Nothing can derail a train? How about a passed-out drunk?
True story. CSX freight traveling south through Orlando (I believe it is a 25mph speed limit there) on a Sunday morning. Engineer saw a body on the tracks (aforementioned drunk) and hit emergency stop. The train derailed taking out parts of several buildings, a parked Vette, and about a half mile of track. I happened to drive past it about 10 minutes after it happened. FD units were still arriving.
So how did one soft body derail the train? According to my uncle, the CSX brakeman (not that train), the emergency stop locked up the wheels on the cars. One truck cocked slightly pushing the track slightly out of guage. The next truck pushed the track a little more out of guage. The next a little more and so on until the following trucks couldn't stay on the track. Once they hit the ballast they stopped much quicker than the following cars. Result was a derailment that took several days to clear.
True story. CSX freight traveling south through Orlando (I believe it is a 25mph speed limit there) on a Sunday morning. Engineer saw a body on the tracks (aforementioned drunk) and hit emergency stop. The train derailed taking out parts of several buildings, a parked Vette, and about a half mile of track. I happened to drive past it about 10 minutes after it happened. FD units were still arriving.
So how did one soft body derail the train? According to my uncle, the CSX brakeman (not that train), the emergency stop locked up the wheels on the cars. One truck cocked slightly pushing the track slightly out of guage. The next truck pushed the track a little more out of guage. The next a little more and so on until the following trucks couldn't stay on the track. Once they hit the ballast they stopped much quicker than the following cars. Result was a derailment that took several days to clear.