Hello we went to see a steam train this weekend it was a 4-6-2. It was a Ohio Central loco. We were watching it get ready for it’s run bye. And a few kids went to put a penny on the rail and the conductor said NO COINS on the rail. They will fly out and hit you. Now I am no expert on this but how can a Penney fly out ? I think it would be to soft and mash before it would fly out ? Is this true or was it his way of keeping everyone back ? I have a ton of coins that have been mashed over the years. And I got my first penny mashed by a steam engine this weekend to. We did it down the line before the run bye so conductor was not there. Thanks Frank
I suppose 99% of them will be ‘mashed’, but that other one can fly out at speed and hit someone. All it takes is one injury that the insurance carrier has to pay off on…
Jim
I did this when I was a kid, too.
Sometimes the coin wouldn’t be there after the train passed.
If it didn’t fly off the rail , where did it go? Was it abducted by aliens?
They actually can be dangerous when they fly from the rail. Not to mention that the darned things get very hot from the friction/compression. Ask me how I found THAT out. [:D]
There’s also the fact that the railroads don’t want people on the tracks when trains are moving. It’s a liability issue, for sure.
Any time a kid is close enough to touch the rails of live railroad track, its dangerous.
Wheels have a taper on them and railheads have a slight curve so yes, its possible for a piece of metal that has been crushed to a thin edge to come squirting out.
Dave H.
Not only is the rail curved, but the tire of the train wheel is also curved…but transversely compared to the orientation of the curvature on the rail head. That combination, plus the taper on the tire surface…effectively rendering a conical section…makes it a risky practice. Sort of like Russian roulette; most get away with their press of the trigger, but one person does not. So tell me, do ya feel lucky?
Some insight on this from Snopes.com:
Since the ball of the rail is not perfectly flat, but arched on the cross section, and the tread of most wheels provides a counterpoint, it is relatively easy for items as small as coins to get shot out from under the wheels as if one were playing tiddlywinks. The actual contact point of wheel to rail is around the diameter of a quarter. Anything less which is placed on the rail will easily become inadvertent high velocity ammo.
While running a freight train, a piece of metal debris that some kids put on the rail shot out when we ran over it, and it struck one of the kids that placed it there while they hid behind some brush. A close inspection of the brush looked as if a weed whacker had assaulted it, and the kid that got hit suffered puncture wounds and a broken arm.
The dangers are pretty clear; the most obvious is letting a child foul a working railroad track with their bodies or limbs.
It could fly out but,it could vibrate off the rail head just as easy before it gets smash…
I suppose your chances of getting hit by a coin is the same as a piece of ballast flying up and hitting you as a train passes.
About the conductor…They are human and have the same beliefs/disbeliefs we do.The next conductor may have let it pass seeing no real danger.
Hello well it looks like I wont be doing this any time soon. I have put pennies on the rail and they were gone when the train passed but I thought they fell in the ballast and could not find them maybe they went airborne. And no I don’t blame the conductor he was try to keep everyone safe. Thanks for the info Frank
The coin gets crushed and nothing shoots out.
The idea that the coin shoots out was busted on Mythbusters.
So did anyone else reading snopes.com notice that not one of the deaths/injuries were a result of being struck by a penny?
I’m not saying there is no danger; but even in my youth I knew enough to stand way back before the train comes (to avoid the train and the penny).
Best to stick with the machines in various tourist traps for this.
Brad.
Yes, it can fly and hit you. How do I know? I did this in 1965 as a kid. It was on an SP line running east from San Antonio. My brother and I set pennies on the rail and the freight hit it at track speed.
Something flew out, I can only assume it was one of the pennies, and smakced me incredibly hard in the forehead. Whatever it was zinged off into the bushes, so we couldn’t say for sure, but it was the only thing that makes sense.
Never did tell my folks, they’d just make me stay away from the tracks and who wants that as a budding railfan? [oops]
Of course, having this happen is probably like hitting the lottery. Naturally, if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. [#oops]
But the idea of kids getting near the tracks is something I can’t blame from being warned against by any responsible railroad employee. Things can happen – and youdon’t want to fall victim to most of what can happen near or on the tracks.
Like Ralphie’s mom in ‘Christmas Story’ says… - "you’ll put your eye out !"
The conductor in question might also be aware that destroying US coins is illegal??
Empirical evidence proves that it can, and does, happen, the Mythbusters’ (limited) experience notwithstanding.
Please don’t take this show as any more than entertainment; they’re not scientists and it is just a TV show. There are many, many examples of their conclusions being incorrect vs. real world experience.
(By the way, I see that you posted this after the OP said his coins disappeared; so I ask again, if they weren’t made airborne by the train, did aliens take them, or what?)
This would be a good one for Myth Busters to resolve…
I personally have put countless pennies on the local tracks over the years without any problems.
Tracklayer
That’s why a tiny little bit of chewing gum (or tar) discreetly placed on the bottom of the coin should be used to keep it in place at least until the first wheel rolls over it. Of course once it leaves the railhead you still have to find it.
People may not realise it but since the entire locomotive wheel doesn’t touch the rail, it could be possible for only part of a coin to be squashed. I am sure a lot of us have put pennies on the tracks in our time, I haven’t done it in years, no reason and in all honesty it’s really just not that exciting after awhile.
I am a condutcor on a tourist road in South Western Ohio and an Operation life Saver presenter. Please don’t put things on the track, STAY AWAY, STAY OFF, STAY ALIVE!
I have seen people do the dumbest things, leading their children under the stopped train, jumping on the moving train, reaching out slap the girders of a bridge from the moving train, autombiles stoped on the track etc.