I'm sure I remember my Dad telling me about, and then seeing film of, an intentional derailement of one of the last steam locos. The idea was that they'd set it running at full tilt, into an obstruction across the line, and send it out in a blaze of glory and a massive crash.
To add effect, they also tied the whistle open and the subsequent slight loss of steam power meant the loco wasn't going as fast as they expected, and when it hit the barrier, it just derailed and slid to a halt.
Then of course there's the spectacular nuclear flask test crash. The NRM has a bit of the loco...