I was told by my father, who was a long time railroad conductor, that one time they stopped the freight train on a heavy banked corner. When the train took off in a hurry, several box cars fell over in the sharp corner. Is this possible or was he telling me a tall tale?
Yes.
Yes, It’s called “stringlineing”. A famous example of this was the derailment at Cantara loop on the SP’s Shasta line that dumped metamsodium into the river back in the early 90s.
A quick Google search got me this picture of such a derailment.
Unfortunately, this occurance is all too real. Quite common as a matter of fact. Experienced engineers familiar with the territories they’re operating in fare far better than those who don’t with regard to stringline derailments. Knowing where to stop and how to handle your train is key.
I remember seein somethin like that in a rail magazine quite a few years ago. A BNSF mixed freight had a 5 pack of spine cars stuck right behind the motors and when they pulled around a corner the cars got ripped off the track.