How easy/difficult is it to derail a train?

[Night Train]

Not as easy as the Americans thought.

 

[colly]

Looks like you are pretty safe then.

 

[ufkacbln]

All those explosives and manpower when all they needed was.......

 

[biggs682]

my old Hornby trains use to fall of the rails if i went to fast around curves , so cant be to unreal

 

[ASC1951]

So putting a coin on the track won't do it then?

Definitely not. Nor does putting three pieces of track-bed ballast on each rail - like you do when you are eight - and crouching ten feet away in the bushes as a Deltic thunders past.

 

[Arch]

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...

 

[Arch]

I wonder if the loco in that old film was thinking each time "Blimey, what do they want me to do next? Ok, OK, look I can stay on!"

 

[ColinJ]

I remember that test but this one was even more impressive ...

 

[BrumJim]

I shall include that video as a reference in my next Risk Assessment!