On 29/04/2021 10:20, David Batho wrote:
> That should be “shock”, not “sock”! Hopefully my post now makes more

> sense…

>

Damn!  I was hoping for Sydney Light Rail themed clothing.  Yarra trams
did hand out "Love Your Trams" t-shirts for a while.

Getting back to the topic - there's a simplified article about
electrolysis on the Melbourne Tram Museum website.

http://www.hawthorntramdepot.org.au/papers/electrolysis.htm

When the approach is to insulate the rails from the surrounding
environment there will be a small voltage difference between the rails
and surrounding objects connected to the 'real ground'.  If there was no
voltage difference then you would not need electrolysis mitigation.

However, it will be small so the risk of anything more than a slight
tingle is minimal.

Mal Rowe in a city that used the 'boot' on curves to provide rail
resilience prior to the introduction of the current track laying techniques