train derailement

[SteamGene]

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/212.cfm?sd=61

For those who don't know, Camp (now Fort) Polk is in west central Louisiana and then Camp Claiborne was about 50 or so miles east in the almost exact center of Louisiana.
Gene

[Jhanecker2]

Interesting  flix . I suppose it was more efficient to blow  up trains  going over tressels and bridges  where sufficently large amounts of explosives could be planted .  I do remember a article about the utilization of American  16 inch Railroad guns being used in France during the First World War to shell  Railroad Yards . They had a degree of success but the French were a tad upset by the amount of damage the Large guns recoil did to the
tracks the gun carriages were riding on . Don't remember where the article was in whether it was in a railroading magazine or in a book on war machines . It has been a while.

[SteamGene]

A couple of points - the largest American railroad gun in WWI were 14", matching the standard size of the largest battleship guns at the time.  The French used railroad guns, too - in fact a fair number.  As a general rule a railroad gun frequently fired from a special curved siding, allowing for greater changes in deflection than was possible if the carriage could not move. 
Gene

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Jeez And everyone told me my trackwork was the most important part of my Railroad!!!   Guess not

[pdlethbridge]

what I found interesting about the video was that it is not that easy to derail a train.

[rocknblues]

That was some great video, very interesting. I was surprised it took that much to derail the trains.

[mhampton]

Very interesting, indeed.  Odd that they only experimented on straight sections of rail.  I wonder what would have happened if they had taken out sections of rail on the outside of a curve?

[SteamGene]

There probably wasn't a curve on the entire Polk-Claiborne Railroad.  Something tells me that the MoPac or the IC would have frowned on their track being blown.
Gene

[Paul M.]

Gene, I think the Texas & Pacific tracks would have run through that part of Lousiana. 

[SteamGene]

I believe they did, too.  I'm fairly sure I arrived in Alex by train once on a MoPac - but, IIRC, the T&P scheme was quite similar.  This would have been spring, 1960.
Gene

[r.cprmier]

They had a degree of success but the French were a tad upset by the amount of damage the Large guns recoil did to the
tracks the gun carriages were riding on

The French perhaps, overestimated the quality of their trackwork-there wasn't any-or perhaps they would have rather adopted German as their mother tongue...Yup..."Damn the Yankees!"

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