Smashing Pennies Via Train

[B.Erdmann]

Just somthin i thought of to talk about.

Smashing pennys by letting a train roll over it has been done for ages. its the cheapest way to to it other then goign to machines that do it u save .50.   

ive done it once & it was smashed by a CP train. i never found it after it got smashed. i dont do it alot cause idk what can happen. i know its not possible for a penny to derail a train cause a train wiehgs over 20,000 tons & you got less then a oz on the tracks. im just wondering how many of ya on here have done it & if results were good or not. like say u never found it for if flung out fast & you or somone got injured. thats what i heard can happen too. since it tends to fly off the tracks i heard ppl try duct taping it to the tracks. i dont do or recomend doing in in a train yard do to saftey reasons. but do it along the tracks away from a yard. & know the right time to do it. also has anyone tried other stuff then pennys? ive always wanted to try a half dollar lol. plus i also know if you get cought u can get tresspassing fines from the railroad.

 

just somthing i thought of to discuss.

 

[Texas Chief]

About 1956 I heard that there were only 7 copper pennies minted in the year 1943 and that they had found 6 of them. That 7th penny today would probably be worth a large fortune. If I thought for a minute that one of the couple hundred or so pennies that I put on the railroad tracks was...........................sigh. Oh well!!!

Dick

Texas Chief

[arbfbe]

Yes, if the railroad catches you out on the main putting down pennies to be flattened by a train they may have you arrested and fined.  If you happen to be looking the wrong way for a train when another train comes along you might be injured or killed.  Stay away from the tracks whether or not you are in a yard or along a branchline or mainline.  It is all tresspassing.

The chances are pretty slim that you will ever find a penny which has been run over by a train at track speeds.  They get a little hot and start to stick to a wheel and then they get thrown off into the weeds.

Even though the train weighs 20,000 tons it is the weight on the axle which is the important dimension.  So take a 200 ton loco and divide that by 12 for the number of wheels on the loco and that is the number to consider.  The result is still enough to squash the penny but no where the 20K tons you were using.  Until you develop a better understanding of the forces to deal with stay away and then you should still stay off the property.

Larger coins like quarters and half dollars just get thrown off the track harder and perhaps could injure or maime someone nearby.

It is all fun until someone looses and eye like your mother says.   

[silicon212]

WHat I think is funny is the urban legend that you can derail a train with a penny.  Not so.  On one of my cabrides on the old SP, we were in a GP40-2 on the Chandler Branch near Serape (I think it was Pecos or Germann Road), someone had put a bunch of stuff on the track (the rails themselves).  At track speed (25MPH) all I heard was thud-thud-thud-thud as the wheels passed over cinder blocks, red bricks, a railroad spike and numerous rocks.  We didn't derail (or even flinch).  Didn't even feel it in the cab, just heard it is all.

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

A penny left on the rail can actually cause some uneven wear and tear on both the rail and the wheels of locomotives and freight cars. I was told this some years ago while touring a large BNSF locomotive and car maintenance facility in Lincoln, Nebraska. I toured this facility with a group of others who were in Lincoln at the time for a meeting of the Burlington Route Historical Society. You leave a penny on the rail and it can actually do some damage to the surface of the rail, such as leaving a dent. We were told that this kind of stuff will eventually cause a derailment somewhere.

To engage in this kind of mischief is stupid, worthless horseplay, so don't even think about doing it in the first place!

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

[Anonymous]

Now I understand why those great big wheel shops work 24/7... they are busy trying to make a penny in revenue.

/sarcasm.

[spokyone]

At the tourist railroad in Eureka Springs AR, the conductor encouraged everyone to put pennies and quarters on the track when the engine went through the wye. Yes, loco was just creeping along and the conductor had everyone stand back. We all had fun.

[jeaton]

At the tourist railroad in Eureka Springs AR, the conductor encouraged everyone to put pennies and quarters on the track when the engine went through the wye. Yes, loco was just creeping along and the conductor had everyone stand back. We all had fun.

Been there, done that.

[Midnight Railroader]

Of course, unless you're invited to do so, you're most likely trespassing when you place your penny...and these days, that's no trivial matter.

To the original poster: English! Please!

[spokyone]

To the original poster: English! Please!

I like his posts. No problem.

[Willy2]

At the tourist railroad in Eureka Springs AR, the conductor encouraged everyone to put pennies and quarters on the track when the engine went through the wye. Yes, loco was just creeping along and the conductor had everyone stand back. We all had fun.

Been there, done that.

[dldance]

Biggest problem I see is that copper (or more properly brass due to the zinc content) is a lubricant.  That smashed penny has left a slick spot on both the drive wheel and the track.  That slick spot could cause problems.

dd

[CNW 6000]

At the tourist railroad in Eureka Springs AR, the conductor encouraged everyone to put pennies and quarters on the track when the engine went through the wye. Yes, loco was just creeping along and the conductor had everyone stand back. We all had fun.

Been there, done that.

x2 back when the CNW 1385 was still running.  Both times were in Oshkosh.  How nice that was!

[chicagorails]

yep put dimes nicklesquarters flattenem and made a small wind chime outta them. back in my youth.....very dangerous!!!!

[lonewoof]

When Southern Rwy was still running steam excursions, I rode behind N&W 611. It stopped on a straight stretch for a photo runby; let all the passengers off, then it backed up about a quarter mile. Before it came back by, lots of people put pennies on the rails. Some of the train crew or SR people walked down the rails and brushed every one of them off with their feet. Evidently they didn't think it was a good idea.

 

[traisessive1]

I have a loonie (dollar piece) that I had squashed by a CP local. Pretty cool.

[P42 108]

I am not impressed at all when a train runs over a penny. If you have seen it done once you have seen it done 100 times. The funny thing is people keep doing it.

[BRAKIE]

Biggest problem I see is that copper (or more properly brass due to the zinc content) is a lubricant.  That smashed penny has left a slick spot on both the drive wheel and the track.  That slick spot could cause problems.

dd

It would take more then a penny to cause a problem..I seen engines plow through 10" of snow and 2" of ice on the rail.No,a mere penny or several pennies would not cause a problem.

Grease and lots of oil yes pennies no way.

 

[CNW 6000]

I wonder if there's ever been a case of coinage on the track causing problems with track or wheels that have been 'serious'.  Where's S. Hadid on this issue or Randy Stahl?

[squeeze]

Used a quarter once, that was squished and used it for a guitar pick. Worked pretty good except that it wore out the strings pretty quick. Had a good sound though.

SQ

[WCfan]

I remember my friend really wanted a penny flatten. He wanted a penny flatten so bad he snuck into the railyard here in town and right infront of the locomotive, with the crew in it, he put the penny there. Now that's STUPIED right there.(I saw this from a public street) Later he went back to his bike and rode off and put some quarters and pennys on the track by the crossing. He never got his flatten penny. In spring me and my friend where joking around saying it would be fused to the tracks. After looking around the crossing a while we found it flew about 10 feet to the other crossing. (Didn't land on the other track. )

[tree68]

One of our trainmen discourages the practice by telling them that the coins can "squirt" out, turning into a lethal projectile.  Can't say he's right, can't say he's wrong. 

Got challenged by a local cop one time - he didn't really have a problem with my putting a penny on the track (to be smashed by an AMTRAK SDP-40), but they had apparently had some sort of threat reported, so they were watching the track.

[Poppa_Zit]

Copper is one of the softest, most malleable and ductile metals. It doesn't stand a chance against the hardness of train wheels or rails. It does NOT have the property of being able to "squirt" when pressed between wheel and rail. It will easily flatten and the heat generated by the flattening (pressure) action makes it stick momentarily to the wheel until centifugal force causes it to fly off.

From an impeccable source:

""I called a few railroad track construction, maintenance and repair companies (these places are thrilled when girls call) and asked specifically if a penny on the railroad track could cause a train derailment. Vern, Lee and Brad all told me absolutely not. According to Lee, a train engine weighs over ten tons and very small objects won't cause a train to run off the track. A very large boulder, cow or car--maybe. Most derailments are caused by breaks or fissures in the rail or wheel defects... "

The Straight Dope: Will a penny on the tracks derail a train?

 

[Randy Stahl]

I wonder if there's ever been a case of coinage on the track causing problems with track or wheels that have been 'serious'.  Where's S. Hadid on this issue or Randy Stahl?

I've never condemned a wheel for a penny caused defect, most likely never will .

[Anonymous]

Copper is one of the softest, most malleable and ductile metals. It doesn't stand a chance against the hardness of train wheels or rails. It does NOT have the property of being able to "squirt" when pressed between wheel and rail. It will easily flatten and the heat generated by the flattening (pressure) action makes it stick momentarily to the wheel until centifugal force causes it to fly off.

From an impeccable source:

""I called a few railroad track construction, maintenance and repair companies (these places are thrilled when girls call) and asked specifically if a penny on the railroad track could cause a train derailment. Vern, Lee and Brad all told me absolutely not. According to Lee, a train engine weighs over ten tons and very small objects won't cause a train to run off the track. A very large boulder, cow or car--maybe. Most derailments are caused by breaks or fissures in the rail or wheel defects... "

The Straight Dope: Will a penny on the tracks derail a train?

 

A penny won't derail a train, but penny smashers tend to push the envelope, quickly moving on to nickles, dimes, and quarters, sometimes one on top of another, to see how the coin images stretch, and meld together as they transfer from one coin to another.  They do tend to stick to the wheels and get flung into the ballast where they become lost like needles in a haystack. 

And penny smashing can be a gateway to more sinister horseplay.  Some penny smashers have at least wondered what would happen to a spike.

[J. Edgar]

ive left coutless pennies dimes etc etc over the years ....many while i was working for CSX and on the ground for a meet .....prolly found less then half....always flat and oval in shape....quarters are neat cause sometimes the different alloys seperate in a pattern

[jclass]

Well, I guess that's one way to keep inflation down.

[tree68]

The "squirt" I refer to (for lack of a better term) is akin to tiddly-winks.  Presumably a coin not properly placed for best squashing might shoot out, probably off to the side. 

Since I don't make a habit of putting coins on the rails in the first place, I can't really speak to any of the possible results.

Regardless, most of the surrounding issues have already been addressed.

[amtrakjackson]

 Back in the early 1980s, some kids TAPED several stacked pennies together in Jackson, Michigan. Then the kids taped the pennies to the rail. The pennies shot out, and two broke one of the trackside station windows, flew through the lobby, and embedded themselves in the north side waiting room wall....a distance of perhaps 90 feet.

 Try taking a few pennies, stack them in between your thumb and finger, and apply pressure at one end- they will fly right out of there. Now imagine what a train could do.  

 

[choochin3]

I heard a story about a kid putting a spike on the Amtrak NE corridor.

When the GG-1 hit the spike it shot out from under the wheel and went right through the kids chest killing him.

I don't know if this is true,but I belive it could have happened.

 

Carl T.