Dayam

That was pretty friggin cool

I quite enjoyed that.

My mom always told me that those pennies I stuck on the tracks would cause a derailment. Liar.

Bending the tracks inward is much more effective. The wheels then jump to the outside of the tracks, and voila, instant derailment.

Not that I would know about such things.

Marcus Aurelius: Bending the tracks inward is much more effective. The wheels then jump to the outside of the tracks, and voila, instant derailment.

Not that I would know about such things.

Pretty much, and the rails have their own adjustment points on them in places.

Worked as a gandydancer for a while in my wayward youth.

"Removing several feet of track doesn't work"

Drat! It's Superman!

Marcus Aurelius: Bending the tracks inward is much more effective. The wheels then jump to the outside of the tracks, and voila, instant derailment.

Not that I would know about such things.

This was along what I was thinking. The momentum of the heavy train was just carrying it forward over the gap. What they needed to do was prevent the train from being able to get back on the track once the wheels leave. My thought was to make the 36 inch gap then use a car jack to spread the tracks apart.

I thought we figured this out prior to the Civil War?

Make a bonfire on the tracks. The fire will warp the tracks and burn out the ties. Both sides used that technique extensively in the 1860's...

I watched a train derail once, it fell on the warehouse next to my office. It was pretty cool.

Nothing Stops a Trane ©

jennies1897: My mom always told me that those pennies I stuck on the tracks would cause a derailment. Liar.

This.

When you REALLY want the train to fail:

HOGAN!!!!

Marcus Aurelius: Bending the tracks inward is much more effective. The wheels then jump to the outside of the tracks, and voila, instant derailment.

Not that I would know about such things.

Everything that I've ever read about agrees with your approach. Misallignment is the best method.

If you're playing around with explosives in order to disable railroads, why not do a rail-mine. A shaped charge explosive to punch up from the middle of the track, blow a hole in the boiler of a steam train or fuel tank of an electric. Eventually they run out of trains.

"What, seriously? Wish someone would've told me earlier..."

Nice find, subby.

It's a good thing we don't use trains anymore. This information would be dangerous!

Look up Sherman Bow Tie.

If you remove an entire segment of rail, you will close the railroad. Heat it up and bend it around a nearby tree for dramatic effect.

Watch the move "The Train" with Burt Lancaster. Lots of derailment on that old flick...

Came hoping for a Jethro Tull reference...

wildcardjack: If you're playing around with explosives in order to disable railroads, why not do a rail-mine. A shaped charge explosive to punch up from the middle of the track, blow a hole in the boiler of a steam train or fuel tank of an electric. Eventually they run out of trains.

i assume because you don't want to be hanging around when the train actually derails, since the surviving soldiers could either hunt you down, or radio that you are in the area, alerting other troops to your prescence. since this was from WW2, i'm guessing they didn't have some sort of sensor that you could set and forget, and if its a railway you've got to be behind enemy lines.

Gleeman: jennies1897: My mom always told me that those pennies I stuck on the tracks would cause a derailment. Liar.

This.

When you REALLY want the train to fail:
[gallery.photo.net image 679x384]

That would be a Sherman's necktie. Fetching.

pag1107: Look up Sherman Bow Tie. Necktie.

If you remove an entire segment of rail, you will close the railroad. Heat it up and bend it around a nearby tree for dramatic effect.

The purpose of the twisting was so that it couldn't be reused.

I thought all you had to do was pull up a railroad spike (or find one by the side) and put it on the track so the point is facing the direction that the train is coming from. You have to put the head of the spike in the rail joint so that Fark readers who obsess about sex and drugs can make a joke about it. Yeah. I'm thinking about two or three jokes right now. Not sure which way the train is coming from? Use two spikes.

Speaking of trains, how's your mom, subby?

jennies1897: My mom always told me that those pennies I stuck on the tracks would cause a derailment. Liar.

Same here. They must be sisters.

The announcer is pretty farking funny!

I saw a German railroad destroying engine in a Nazi war film. It had a huge claw like plow that cut every tie behind it. To rebuild the railroad you'd have to replace every tie and from the bent appearance of the rails probably most of those as well.



Here's the video of it in action.

But what about putting the plastique under the rail, not on the side of the rail?

Interesting that the instructor was aBritish Army officer (noted his Field Cap and shoulder flashes at 5:00). I think it was a Royal Engineer (although it could have been a Royal Signals flash).

Make more sense if it was a Sapper.

Yet the DC Metro manages it on a daily basis.

tlchwi02: wildcardjack: If you're playing around with explosives in order to disable railroads, why not do a rail-mine. A shaped charge explosive to punch up from the middle of the track, blow a hole in the boiler of a steam train or fuel tank of an electric. Eventually they run out of trains.

i assume because you don't want to be hanging around when the train actually derails, since the surviving soldiers could either hunt you down, or radio that you are in the area, alerting other troops to your prescence. since this was from WW2, i'm guessing they didn't have some sort of sensor that you could set and forget, and if its a railway you've got to be behind enemy lines.

Pressure switch and 14 feet of wire so the mine can be under the train given the expected direction of travel. Heck, if you have electric detonators then things get easy, you just have to get creative.

Was I the only one that had the misfortune of watching "Unstoppable"?

Wouldnt a contact charge (train rolls over complete circuit) to a semi sizeable explosive be better?

Leeds: I thought we figured this out prior to the Civil War?
Make a bonfire on the tracks. The fire will warp the tracks and burn out the ties. Both sides used that technique extensively in the 1860's...


Except that a fire takes a while to do such work and can be seen from long distances, alerting the enemy rail operator. A quick couple of booms in the middle of a war, however, not so much. This sort of thing you can even do when the train is too close to stop.

Also, obligatory:

pag1107: Look up Sherman Bow Tie.

If you remove an entire segment of rail, you will close the railroad. Heat it up and bend it around a nearby tree for dramatic effect.

I suspect that was a lot easier with iron rails than with steel.

Rusty Shackleford: pag1107: Look up Sherman Bow Tie.

If you remove an entire segment of rail, you will close the railroad. Heat it up and bend it around a nearby tree for dramatic effect.

I suspect that was a lot easier with iron rails than with steel.

Sure, bring your 9/11 troofer theories into this.

When I was in elementary school, the school was 4 blocks from the train tracks. So they had the railroad come show us the train version of BLOOD FLOWS RED ON THE HIGHWAY. The guy told us every urban legend horror story as though it was gospel. I wasn't too skeptical when I was in 2nd grade. I had nightmares about the guy getting squished between the cars. And of course we were assured we could derail a train with nothing more than a simple penny.

I'm pretty sure some of the older kids tried for weeks.

/not ME of course

I thought they found pressure switches with a sizeable amount of explosive buried slightly under the rail itself (some some dirt dug out from under the rail) worked best, that way when the engine went over it it detonated and derailed the whole thing...

tlchwi02: wildcardjack: If you're playing around with explosives in order to disable railroads, why not do a rail-mine. A shaped charge explosive to punch up from the middle of the track, blow a hole in the boiler of a steam train or fuel tank of an electric. Eventually they run out of trains.

i assume because you don't want to be hanging around when the train actually derails, since the surviving soldiers could either hunt you down, or radio that you are in the area, alerting other troops to your prescence. since this was from WW2, i'm guessing they didn't have some sort of sensor that you could set and forget, and if its a railway you've got to be behind enemy lines.

How about a set-it-and-forget-it device, something similar to this:

Well, when you *do* get the train derailed...

jennies1897: My mom always told me that those pennies I stuck on the tracks would cause a derailment. Liar.

My mom always told me playing on RR tracks was dangerous and stupid.

//I still have a couple of those pennies somewhere, I think

DrySocket: The momentum of the heavy train was just carrying it forward over the gap.

THAT'S NOT HOW PHYSICS WORKS. The large mass helps to keep the train pointed in the right direction, but it doesn't affect how quickly it drops into the gap.

Where the effect of the mass of the train is really noticeable is on how its suspension handles the gap; hence the larger bucking of the lighter cars. Watch the video, you should see that it's the mechanical action of the bogeys--and the rest of the train keeping the car aligned--that prevents the derail. In the cases with the shortest gaps, the suspension enabled the train to ride over the gap by preventing the wheels from hitting the ground.

Rusty Shackleford: I suspect that was a lot easier with iron rails than with steel.

Iron melts at a higher temperature than steel because of molal freezing point depression.

mregecko: [images.greatergreaterwashington.org image 147x500]

Was I the only one that had the misfortune of watching "Unstoppable"?

Alas, no.

/wish someone would have warned me

Flipping a track switch mid train works pretty well. Especially when flipped by a car.

I always thought you should bend the rails out, causing the train to do a very painful split.