Ever notice how in movies, whenever a train runs into something, the 
train never stops?

People need to get rid of evidence, so they park on the tracks. Or they 
barely escape the car stalled on the tracks. Or they land the stolen 
military helicopter in front of the freight train to keep it from 
falling into the wrong hands.

And the train driver never stops. Nobody gets in trouble for potentially 
derailing the train. Nobody even seems to feel bad that they've just 
risked the life of the train passengers to get rid of something.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Ever notice how in movies, whenever a train runs into something, the 
> train never stops?

  Deducing from the rest of your post, don't you mean "whenever the train
is going to run into something on the tracks, no attempt is made to stop
it before the collision"?

> People need to get rid of evidence, so they park on the tracks. Or they 
> barely escape the car stalled on the tracks. Or they land the stolen 
> military helicopter in front of the freight train to keep it from 
> falling into the wrong hands.

> And the train driver never stops. Nobody gets in trouble for potentially 
> derailing the train. Nobody even seems to feel bad that they've just 
> risked the life of the train passengers to get rid of something.

  I don't actually remember concrete examples I have seen in movies,
but I do have memories of train conductors honking and the brakes being
applied, often making the wheels send dramatic sparks...

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
>   Deducing from the rest of your post, don't you mean "whenever the train
> is going to run into something on the tracks, no attempt is made to stop
> it before the collision"?

Not what I meant, but that's usually the case too. You don't hear wheels 
screeching, for example.

I was speaking more of the fact that in (for example) Back To The 
Future, (third one I guess,) when he finally destroys the car by parking 
it on the tracks, he then stands around chatting about it, rather than 
running away so he doesn't get caught.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I was speaking more of the fact that in (for example) Back To The 
> Future, (third one I guess,) when he finally destroys the car by parking 
> it on the tracks, he then stands around chatting about it, rather than 
> running away so he doesn't get caught.

  That may be one example. Do you have more?-)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> I was speaking more of the fact that in (for example) Back To The 
>> Future, (third one I guess,) when he finally destroys the car by parking 
>> it on the tracks, he then stands around chatting about it, rather than 
>> running away so he doesn't get caught.
> 
>   That may be one example. Do you have more?-)

Hmmm. The movie starring the same actor who starred in Jaws, where he 
steals the blue military helicopter, and eventually sets it down on the 
tracks in front of the freight train when he runs out of fuel.  (Altho I 
suppose one could argue in that case he was already way more screwed 
than the trouble a simple thing like derailing a train would get him 
into. :-)

I think one of the Final Destination movies had the car getting hit by 
the train and the train not stopping.

I just don't remember *any* scene where someone gets hit by a train and 
the train stops.  Except the Matrix (the subway train bit), which 
doesn't really count, as one can reasonably assume it was the person who 
got hit by the train that stopped the train.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New wrote:
> Ever notice how in movies, whenever a train runs into something, the 
> train never stops?
> 
> People need to get rid of evidence, so they park on the tracks. Or they 
> barely escape the car stalled on the tracks. Or they land the stolen 
> military helicopter in front of the freight train to keep it from 
> falling into the wrong hands.
> 
> And the train driver never stops. Nobody gets in trouble for potentially 
> derailing the train. Nobody even seems to feel bad that they've just 
> risked the life of the train passengers to get rid of something.
> 

What about all those warning signs meant to scare you, things like 
"Trains take two whole miles to stop, so don't play on the tracks or 
you'll die!"

Maybe the trains DO stop, just after the interesting scene in the movie 
is over.

-- 
...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

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Chambers wrote:
> Maybe the trains DO stop, just after the interesting scene in the movie 
> is over.

True. But the characters rarely act like they're worried about getting 
caught, either.  I'm not talking about the train not being able to stop. 
I'm talking about the train usually doesn't even seem to try to slow 
down, and the characters acting like they know the train won't stop.

This is getting way more discussion than I thought it would.  :-)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New wrote:
> Ever notice how in movies, whenever a train runs into something, the 
> train never stops?

That's usually because the train weighs many tons, and the object stuck 
weighs, at most, a few tons.

Regards,
John

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I just don't remember *any* scene where someone gets hit by a train and
> the train stops...

There's the scene in "The Fugitive" when the train hits the prison bus and
derails spectacularly.  I guess you could consider that "stopping"... ;)

--
Dan
GoofyGraffix.com

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> I just don't remember *any* scene where someone gets hit by a train and 
> the train stops.  

Trains take a long time to stop?

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