Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/10/watch-train-plows-into-semi-t.html
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What other reason would one want a model railroad for?
ETA If I ever get even a small lotto sized windfall I am so so so doing this for real.
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Was a lot of candy crushed? What a saga!
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Thomas don’t take no shit from nobody.
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Now that’s one hell of a piñata.
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Super pedant says…Technically, it’s a semi-trailer. It’s “semi” because the trailer only has wheels to support the back. The truck is vehicle in front, specifically it’s a semi-trailer truck because it can support the front half of the semi-trailer.
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A semi-limousine is starting to look more sensible every day.
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You know you’re old, or at least an old soul, when you read the subject header and try to search online for a YouTube clip of Harold Lloyd’s Model T, stuck on the tracks, getting smashed into smithereens.
And you know you don’t have much of a busy day, or are in dire need of escapism, when you fall into the rabbit hole of watching silent comedy train gags in YouTube “Related” list.
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Proper Piñata Action!
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Level crossings - who’d think they work better when they are level?
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Folks, we can solve this. 209k crossings in the US (about half that on public roads), and these days there’s got to be some sort of simple small solar-powered low-cost high-tech vehicle presence sensor being made in quantity for self-driving cars, that can initiate a single packet via cell to a server that knows which trains to notify to slow down if not stop. One small shift in liability and you’ll have the railroads (and their insurers) rushing to install a system very quickly.
http://www.angelsontrack.org/cts/ctsfacts.html
P.S. Yes, I know given train speeds and stopping times that there will not necessarily be enough time to stop before the crossing in all circumstances. But it can certainly improve odds of survival and minimize damage all around.
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That chick is super chill. Can’t be bothered to not turn down the radio volume while recording a horrible collision.
#casualtrainwreck #verticalvideo
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The candy truck got stuck! Then struck! What luck!
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The lucky part is the way that one case of candy fell off the back of that truck, into mine.
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Here in New Jersey we can’t even manage to stop the train at the terminal:
You mean like…a magnetic sensor like we use for traffic lights?
I’m impressed the thing didn’t bend.
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The problem is that stopping a typical freight train takes roughly a mile under full emergency braking - which can damage the train, warp the track, and injure personnel or passengers.
And you can’t be slamming on the emergency brakes every time a crossing a mile away is blocked, because that happens all the time.
It’s routine for blocking vehicles to clear the track only after the oncoming train horn gets their attention, and by then, it’s already far too late for the train to stop.
If such devices were useful, they would have been installed long ago.
But, sadly, they’re not.
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