Re:Thieves in LA are looting freight trains filled with pack...
by throwaway75787 on Sunday January 16, 2022 @08:25PM
(#29962347)
Does this mean that the switch points were blocked by the trash/dumped packages? There was a video showing that one of the rails had fallen over on its side. I have never seen that in a derailment. I did see a WWII-era film where the US Army had a tough time derailing trains they were trying to sabotage, so this is all amazing to me.
Re:Thieves in LA are looting freight trains filled with pack...
by throwaway0a5e on Sunday January 16, 2022 @09:03PM
(#29962587)
>Does this mean that the switch points were blocked by the trash/dumped packages?
Potentially, I know they can get clogged up with the right mixture of snow turned into ice. Trash is hard to pack that densely without trying though I suppose a large object could have jammed the switch gear.
>There was a video showing that one of the rails had fallen over on its side.
A train riding two rails will put a lot of sideways force on the rails pulling them together. Rails aren't shaped to resist very much force in that direction.
>where the US Army had a tough time derailing trains they were trying to sabotage, so this is all amazing to me.
They were working under very different constraints than you or I.
It's pretty likely that the derailment is a switching failure because the train is riding on two different tracks. If it was just dragging along on the ties and rail bed that would be more indicative of some other kind of derailment.