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It takes a lot of trash on the tracks to derail a train. Trains frequently just run over downed trees because clearing them would involve hours of waiting and
by throwaway0a5e 5y ago
It takes a lot of trash on the tracks to derail a train. Trains frequently just run over downed trees because clearing them would involve hours of waiting and it rarely does any damage of note. Maybe if the trash is scrap steel you might have a shot.
It's pretty likely that the derailment is a switching failure because the train is riding on two different tracks. If it was just dragging along on the ties and rail bed that would be more indicative of some other kind of derailment.
- throwaway75787 5y agoDoes this mean that the switch points were blocked by the trash/dumped packages? There was a video showing that one of the rails had fallen over on its side. I have never seen that in a derailment. I did see a WWII-era film where the US Army had a tough time derailing trains they were trying to sabotage, so this is all amazing to me.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago>Does this mean that the switch points were blocked by the trash/dumped packages? Potentially, I know they can get clogged up with the right mixture of snow turned into ice. Trash is hard to pack that densely without trying though I suppose a large object could have jammed the switch gear. >There was a video showing that one of the rails had fallen over on its side. A train riding two rails will put a lot of sideways force on the rails pulling them together. Rails aren't shaped to resist very much force in that direction. >where the US Army had a tough time derailing trains they were trying to sabotage, so this is all amazing to me. They were working under very different constraints than you or I.