Both actually…coins can anneal to the wheel or the rail, somewhat like hammer welding, and when it does break away, it can damage the rail or the wheel
Anything on the railhead can cause damage, there is a lot of force at work there.
They can also create small nicks in the railhead, which will enlarge over time, lots of time, but still.
And yes, objects can be ejected at high speed by the wheel….as was pointed out, discouraging this behavior early is the best idea..
Leo, yes, I have…me in fact.
Put a nickel on the rail,(a friend wanted it for a art piece of jewelry) had it pop out and leave a nice little ding in my shin.
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Nonsense, hundreds of thousands of people have placed a coin on a rail at one time or another (Including many of us, if we were to be honest here). The percentage that "graduated" to attempting to derail a train is minuscule.
The best answer is that by discouraging this activity officially, it also discourages trespassing. In today's world teaching folks that often seemingly lack any common sense, worsened by the public's ignorance of railroading, that a rail line isn't a place to play is important.
I doubt any study has ever been undertaken on what the effects a penny will have on steel rail or steel wheels. And for the thousands of coins that have been flattened over the years by locomotives (Usually landing on the ballast and ties just inches away from where they were set), if there was a real threat of one going flying and doing bodily harm, you'd think that such stories would exist and be spread.
Yet I've never heard one, have you?
The answer to the question is that people who put coins on the rail will eventually graduate to putting spikes on the rail. So you want to nip that in the bud.
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