Super 8 (2011) (!!)

[Dr Mordrid]

Super 8

Date: Summer 2011
Genre: Sci-Fi

Tag: Next summer, it arrives.

Studios: Paramount, Amblin (Spielberg) & Bad Robot (Abrams)

Director: J. J. Abrams

Screenplay: J. J. Abrams

Exec. Producer: Stephen Spielberg

Producer: Bryan Burk (Star Trek 1&2, Fringe, Lost, Alias)

Cast: TBA

Synopsis: Something top secret is being shipped by rail from Area 51 to Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. It doesn't get there.

Trailer....

[Evildead666]

At least the plot sounds pretty good. a lot of scope for some crafty designs and ideas
(reminds me of X-Files the series a bit...)

[Elie]

Why would a puny truck cause a huge derailment? I mean it'll get crushed like a paper plate.

[Evildead666]

Artistic Licence.
and suspension of disbelief.

[Dr Mordrid]

Remember your momentum formula kiddies, and that train cars have a high center of gravity and a very narrow track (axle length) relative to the wheelbase, making them relatively easy to tip and derail from a side impact. Extra points if some or all the cars are empty or have a light load.

Take it from the son of a farmer who worked on the railroad repair track after the harvest; a fast moving truck can cause a derailment, and once a single rail car goes in a fast moving train the rest go too. Dad sometimes took me out when they had to clean up the mess.

Because several of his buddies were Engineers, as a teen I even got to pilot (under supervision) a huge freight engine a few times

[Fat Tone]

What's in there...Chuck Norris?

[cjolley]

What's in there...Chuck Norris?

Actually it was Chuck Jolley, who had finally had it with the train company.
I've been in two train wrecks.
Both at 79mph

The first was a derailment called a "split switch" where the train crosses a track switch and part of the train takes one track and part of the train takes the other. This pretty much pulls both off the track. Not good for the train or the track.

The second, we hit a semi tractor, but didn't derail. Clear skies, about noon, gently curving track, in open fields. Becky and I were in a room about half way down the train and what we felt was a slight bump. Then the train started braking hard, for a train. About the Gs you'd get going up an escalator. We passed a crossing and there was some dust and truck parts visible as we went by. Including a cab roof liner.

In addition to your momentum formula you need to remember scaling laws.
Train cars are so massive that they just don't bounce around or fly like that.
But when they finally come to rest the result can look like that.

PS Except for the track itself. Oddly, it was WAY less damaged than it would have been in real life.