Train track derailers - photos

[Altair]

Train track derailers.










Previously:

Train changes track gauges - GIF
Train axle counter - GIF
Railway hydraulic retarders - GIF
Railway detonators - GIF
Gas-fed train track heating system - GIF

[mklotz]

I can appreciate why, in a military or partisan venue, you might want to derail a train, but these look too complicated and well marked to be used in combat.

So, why would you want to derail a train in a peace-time setting? Rerailing a train car takes considerable time and effort; wouldn't a simple barrier, as seen on many dead end sidings, be adequate?

[BuffaloJohn]

So, why would you want to derail a train in a peace-time setting? Rerailing a train car takes considerable time and effort; wouldn't a simple barrier, as seen on many dead end sidings, be adequate?

Just in case, because stuff happens...

There are plenty of stories out there about how these devices have saved lives. When working on a section, the humans need to be protected. Sometimes, radios don't have coverage, or traffic control has issues, or the message didn't get to the operating crew in time, or whatever.

These devices sometimes protect from going down a track where worse that a derailment might happen.

It's actually not that hard to re-rail a car if it happens...

[mklotz]

Thanks for the explanation, John. I hadn't considered it being used as a protection for work crews.

Still seems like an extreme solution, though. Most likely, the first thing to hit the derailer is the locomotive pulling the train. Even if it stays erect after derailing, rerailing a locomotive seems like a non-trivial process, probably requiring a crane. If it's on its side, how many cars has it pulled over with it, and what do those cars contain? (rhetorical question)

[BuffaloJohn]

The derailer is the last resort. On a more heavily traffic line, they will deploy other measures, including people sent a mile or two down the line to warn oncoming traffic.

Most often they are at the head of a siding, so a locomotive doesn't hit them, the car it is pushing hits. The last photo is a derailed car, so unless the car is travelling fast, it keeps the car standing. Also, they prefer derailers on straight sections...

[carl blum]

Hi Gang:
The mainline is protected by derails to keep stray cars from fouling the track. They are not really for stopping run-a-way locomotives. Remember the movie about such a train? The heavy locomotive just busted the derails off the track. Also to protect the mainline usually they try to lay the sidings lower than the main.
Carl.

[NeiljohnUK]

Some rail system still use 'catch-points' that derail to protect mainlines from intrusion, here's an example of one that the signalman forgot to set to allow movement from the siding onto the mainline:

[BuffaloJohn]

Well, that was certainly a fail, and a great example though of how derailers work!