@RailfanEthan Can you cite even a single derailment or fire incident caused solely by a coin? It's never happened. What's more is, more often than not, the coin gets harmlessly stuck to the rail by being smashed into it. And when the wheels do manage to take the coin up (which rarely happens btw), it only takes a few revolutions for the hot metal to basically become welded to the wheel and ground into the metal to blend with the surface. A few seconds of sparking at most. Also, unless there is some defect in the fuel tank, it's not going to be detonated by a few stray sparks. They are engineered to resist spark detonation since the wheels and other parts themselves often produce sparks on the rails, especially when braking. Also, the traction motors are typically strong enough to snap and break apart something as small and soft as a coin and keep working. AC induction motors are pretty powerful. If they failed because of a little debris, I'd chalk that up to poor design. But yeah, if this was some bad action movie, and not real-life, all those highly unlikely scenarios would happen. Just because something can happen, doesn't mean it will (maybe).
@Sunnyskies @RailfanEthan @EternalDarkness @MemeKingIndustriesAndMegaCorporation @Fishbowl1121 @TheLatentImage @Tully2001 thanks imma make the trim honk instead now just to be a jerk=P
@EternalDarkness This is a diagram of a locomotive.
Going back to what I stated, if a coin managed to get caught in the wheels, it would cause a fire. There is 2 ways this is fatal. 1st one I already mentioned, sparks will jump towards the fuel tank. 2nd way is it jams the traction motors. It'll either burn the wheels out once on fire or the traction motor itself (part of the actual engine) will catch fire. And once a traction motor burns, it's gonna take time to extinguish. Same thing once sparks hit 1,000 gallons of fuel.
Your friend was lucky this didn't happen.
It is entirely impossible to derail a train with a coin unless some ridiculous chain of events happens like something out of a Final Destination movie.
Trains and rails are overengineered to account for things like this. They are designed to safely roll over branches, rocks, small animals, and anything else that can naturally find its way onto the rails. They can handle hitting things much larger than a tiny coin. I should know. As a professional troublemaker in my youth, I smashed a lot of things on train rails, up to and including an old CRT television. Trains can take it.
It's illegal though, so don't do it.
@RailfanEthan "it's possible to derail a train with coins"...
Yes, if you stack a couple of tons of coins. A friend of mine has tested this. He has put a rock, a coin, and a bolt on the rail. Cargo train went over it without noticing. Bolt flew away, rock was crashed into dust, and a coin was flattened.
Under restrictions of the Federal Railroad Administration, tresspassing on railroad property is illegal. And the coin won't be smushed, @Tully2001 . It'll fly out due to pressure and nail you in the forehead at over 100mph. And it is possible to derail a train with coins, as once the wheels are aboe the rails, it's likely to not match up with the tracks. And it can also cause sparks if caught. The fire is likely to happen near the wheels. And the 1,000 gallon fuel tank is directly under thr train, between the wheels.
If it is enough coins to derail it then probably yes
@RailfanEthan Can you cite even a single derailment or fire incident caused solely by a coin? It's never happened. What's more is, more often than not, the coin gets harmlessly stuck to the rail by being smashed into it. And when the wheels do manage to take the coin up (which rarely happens btw), it only takes a few revolutions for the hot metal to basically become welded to the wheel and ground into the metal to blend with the surface. A few seconds of sparking at most. Also, unless there is some defect in the fuel tank, it's not going to be detonated by a few stray sparks. They are engineered to resist spark detonation since the wheels and other parts themselves often produce sparks on the rails, especially when braking. Also, the traction motors are typically strong enough to snap and break apart something as small and soft as a coin and keep working. AC induction motors are pretty powerful. If they failed because of a little debris, I'd chalk that up to poor design. But yeah, if this was some bad action movie, and not real-life, all those highly unlikely scenarios would happen. Just because something can happen, doesn't mean it will (maybe).
Train jeez
@Sunnyskies @RailfanEthan @EternalDarkness @MemeKingIndustriesAndMegaCorporation @Fishbowl1121 @TheLatentImage @Tully2001 thanks imma make the trim honk instead now just to be a jerk=P
@EternalDarkness
This is a diagram of a locomotive.
Going back to what I stated, if a coin managed to get caught in the wheels, it would cause a fire. There is 2 ways this is fatal. 1st one I already mentioned, sparks will jump towards the fuel tank. 2nd way is it jams the traction motors. It'll either burn the wheels out once on fire or the traction motor itself (part of the actual engine) will catch fire. And once a traction motor burns, it's gonna take time to extinguish. Same thing once sparks hit 1,000 gallons of fuel.
Your friend was lucky this didn't happen.
It is entirely impossible to derail a train with a coin unless some ridiculous chain of events happens like something out of a Final Destination movie.
Trains and rails are overengineered to account for things like this. They are designed to safely roll over branches, rocks, small animals, and anything else that can naturally find its way onto the rails. They can handle hitting things much larger than a tiny coin. I should know. As a professional troublemaker in my youth, I smashed a lot of things on train rails, up to and including an old CRT television. Trains can take it.
It's illegal though, so don't do it.
@RailfanEthan "it's possible to derail a train with coins"...
Yes, if you stack a couple of tons of coins. A friend of mine has tested this. He has put a rock, a coin, and a bolt on the rail. Cargo train went over it without noticing. Bolt flew away, rock was crashed into dust, and a coin was flattened.
@Fishbowl1121 true
Under restrictions of the Federal Railroad Administration, tresspassing on railroad property is illegal. And the coin won't be smushed, @Tully2001 . It'll fly out due to pressure and nail you in the forehead at over 100mph. And it is possible to derail a train with coins, as once the wheels are aboe the rails, it's likely to not match up with the tracks. And it can also cause sparks if caught. The fire is likely to happen near the wheels. And the 1,000 gallon fuel tank is directly under thr train, between the wheels.
OK thanks for the info guys I'm a be an idiot anyways psst it won't derail it you need a propane tank or larger to do that
To answer your question, yes you can get into trouble for tampering with a railway system.
huh. Well. I guess Tully is right if you think about it.
@Tully2001 but won't the coin cause the train to lose traction? Or even worse. DERAIL!?