed the line fit for operation but we’ll still be looking at whether they need replacing.

— Network Rail Kent & Sussex (@NetworkRailSE) July 11, 2022

That’s pretty grim isn’t it? At least nobody was hurt and the service sounds like it was resumed fairly quickly, but apparently there’s a load more danger associated with the heatwave and all the rail lines. Great.

Hot steel expands when it gets hot which can potentially lead to a buckled rail and hot weather can also lead to overhead power lines sagging which can again cause further delays. That’s before you even think about how stuffy and rank it’s going to be on a packed commuter train as well. Might be an idea to play that working from home card this week if it’s still available to you. Be kind to yourself.

For more of the same, check out when this lawyer’s pants mysteriously burst into flames during an arson trial. Bizarre.