A locomotive is around 200 tons each. Then each car can weight up to ~100-120 tons each. This was an intermodel train, so ~30-40,000 lbs per container, two per car. So a bit lighter than something like a coal / ingot car. So around 50 tons per car, for what could be 100 cars.
Just a little bit of inertia.
The platform (i.e., chassis) on a locomotive is made from a top and bottom layer of 3" steel plate welded to I beams that go the full length. The front plate on the platform is around 1" thick steel.
Source: I used to work for GE locomotive. The lead loco appears to be a GE AC4400, a model on which some of my parts still are present.
I appreciate the detailed explanation! I am curious how working for GE was? I just realized I have had so many of their products throughout my life but never heard much about the company themselves.
Well to be fair, that isn't a tank, it's a howitzer (you can tell by the way it looks; in particular its gun is too large for a tank). An important detail; it's significantly less armored than an Abrams would be.
But when you have a million+ tons of locomotives and freight coming down on it, the tank might as well be an SUV, especially with where it hit the truck and trailer.
Oh, absolutely! It's nothing in comparison with a freight train but the suggestion was that tanks aren't really that heavy and I just don't think that's a sensible comment.
Tanks are as heavy as they look, but trains are much, much heavier and more powerful. We're sort of desensitized to the sheer wild power of trains because they're a normal background fixture for modern life and they don't really have the mythos in pop culture that tanks do (and because trains aren't weaponised by design).
I think a lot of these are some sort misrouting given to the truck driver by a person using something like google maps to route plan instead of a routing package that would avoid sending low clearance truck/trailers over this kind of crossing.
I always wondered what would happen if you put a tank in front of a train.
*Well ..Not exactly the outcome I thought it would be. I was expecting a derailment, multiple fireballs and somehow Tom Cruise jumps out of the back of the train..
It's almost always 18 wheelers in these videos getting stuck st train crossings. Shouldn't there be better training on this requires in trucking school?
Hopefully somebody lost their contract with the Army To transport heavy equipment. That cannon barrel alone with the electronics involved for accuracy cost more than all the damage to the truck, trailer and train combined. How do idiots get CDLs?
I'm not a truck driver, so maybe there is something I'm missing. But why do these truckers stop on train tracks? I've never stopped my car on a train track even once in my life. I stay on the far side of the tracks if there is traffic preventing me from crossing completely. Then when the traffic on the other side has moved, I cross the tracks. It's not hard on a car, why is it so much harder in a truck?
I'm not a trucker either, but i vaguely recall the explanation on other reddit threads.. This may be incorrect but it sounds plausible
For an extremely heavy load like that, the centre of the trailer is reinforced and bottoms out - where it's extremely close to road compared to a normal trailer.
So when you come to a railway crossing, stop like that - the cab and the front of the trailer clears the rail line which is sometimes raised slightly above the road.
But when it gets to the centre, the lower part of the trailer hits the track and gets stuck - and shit like this happens.
There's supposed to be a survey done beforehand, carrying extremely wide loads like this.
The inspector will check for powerlines, bridges, dips and curves, junctions, train timetables, ensuring clearance at all times.
Likewise, the clearance of the trailer (fully loaded), the truck etc. - all need to be taken into considerence.
Ditto the design of the railway crossing
Obviously, somebody fucked up here. The Truck driver wouldn't be entirely at fault, unless he diverted from the established route. Likewise, someone needs to have notified the train company - so they can plan for faults like this.
They often do. Which can kill the rail crew. The one time my grandfather had a turn over derailment, he got lucky. It only ran his watch band up his arm past his elbow, requiring some skin grafts. All in all, he was lucky he wasn't hurt worse.
Probably, given that a train is still ~4 times heavier than the tank. (Tank is around 60 tonnes, train is 220)
You would need something like the Ratte (a thousand tons, it never god past preliminary drawings because Speer said "And what exactly would the use be?" and the designers couldn't answer) before the tank might well come off better in the collision than the train.
Of course, the Ratte if it was ever built would have had it's own problems, because most roads cannot take the weight of that heavy a vehicle.
'cos everyone assumes it will get them more hits on their youtube/tictoc/whatever channel to have something dramatic instead of saving lives/money/time.
In this case the distance between the tracks and the road in the foreground is such that you'd have to raise a significant chunk of the main road to level this minor side street with the tracks.
not all road crossings can be raised to accommodate this.
IIRC, on the other thread, there was an explanation why this particular junction in this geographical location was extremely unsuited to being raised.
In that case, the route planner should have diverted the driver to another railroad crossing that was rasied and suitable for fully laden lowboy trailers.
Truck: Stupid design on truck bed with low ground clearance.
Train: No radar to detect obstacles miles ahead specially at the crossing to prevent a collision
FWIW, we were involved in a similar incident, when the train our cargo was being transported with hit a trailered D11 Cat at a crossing. We had 2 x 20’ containers of custom machine parts onboard and were notified that our flatbed (term?) had remained upright and on the track, we always shipped high value goods with 2 independent GPS G-force / Accelerometer packs in each container. I don’t recall the numbers, but didn’t come close to triggering an alarm. Not the best part of Detroit so security was dispatched and we notified our insurance. Long story short we were immediately offered complete replacement value + 30%, offered the opportunity to retrieve our cans or they would handle disposal. Insurance company said that this was policy for any cargo on the entire train. So an insanely expensive driver FU. Our 2 containers were north of $2.8m. We retrieved our goods, did a full inspection, re-shipped and all got a nice Christmas bonus that year.
Back in my Army days as a Heavy Equipment Transporter. We didnt use lowboy trailers. Before the M1070 HETT was introduced we used commercial vehicles with ground clearance. Pictured below is an M1A1 Tank, the OP post showed a M109 Paladin self propelled Howitzer. Not a tank. For equipment like the one in the video all we were concerned with was tearing down power and phone lines.
Because truck drivers cant read the pictogram sign that clearly shows a raised track bed with a truck stuck. If that absolutely - positively had no other option than go that way, the number on the sign should have been called to get the train schedule. The road should be blocked so the truck could come in from the left at an angle to cross the tracks at an angle and dunnage should have been available to drive on if needed. But we wouldn’t have these sweet videos if common sense prevailed.
That seems expensive.
M109 runs about 12 million
The hull might be salvagable but that turret looks proper fucked.
Eh, you never know. I've seen M1A2s with all kinds of damage that were refurbed and returned to service.
Fair, but the turret ring, gun mounting and barrel are dunzo. That was a hell.of a hit.
What about the driver?
Also dunzo
To shreds you say?
What driver?
The Pentagon loses 100 times that when a general sneezes. The money won't be the problem here.
A general sneezing is not the seen the same as when private sneezes, nor a trucking company driver going, well this seems like a good place...
Who says the government will lose any $$? Better start looking at the transport company…
Add a couple of million to repair or replace the freight engines. That trucking company is loosing its insurance.
r/thatlookedexpensive
Exactly what I was going to mention!
Don’t ignore the damage done to both locomotives. First took the impact to the front; second had the gun barrel dig into the side of it.
For us, unfortunately.
Well that is a testament to the raw power behind trains--moved that tank out the way like it was a plaything.
A locomotive is around 200 tons each. Then each car can weight up to ~100-120 tons each. This was an intermodel train, so ~30-40,000 lbs per container, two per car. So a bit lighter than something like a coal / ingot car. So around 50 tons per car, for what could be 100 cars.
Just a little bit of inertia.
The platform (i.e., chassis) on a locomotive is made from a top and bottom layer of 3" steel plate welded to I beams that go the full length. The front plate on the platform is around 1" thick steel.
Source: I used to work for GE locomotive. The lead loco appears to be a GE AC4400, a model on which some of my parts still are present.
Other comments say it is an M109 which weighs 26 to 40 tons depending on the variant, so the locomotive alone weighs 5-8 times as much.
I appreciate the detailed explanation! I am curious how working for GE was? I just realized I have had so many of their products throughout my life but never heard much about the company themselves.
Not how I expected tank vs train to go.
The train always wins.
Well to be fair, that isn't a tank, it's a howitzer (you can tell by the way it looks; in particular its gun is too large for a tank). An important detail; it's significantly less armored than an Abrams would be.
Tanks are not as heavy as they look.
What about 69 tons doesn’t look heavy to you? That might not be “heavy” to a 220 ton diesel locomotive, but still, kind of heavy I think.
Not sure that's accurate. A modern main battle tank will be around 55-65 tonnes. No play thing to throw around!
This is a self-propelled Howitzer
Typically Rolled Aluminium armor on these boys
The latest A7 variant is 35 metric tonnes, can go up to 50 tonnes fully loaded in the field
An empty Boeing 737 is around 41 tonnes. 77 with cargo. And it gets blown by the air. So... I guess tonnes is not THAT heavy.
But when you have a million+ tons of locomotives and freight coming down on it, the tank might as well be an SUV, especially with where it hit the truck and trailer.
That train doesn’t weigh a million tons nor anywhere near that.
Oh, absolutely! It's nothing in comparison with a freight train but the suggestion was that tanks aren't really that heavy and I just don't think that's a sensible comment.
Its not a tank, its an artillery vehicle
Artillery vehicles are not as heavy as they look.
To the light infantry, has tracks = tank
Tank other infantry goes in = Bradley
Tank with direct fire weapon = abrams
Tank with indirect fire weapon = artillery
Goofy ass tank with antennas = m113
Tanks are as heavy as they look, but trains are much, much heavier and more powerful. We're sort of desensitized to the sheer wild power of trains because they're a normal background fixture for modern life and they don't really have the mythos in pop culture that tanks do (and because trains aren't weaponised by design).
r/BitchImATrain
Yeah they'd love this
I’m pretty sure it’s been there, a few times now.
Why don’t USA drivers check clearances before negotiating a railway crossing? Still it keeps us amused!
Because no proper 'Murican wants to hear they can't do something.
Because MuRiCa!! red tailed egal screech
TALONS OF JUSTICE
Happens in Europe aswell, I'm guessing wherever theres railroads theres idiots thinking trains can stop whenever
I think a lot of these are some sort misrouting given to the truck driver by a person using something like google maps to route plan instead of a routing package that would avoid sending low clearance truck/trailers over this kind of crossing.
GPS said Go Here.
The permit said go here
Train > tank
You can simplify that to:
ri > k
r/theydidthemath
It took me a few seconds to catch on even with a maths degree
Train > Self propelled Howitzer
Boss...you see, it wasn't my fault but...
Here's the thing...
That train came out of nowhere and totally swerved into me!
“In my defense…”
...I had a 155, he had a a train
The moral of the story: Never bring a gun to a train fight.
I always wondered what would happen if you put a tank in front of a train.
*Well ..Not exactly the outcome I thought it would be. I was expecting a derailment, multiple fireballs and somehow Tom Cruise jumps out of the back of the train..
Spiderman would have stopped the train by webbing it to a few trees somewhere back there... 👉
Um ackshually... Not a tank. M109 Paladin, which is a self-propelled howitzer.
Tank seemed more surprised than damaged. Fs in the chat for the vehicle pulling it though
Someone is getting axed in the logistics department
I’m betting logistics has a safe route planned, and the driver knew a “shortcut”.
Or the crossing got reworked and the maps aren't updated.
I’m guessing logistics has a safe route in the books but the truck driver knew a “shortcut”.
Echo…
Echo...
I think the barrel can now shoot around corners.
Military fans who are also rail fans
https://i.redd.it/s065oupvjs9g1.gif
OnlyMilitaRailFans
/r/retiredgif
It's almost always 18 wheelers in these videos getting stuck st train crossings. Shouldn't there be better training on this requires in trucking school?
No, that's communism.
TBF, I always assumed that a tank would always have right of way - apparently not…
I never realized that large trailers can get stuck on the rise from track crossings. This sub has taught me so much 😅
Hopefully somebody lost their contract with the Army To transport heavy equipment. That cannon barrel alone with the electronics involved for accuracy cost more than all the damage to the truck, trailer and train combined. How do idiots get CDLs?
There ARE a HUGE number of Steering Wheel Holders out there. Biggest Open Secret in the World.
This reminds me of all the GTA V videos of players trying to stop the train 🤣
(The train insurance company): they had what stuck on the tracks?
M109 Paladin. Self propelled artillery, not a tank.
How does this still happen?
You don’t see that every day
I'm not a truck driver, so maybe there is something I'm missing. But why do these truckers stop on train tracks? I've never stopped my car on a train track even once in my life. I stay on the far side of the tracks if there is traffic preventing me from crossing completely. Then when the traffic on the other side has moved, I cross the tracks. It's not hard on a car, why is it so much harder in a truck?
If you look, it's not that the truck driver decided he wanted to stop there, the trailer is bottomed out on the road and is unable to go further
I'm not a trucker either, but i vaguely recall the explanation on other reddit threads.. This may be incorrect but it sounds plausible
For an extremely heavy load like that, the centre of the trailer is reinforced and bottoms out - where it's extremely close to road compared to a normal trailer.
So when you come to a railway crossing, stop like that - the cab and the front of the trailer clears the rail line which is sometimes raised slightly above the road.
But when it gets to the centre, the lower part of the trailer hits the track and gets stuck - and shit like this happens.
There's supposed to be a survey done beforehand, carrying extremely wide loads like this.
The inspector will check for powerlines, bridges, dips and curves, junctions, train timetables, ensuring clearance at all times.
Likewise, the clearance of the trailer (fully loaded), the truck etc. - all need to be taken into considerence.
Ditto the design of the railway crossing
Obviously, somebody fucked up here. The Truck driver wouldn't be entirely at fault, unless he diverted from the established route. Likewise, someone needs to have notified the train company - so they can plan for faults like this.
There's more than one person to blame here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ffrv2g/eli5_why_do_vehicles_of_any_size_get_stuck_on/
i think i read this on//r/BitchImATrain
Thanks for the thorough explanation. I've seen a few of these truck on the tracks videos, and it still always amazes me that it happens.
nobody got hurt. this was in sept. '24.
[deleted]
It happened in Sept of 2024.
Battle-hardened.
This stuff is gettingnoit of habd. By now it seems like people are testing how much a train can push away. What eill be next, a plane?
It’s not a tank, it was a self-propelled M109A6 howitzer.
is the truck driver Ron Swanson?
“oh no, I’m stuck and there’s a train a mile away. darn. but I’m so very stuck. well, this is gonna cost the government a bunch of money. darn it.”
r/GTAV
I’m foolishly impressed that the train doesn’t fully derail when crashes like this happen
They often do. Which can kill the rail crew. The one time my grandfather had a turn over derailment, he got lucky. It only ran his watch band up his arm past his elbow, requiring some skin grafts. All in all, he was lucky he wasn't hurt worse.
First one I’ve seen where the thing hit didn’t just disintegrate.
Shows the strength of a tank compared to a normal vehicle.
(Yes, I know it’s actually artillery, not a tank)
Repeat this with an actual armored tank and see what happens, like an M1A2.
I expect much the same.
Probably, given that a train is still ~4 times heavier than the tank. (Tank is around 60 tonnes, train is 220)
You would need something like the Ratte (a thousand tons, it never god past preliminary drawings because Speer said "And what exactly would the use be?" and the designers couldn't answer) before the tank might well come off better in the collision than the train.
Of course, the Ratte if it was ever built would have had it's own problems, because most roads cannot take the weight of that heavy a vehicle.
An M1 is many tons heavier, dozens of tons.
About twice as much but it will still get slapped around.
Howitzer, not a tank.
Whoa I live there!!!! Anyone know when this was?
September 2024
I fail to understand how this keeps happening at train crossings. I guess drivers just don’t pay attention.
Looks like the truck driver did a brainfart and got himself high centred
A big brain fart!!
You might be able to reuse maybe 60% in some way.
Once it is declared not repairable this station (NRTS) it will go to the cannibalization point, where the good bits will be recovered.
That's impressive, the train still wins!
Usually you assume the train will win.
Gotta admit I was on the fence here just a little
Why does literally nobody in the US call the railway to report the blockage?
'cos everyone assumes it will get them more hits on their youtube/tictoc/whatever channel to have something dramatic instead of saving lives/money/time.
Including the truck driver?
I wonder if this will come out of the drivers paycheck?
That knocked the rust off that train
Wow. Not even a tank can withstand the force of a train!!!! 🤯🤦♀️🤷♀️🤪
Not even a fucking tank is safe from trains.
Free tank?!
And the train wins, again.
I have been saying for years that we need more locomotives on the battlefield.
First time for everything train wins 🤔
The train fucked around and found out. Poor train driver.
Looks like the unstoppable force defeated the immovable object.
I figured in tank vs train I'd take the tank.
Wrong answer apparently
Always wanted to see this. Train vs Tank.
New people just don’t understand. That’s how the current administration tests a tank.
Train: 1, Tank: 0
Choo Choo, mother fucker.
Tank might beat Hunter, Ghost and Wraith, but Train beats Tank
What is the first thing you notice on every single one of these crossings crashes??
The raised track.
Every single time the track is at the top of a hump in the road.
Have the road and it's approach level with the tracks for 100ft either side and this will suddenly stop happening...
This failure is engineered into the crossing by design...
In this case the distance between the tracks and the road in the foreground is such that you'd have to raise a significant chunk of the main road to level this minor side street with the tracks.
Probably...
Or we can keep watching videos like this....
The other option is to shut all these minor crossings and raise the road at the few you think are worth spending the money leveling.
Or we can keep watching videos like this....
Damage bill for this crash was reported at $15m...
Or truckers could learn to read signs.
Because that works, 🤷🏻
It clearly doesn't...
So everyone loses access to a rail crossing because truckers hauling lowboys can't be bothered to look up a route or read signs. Great.
So raise the road so the lowboys don't ground or close the unsafe crossings...
Engineering out the unsafe occurrence is the best option.
There are over 2200 railroad/highway incidents per year resulting in over 900 deaths. The average cost of each incident is over $5m...
Doing nothing isn't an ethical option.
not all road crossings can be raised to accommodate this.
IIRC, on the other thread, there was an explanation why this particular junction in this geographical location was extremely unsuited to being raised.
In that case, the route planner should have diverted the driver to another railroad crossing that was rasied and suitable for fully laden lowboy trailers.
For heavy/wide loads like this - there's often an inspector that drives the route first, looking for potential problems so the Truck driver is aware.
A railroad crossing like this would be the obvious problem.
First time I’ve seen something withstand being hit by a train
Truck: Stupid design on truck bed with low ground clearance. Train: No radar to detect obstacles miles ahead specially at the crossing to prevent a collision
World of Tanks: Fuck arty!
Somebody couldn't tank it.
Seems like this could have been avoided if they just used the gun on the tank to blow up the train.
I drive rigs . This guy is a full blown idiot .
r/thatlookedexpensive
Good thing no direct contact with the turret /head on ...
Destroying government property?
Straight to jail.
Hopefully they got the extended warranty
Hegseth‘s lethal warriors.
Don’t worry about the cost right now the interest on the national debt is more than the entire defense budget.
So train beats tank.
FWIW, we were involved in a similar incident, when the train our cargo was being transported with hit a trailered D11 Cat at a crossing. We had 2 x 20’ containers of custom machine parts onboard and were notified that our flatbed (term?) had remained upright and on the track, we always shipped high value goods with 2 independent GPS G-force / Accelerometer packs in each container. I don’t recall the numbers, but didn’t come close to triggering an alarm. Not the best part of Detroit so security was dispatched and we notified our insurance. Long story short we were immediately offered complete replacement value + 30%, offered the opportunity to retrieve our cans or they would handle disposal. Insurance company said that this was policy for any cargo on the entire train. So an insanely expensive driver FU. Our 2 containers were north of $2.8m. We retrieved our goods, did a full inspection, re-shipped and all got a nice Christmas bonus that year.
Tank survived though right?
Back in my Army days as a Heavy Equipment Transporter. We didnt use lowboy trailers. Before the M1070 HETT was introduced we used commercial vehicles with ground clearance. Pictured below is an M1A1 Tank, the OP post showed a M109 Paladin self propelled Howitzer. Not a tank. For equipment like the one in the video all we were concerned with was tearing down power and phone lines.
https://preview.redd.it/m42r4jdpuv9g1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6fef5c0636d89cb0dbaf69fd3aedae78142e709
Train vs. Tank! Train wins!
Good thing that tank wasn’t self-aware; mighta’ taken that train’s action as a direct threat, and gone full retaliatory .
Train: "Bitch, I'm a train!"
Tank: "Bitch, I'm a tank--what else you got???"
We need to start forcing municipalities to properly grade the damn railroad crossings so trucks can you know actually cross the railroad.
Tank gets hit by a train and still field ready
I think it says a lot about our society that 4 different people took video of this accident.
Tanks for the memory!
That seems rather expensive.
"you crashed a what?"
Weird way to test armor solidity. /j
Tank you!
Why the hell was there a tank being transported in Goose Creek SC?
tax payer's money at work
those barrels are a lot stronger than I would have thought.
Tanks a lot
Well, I want to see what the train vs tank looks like aftermath
The train is mightier than a tank
Freight Conductor 1 - Freight Relocation Specialist 0
Why do so many trucks get stuck on tracks?
Because truck drivers cant read the pictogram sign that clearly shows a raised track bed with a truck stuck. If that absolutely - positively had no other option than go that way, the number on the sign should have been called to get the train schedule. The road should be blocked so the truck could come in from the left at an angle to cross the tracks at an angle and dunnage should have been available to drive on if needed. But we wouldn’t have these sweet videos if common sense prevailed.
That's not a tank, that's an artillery piece. I guess we can thank our lucky stars it's not transported loaded lol.
Just had to be a CSX train. Some of my retirement waisted along with my tax $.
Welcome to Amerika...
Hit the breaks dude, I’m surprised train didn’t derail !!!