Poway-Midland Railroad Volunteer Named Finalist in Google’s Global Science Fair

Although he’s only 14, Daniel Arnold is a longtime good Samaritan and his knowledge of Poway’s old steam train has paid off.

Daniel—a Scripps Ranch resident who has volunteered with his father every Saturday at since he was 4—is one of only 15 finalists who have been chosen for The Google Global Science Fair 2011.

Selected out of 7,500 entrants from throughout the world, Daniel will present his project, How We Got Off Track: Functional Comparison of Railroad Switch Designs and Derailments, to a panel of acclaimed scientists, including Nobel laureates and tech visionaries, at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. on Monday.

And the idea that scored him a seat at the finals formed out of volunteering at the beloved locomotive at Old Poway Park.

Daniel, who said he is “hooked,” began volunteering with his father Jeff when they visited friends in Poway. Since then, the two have given tours and drive and repair the equipment. Jeff does the driving of the steam locomotive from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  

One day, Daniel chose to begin researching train-related problems and discovered that the most common type of accidents are derailments, due mostly to switches, so he wanted to investigate further and grew his Google project.

"I knew that switches were a big challenge and I wanted to investigate them further," he said.

Jeff, his father, has been with Daniel every step of the way as he built his project.

“It’s a very powerful project,” said Jeff, who’s very proud of his son. “It was something that he came up with on his own and conducted the whole design effort on his own, which allowed him to explore science and engineering.”

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, derailments are the most common types of railroad accidents, and occur most often due to incorrectly set switches. They account for more than $2 million in damages each year and put many lives at risk. Daniel tested model trains at different speeds and with varying loads using a fixed switch, a spring switch and a modified spring switch, engineered for the experiment.

Daniel hypothesized that the fixed switch would derail the train 95 percent of the time, the spring switch 33 percent and the modified version 11 percent. After extensive testing, the fixed switch resulted in 100 percent derailment, the spring switch 44 percent, and the modified spring switch not at all.

Daniel said he is excited, yet nervous for his trip. He is currently working on his PowerPoint presentation and has already started rehearsing answers to possible questions from the judges.

“Seeing Daniel grow up and thrive in this environment is fascinating to be a part of,” said Kim Keeline, another Poway-Midland Railroad volunteer. “The contest is awfully exciting; so many people around the world try for it. It’s amazing that someone that you know gets to present – it’s an amazing opportunity. He’s very lucky, but he also worked really hard for it. Of course, we’re very proud of him.”

For more information about the Poway-Midland Railroad, visit www.powaymidlandrr.org. And to check out a video on Daniel’s project, click here.