Pennies on The Rails

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

No. It is not a myth and the story is very true. In 1907, in a blinding snow storm, a freight train on the Chattanooga, Birmingham and Quba ran into a 13 pound penny which curling up in the flattening process caused the 10th through 14th cars to derail. Fortunately, these car had trucks fastened to the car bodies with cotter pins and remained up right. No hazardous materials were involved and there were no injuries.

A subsequent investigation by the NTSB determined that the penny had placed on the rail by a disgruntled former employee who had been fired on the spot when some tobacco juice splattered on the Division Superintendant's hat. It was also found that the penny was a one-of-a-kind caused by a mistake at the US Mint. Somehow it slipped through the Mint's quality check process and got into general circulation until a very smart coin collector found it and put it in his vault at his summer estate which was located not far from the derailment site. An investagation of a break in at the estate actually led to the arrest of the perp, when his finger prints were found on the safe.

From time to time, an eyewitness account has shown up on a number of web sites, but all postings strangely get deleted and replaced by the letters D of HS. Wierd!

The biggest thing to come from the incident seems to be the common Anglo mispronunciation of "Cuba"

A thirteen pound penny? Wow! One had to be very strong in those days to be rich! Although, I have heard that in England, people routinely carry around hundreds of pounds; they must be very buff indeed.

[Anonymous]

It's not so much a derailment that the railroads fear, its someone either slipping, hitting their head on the rail, and the railroad getting sued, or the person getting too close and being hit. Thanks again, U.S. trail lawyers. (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)

[CSXrules4eva]

I used to put 50 cent peices on the track when I was little and like some other forum members have said not one train derailed. This I think is a big myth. With all that weigt trains are carrying?/ Come on now some people have to think about this.

[GP-9_Man11786]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joegreen

I put a couple of pennies on the track with duct tape then i left and came back later to check it out and i found both pennies flattened so much that i had to get the car keys to get them off the rail. When i finally got them off the rail it had 2 bumps on it. Whenever a train drove over it it sounded a little like a joint in the rail.

And am I the only one here that put a quarter or a penny on top of a nickel on the tracks.

I used Coca-Cola, the syrup is nice and sticky and holds the coins in place quite well. I beleive pennies are made out of copper-coated zinc these days; is this true?

[cpbloom]

QUOTE: Originally posted by miniwyo

Just though I would ad this in.





I posted it a while back but thought I would bring it back for the sake of the thread.

That'll show those %&*@ trains!!! [:p] Way to go Abe!

[spbed]

They must have thought the tooth fairy had sprinkled them with magic dust. That is a super stoy. [:)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SDR_North



Years ago we were stopped at a station and I observed somekids put a penny on the track ahead of the pilot.
They then wandered off. While they were gone, I replaced the penny with a nickle and let the Fireman take her out.

After the kids heard the train leave they returned for the penny. Were they ever suprised!

I caught up with the train at the other end of the yard.

[ole1]

This whole topic brought back a lot of childhood memories. I can remember kids talking about this and even donig it on occasion but back in the 1940's a penny could actually buy something like a couple of root beer barrels and squashing one would have been a major decision.
Ole

[spbed]

That made me chuckle big time! [:)][:)][:p]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HighIron2003ar

I have a overwhelming urge to stack pennies on the rails... then again the UP may require a TM stamp on those coins.

[spbed]

Yep I remember doing it in the 50s on my way to or from school. [:)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ole1

This whole topic brought back a lot of childhood memories. I can remember kids talking about this and even donig it on occasion but back in the 1940's a penny could actually buy something like a couple of root beer barrels and squashing one would have been a major decision.
Ole

[spbed]

In Brooklyn NY they were copper. There was also no need to stick them down as the trolley were not going like gangbusters. [8D]

QUOTE: Originally posted by GP-9_Man11786

QUOTE: Originally posted by joegreen

I put a couple of pennies on the track with duct tape then i left and came back later to check it out and i found both pennies flattened so much that i had to get the car keys to get them off the rail. When i finally got them off the rail it had 2 bumps on it. Whenever a train drove over it it sounded a little like a joint in the rail.

And am I the only one here that put a quarter or a penny on top of a nickel on the tracks.

I used Coca-Cola, the syrup is nice and sticky and holds the coins in place quite well. I beleive pennies are made out of copper-coated zinc these days; is this true?

[Anonymous]

I grew up above the tracks of the Claremont & Concord, a short-line that used 44-tonners to move mostly paper and salt. My cousins from California were fascinated by putting pennies on the rails and seeing how high a stack they could make before the wheels would just knock it over without flattening it. (Their mother panicked the first morning of the visit thinking we were having an earthquake when the first train of the day trundled by at 6:45am. We still haven't let her live it down.)

[spbed]

The 44 tonners must not have been heavy enough. We would get results everytime if my memory is swerving me correctly. [:o)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainnutz

I grew up above the tracks of the Claremont & Concord, a short-line that used 44-tonners to move mostly paper and salt. My cousins from California were fascinated by putting pennies on the rails and seeing how high a stack they could make before the wheels would just knock it over without flattening it. (Their mother panicked the first morning of the visit thinking we were having an earthquake when the first train of the day trundled by at 6:45am. We still haven't let her live it down.)

[modorney]

No derailments - I think that's a myth.

However, they sometimes shoot out, and can cause injury. Or damage undercar equipment - motors, dynamic grids, etc.

On a similar note - during the dot com boom, when AOL gave away cd-roms on every street corner in San Jose, people would line them up on the trolley rails, hoping enough would stay in place to "insulate" the trolley from the rails.

[wcfan4ever]

I never put a penny on the tracks when I was young...well ok, im still young but I never have. The funny thing is...I uesd to walk the tracks and pick them up left behind by kids! A friend of mine put a quarter on the tracks while a piece of MOW equipment came through. You could clearly hear it hit it and go over it. The end result was still a useable quarter!!

[Anonymous]

imagine what a silver dollar would do on n or z scale tracks probaly kill every one[:D][8D]

[dwRavenstar]

Heyas,

In the long run the good news is that it won't cause a derailment, otherwise the Govt. would be confiscating everyone's change as they got off a plane in the effort to prevent terrorism. I can see the headlines now "Two bit terrorist caught along mainline tracks, a roll of quarters in his knapsack".

Dave (dwRavenstar)

[Attaboy]

Nice story jeaton, too bad the NTSB wasn't created until 1967[:D]

[Anonymous]

on the odd side of this, when I was a kid, we'd take the left over Stubbs of the road flares we'd find by the trackside, and dump out the yellow powder on the railhead.


It would ALWAYS burn, I guess from the compression...but what was strange is that at times it would actually explode like a fire cracker. Guess all that weight made a difference

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

No. It is not a myth and the story is very true. In 1907, in a blinding snow storm, a freight train on the Chattanooga, Birmingham and Quba ran into a 13 pound penny which curling up in the flattening process caused the 10th through 14th cars to derail. Fortunately, these car had trucks fastened to the car bodies with cotter pins and remained up right. No hazardous materials were involved and there were no injuries.

A subsequent investigation by the NTSB determined that the penny had placed on the rail by a disgruntled former employee who had been fired on the spot when some tobacco juice splattered on the Division Superintendant's hat. It was also found that the penny was a one-of-a-kind caused by a mistake at the US Mint. Somehow it slipped through the Mint's quality check process and got into general circulation until a very smart coin collector found it and put it in his vault at his summer estate which was located not far from the derailment site. An investagation of a break in at the estate actually led to the arrest of the perp, when his finger prints were found on the safe.

From time to time, an eyewitness account has shown up on a number of web sites, but all postings strangely get deleted and replaced by the letters D of HS. Wierd!

The biggest thing to come from the incident seems to be the common Anglo mispronunciation of "Cuba"

[8D]how does a 13 pound penny slip through inspection or QC and
wouldnt some one notice a 13 pnd penny[?][?][?][?]

[spbed]

We always stood a "safe" distance away from the tracks. But when you yound "safe" to a younster & a adult maybe apples in oranges. In any case from my memory bank most of the ones we did were crushed. We thought it was super fun! [:o)][:D]

Originally posted by modorney
[

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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