Train Crash For Movie Or No?

[wrawroacx]

Is this for a movie or was this actually real http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFKc7NfTabw

[henry6]

I would think that if it were for a movie the moving vehicle would have flipped several times in the air and exploded in flames.  There would also have been a buxom and somwhat scantly clad woman in one of the frames!

[Anonymous]

It looks real, and judging from the video description, it has a plausable storyline. The only thing I'm a little wary of is how well the camera pan to follow the vehicle as it passed worked. I guess the cameraman got lucky!

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

TrainManTy

. . . judging from the video description, it has a plausable storyline. [snip]

The part about the weed-killing spray that makes the rail slippery, until it dries - only this batch didn't dry ? 

- PDN.

 

[BaltACD]

The thing that gets me....we have derailed & damaged equipment that appears to be passenger equipment with serious crash inflicted damgage, however, there doesn't appear to be any track damge in the area.  Something doesn't add up to me.  The piece of equipment that barrels through the scene would appear to be derailed going through the scene.  How it could have developed the speed that it goes through the area with, if it was in fact responding to the incident, opens a whole world of questions.

[route_rock]

  That was crazy stupid lol.I dont know how weed killer would cause the rail to be soooo slippery. maybe they use something different in Croatia. I dont know though the track doesnt look like its messed up so it does seem far fetched.

[tomikawaTT]

Just why were there that many camera- and equipment-packing 'bystanders' all over the area?  Not to mention that they all seemed to be expecting the ??? that came flying around the curve.

Likewise, the derailed, damaged equipment seemed to have been placed with care.  The cloud of dust didn't resemble anything I've ever seen in an honest derailment video.  And, again, why were there a couple of dozen people milling around what appears to be fairly remote rural scenery?

My verdict - Setup, from start to finish.

Chuck (Former AF QC inspector, involved in several aircraft accident investigations)

[TomDiehl]

It might help to have someone that speaks Croatian (or what ever language they speak over there) to translate what's being said.

[Anonymous]

I would say that passenger derailment is real, and the crowd and rescue people are responding to the accident.  There appears to be some track damage in that cut that may have been the result of the passenger derailment.  The damage appears to be misalignment and some minor abrasion and tearing of the ties and ballast.  If I stop the video several times as it looks at the track just before the truck comes through, I seem to see some dips and slight misalignment of the track. 

 

I think that is what derailed the truck.  You can see it dip on its right side as it comes through that cut.  I believe that is where it went on the ground.  It may have even clipped those passenger cars as it went past them.  I would guess that the truck came upon the scene without being flagged, and they were unprepared to stop.  I think it’s totally real.  If it were a setup, the odds are that it would at least appear to depict something that makes sense.  Instead, what the video shows is something that comes off as very confusing if you only have the video to go by.  It's real.

 

Just looking at it again, I am not sure what that rail vehicle is.  I called it a truck, thinking it was some sort of hi-rail truck, but I tend to think it is a rail-only unit.  It definitely clips that first passenger car, and maybe both of them.  You can see the sun glint in the windshield jump around with the impact.

[tbdanny]

Hi,

I usually post on the Model Railroader forums, but I thought I'd weigh in on this issue.  This particular clip doesn't feel like something that would fit into a movie.  All the people standing around what is supposed to be a wilderness setting would ruin the illusion of remoteness.  And the significant period of sitting around and waiting at the beginning and end of the clip would just slow down the pace of the movie.

And just after the rail truck crashes, there's a look of genuine surprise on a couple of the bystanders' faces - doesn't look faked.

That's my 

Cheers,

tbdanny

[silicon212]

Definitely not faked ...

In fact, in this video you can clearly see the damage to the track structure.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9yuxv_croatia-train-crash_news

 

[Anonymous]

Paul_D_North_Jr

TrainManTy

. . . judging from the video description, it has a plausable storyline. [snip]

The part about the weed-killing spray that makes the rail slippery, until it dries - only this batch didn't dry ? 

- PDN.

 

 

I agree, that doesn't make sense, but we all know how non-railroaders and the press get railroad details wrong...the weedkilling spray could be anything from actual weedkilling spray to curve grease to ground-up leaves on the tracks.

After seeing that video posted later on the thread, I think the video is real. The photographer was pretty smooth and steady with the various shots so I think he/she is pretty good; panning well to follow the out-of-control train is plausable.

[Bruce Kelly]

The doubters among you can just Google this: "train wreck Rudine Croatia."

[BaltACD]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8164111

[Kootenay Central]

.

[Kiwigerd]

This was a rather tragic incident. As far as I can remember the accident was in our local media because it was Croatia's worst ever railway accident. There were some fatalities and nearly 60 injured people.

The uniformed men you see in the video are state police, and there were ambulance staff at the scene as well. So my guess is that the video was made by a reporter or photograph of the local office of a tv station. The next village is not far from the scene of the accident. The auxiliary vehicle that also crashed was the spraying vehicle, the real culprit. From what we heard this MOW car went along the line all day to spray a certain chemical to prevent fire along the line (remember it was July and this is the time where there are bush fires there quite frequently). An investigation carried out later found that this chemical, if spread on metal such as tracks produces a slippery film and they concluded that this was responsible for the derailments.

[NP Red]

Kiwigerd

An investigation carried out later found that this chemical, if spread on metal such as tracks produces a slippery film and they concluded that this was responsible for the derailments.

 

How does slippery rails cause a derailment?  Can't slow down? Was this a really steep grade?

[Anonymous]

NP Red

Kiwigerd

An investigation carried out later found that this chemical, if spread on metal such as tracks produces a slippery film and they concluded that this was responsible for the derailments.

 

How does slippery rails cause a derailment?  Can't slow down? Was this a really steep grade?

From the Railroad Gazette:

August 1890

 

6^th, on Denver & Rio Grande, near Carracas, Colo., a construction train, consisting of engine and one car, filled with laborers, in descending a steep grade became uncontrollable at a point where locusts had swarmed upon the rails, and ran at high speed to a curve, where it derailed, hurled against the mountain and completely wrecked.  An engine with a gang of men dispatched to the wreck met a similar fate.  Three men killed and 15 injured.

 

[Bruce Kelly]

Derailment on curve due to excessive speed. Excessive speed due to inability to brake on descending grade. Inability to brake due to chemical fire retardent sprayed on rails.

In addition to the above example of rails being slimed by locusts, trains have lost braking ability due to ice, wet leaves, and other forms of naturally-occurring or man-made lubrication. Freight trains have been known to cut off their power and run light engine over a mountain, sanding as they go, just to get some of the wet leaf residue clear before they try pulling (or retarding) any tonnage. And commuter trains have been known to slide right past their platforms due to wet leaves on rails.

[tree68]

NP Red

How does slippery rails cause a derailment?  Can't slow down? Was this a really steep grade?

We battle wet leaves every fall on the Adirondack Scenic - and we've been known to stall as a result.  The leaves are like grease.  Put them together with a significant grade (and we have some +/- 1% to deal with) and it's a recipe for disaster, or at least a long day on the railroad.   Been there, done that.

[NP Red]

I understand that breaking is important but the article said "high speed rail". This was not a heavy freight. There should be a lot of super-elevation on a high speed line. I still can't see why a light commuter train with all it's wheels locked would slide along at such an increasing speed that it would fly off at a curve. It must have been a real sharp curve at the bottom of a long steep grade.

[beaulieu]

The video was not faked. The vehicle that you see racing through the scene is a MOW vehicle like a large speeder. The vehicle was used by a weed-spraying contractor hired by the railroad. The contractor was using a weedkiller that was unapproved for rail use because of the oil it contains. The location is on a downgrade of about 2 percent coming down off the coastal escarpment down to the shore of the Adriatic Sea. The passenger vehicle that you see briefly was the scheduled DMU running the local passenger service over the line. The DMU had met the weedsprayer at the next siding up the line and as it crested the grade it found that its brakes could not slow its speed down the grade and it began to accelerate. At the curve seen in the video it derailed killing 6 people and injuring 40. Police and Rescue services were called, and of course the news media came as well. The railroad sent the MOW vehicle back to help once the railroad realized that they had a major accident. When the MOW crested the same grade it too found out that its brakes were ineffective with the result as seen in the video. Fortunately everyone barely got off the tracks in time, the MOW hit the wreckage of the DMU resulting in more injuries but thankfully no more fatalities. There is no centralized control on the Croatian railways on what would be considered a long branchline. Traffic control is by Stationmasters at stations where there are passing sidings, radio conditions are poor in the area.

[NP Red]

That all makes sense now.

[ButchKnouse]

NP Red

I understand that breaking is important but the article said "high speed rail". This was not a heavy freight. There should be a lot of super-elevation on a high speed line. I still can't see why a light commuter train with all it's wheels locked would slide along at such an increasing speed that it would fly off at a curve. It must have been a real sharp curve at the bottom of a long steep grade.

The article may have said "high speed rail", but who wrote the article? Somebody who actually knew something about trains, or as usual, someone who didn't?