Well, some FedEx customers are not going to be getting their packages on time. A FrontRunner train collided with a FedEx double tractor trailer truck in North Salt Lake, Utah, on Saturday, completely destroying the trailer and sending packages flying in the process. Luckily, the train did not make contact with the tractor. SEE ALSO: Dude builds the epic Lego train set of your dreams, puts a camera on it The gate and light warning system typical for train crossings was not engaged during the accident, leading the driver of the truck to believe they had the all-clear to cross the tracks. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, if there is a power or signal issue, the gates are supposed to drop into the "down and active" position as a safety precaution, but clearly something went wrong here. The Utah Transit Authority is investigating the accident. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries in the crash, and the video can serve as a reminder for all motorists to look both ways before crossing any train tracks, even if the lights aren't on.
BONUS: Prosthetic talks to the brain, restores touch in man's handWe have selected English as your language preference. If you would like to browse in a different language, please choose a language using the dropdown. This page either does not exist or is currently unavailable.You can also search for something on our site below.Order our new book, Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders The Fugitive Train Wreck Vicky Somma on Flickr (Creative Commons) Aside from Harrison Ford jumping off a dam waterfall, the most iconic scene from the 1993 film, The Fugitive, is the escape sequence where a freight train smashes into fugitive Richard Kimble’s transport bus, and the carnage left over from that collision can still be found in the Great Smoky Mountains. The scene was shot on a stretch of the Smoky Mountain Railroad using the most practical special effects of all, a real train and a real bus. The movie was made far before CGI effects became the standard in filmmaking, and instead of using miniatures the filmmakers simply placed a full-size bus in the path of an oncoming freight train, and let physics do the rest.
The bus was nearly torn in half by the impact, and the train was made to derail after the collision leaving nothing but mangled wrecks in its wake. In the film, fugitive Richard Kimble narrowly survives the destruction, going on to find the man who really killed his wife, but in real life it is the wrecks of the train and the bus that continue to survive. Rusting away on the side of the tracks near where they were destroyed, the train still bears the logo of “Illinois Southern,” and the bus is still mocked up to look like a Corrections transport. Fans of Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, and justice will find no better place to pay pilgrimage than The Fugitive wreckage, which will likely outlive the movie itself. Know Before You Go Park on the side of Haywood Road near the Jackson County Green Energy Park and look down the slope across the street to see the wreck. Escape the Beaten Path We'd Like You to Like Us On September 15, 1896, two locomotives traveling at speeds upward of 50 miles per hour smashed into each other in Crush, Texas—completely on purpose—killing two people and seriously injuring at least six others.
The intentional collision was the brainchild of William George Crush, the general passenger agent of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and friend of P.T. Barnum. Though watching the spectacle was technically free, there were plenty of other ways for Crush and enterprising entrepreneurs to make money off of the deal. First of all, the M-K-T charged $2 for every round-trip train ticket to the spectacle site. A restaurant served people from beneath a Ringling Brothers tent; other diversions included a midway, cigar stands, and medicine shows. When it came down to the main event, two train crews got the 35-ton locomotives started, then opened the throttles, tied the whistle cords down, and jumped off, leaving the massive six-car trains to smash into each other. As you might suspect, there were repercussions to causing a purposeful collision of two large locomotives. Although mechanics had assured the organizers otherwise, the steam boilers on each train exploded on impact. The blast was immediate and deadly.
The 40,000 spectators had been required to observe the collision from a hill 200 yards away, but they weren’t safe from the flying wood and iron debris. A 10-pound section of brake chain hit a teenager named Ernest Darnell directly in the head, almost splitting it in two. A young girl was struck by a chunk of iron that fractured her skull; she died on the way home. And official event photographer Jarvis Deane took a bolt to the eye. Miraculously, he didn’t die—and reportedly even stood up and instructed his photographer brothers to take photos of the aftermath. Despite the carnage, the event was considered a success. Crush was fired immediately after the event, but after the publicity (and sales receipts) began to roll in, he was rehired. Train collisions became main events at state fairs across the country, and Scott Joplin wrote the “Great Crush Collision March.” Crush, Texas, no longer exists today—it was deemed a town just for the purposes of hosting the event—but you can visit the site, memorialized by a marker in what is now the town of West, Texas.
Holy Crap, This Passenger Train Totally Obliterated a FedEx Truck1/24/17 8:47pm Damn. In a terrifying accident in Utah, a FrontRunner train crashed into a FedEx truck and basically shredded its trailer into pieces, sending boxes flying everywhere. Thankfully (and impressively), there were no serious injuries in the crash, as it seemed the train busted through the softest part of the FedEx truck.America's Railroads Are Too Busted for High Speed Trains12/07/16 5:50pmAmtrak trains traveling the Northeast Corridor, servicing major cities like New York, Boston, and Washington DC, are getting a $2.45 billion federal upgrade. But it won’t get you anywhere any faster.Train Crashes Into New Jersey Station—1 Dead, Dozens Injured [Updated]9/29/16 9:15amA train crashed into a station in Hoboken, New Jersey around 8:45am this morning, according to reports. There are 74 injured and three in serious condition. The train’s conductor is in critical condition. One fatality has been confirmed by officials.
(Correction 12:03pm: We previously cited NBC News which reported…Watch a Train Get Assembled for the Subway9/16/16 9:05pm Seeing a train get assembled is a lot like watching someone play with Lego bricks, only if that someone was God and the Lego bricks were stupid ginormous. This timelapse of a London Elizabeth line train being built out at Bombardier in Derby is especially cool because it seems like pieces and parts are just flying…Holding a Slam Dunk Competition on a Moving Train Requires Basketballs9/09/16 9:50am The Dunking Devils, last seen pulling off incredible trick shots while swinging from a bridge, are back with an even wilder collection of dunks and stunts that all take place on board a moving train. Why Do Trains In America Suck So Badly? 8/16/16 12:57pmLet’s state the obvious: trains in america are awful. They’re slow, expensive, and not very reliable. And there are a few, largely unsolvable reasons why that’s the case. These Transit Safety Videos Are So Gruesome They Just Might Work6/23/16 3:31pm What would convince transit riders to pay attention to an oncoming train instead of Instagram?
Apparently, a graphic depiction of certain dismemberment.This Train Ride Through Tokyo Is Totally Hitting the Hyperdrive6/06/16 5:35pm Vroom. This video of Tokyo called Tokyo Aglow by Justin Tierney shows the city by rail and by road, offering an especially hypnotizing take on an already electric city. The video accelerates the trains to hyper speed, and the effect bends the lights into what looks more like a trip through a space tunnel than a normal…The Longest, Deepest Rail Tunnel on Earth Just Opened in the Swiss Alps6/01/16 3:50pmAfter 17 years of construction, the Gotthard Base Tunnel opens today. This feat of engineering is a 35-mile high-speed rail connection beneath the Swiss Alps and is now the longest transit tunnel in the world. You better believe that Hyperloop engineers are paying attention.Amazing Train Driver Sprints Through Cars to Warn of Inevitable Crash5/13/16 6:28am When a Polish train driver noticed a truck blocking part of the track ahead of his vehicle, he didn’t have time to bring the carriages to a stop before impact.
So he used the three seconds he had to sprint through the train, warning passengers of the impact.The 19th Century Hyperloop Was Going to Travel From NY to SF in 24 Hours5/06/16 11:08amIn 1894 the Wright Brothers’ first flight was still nearly a decade away. But people were obsessed with figuring out how to use powered flight for any number of applications. The May 5, 1894 issue of Scientific American featured one such idea—an aero-train that could zip across the country at 150 miles per hour.Seeing the First Person View of a Lego Toy Train Riding Around on a Track Is Surprisingly Fun4/27/16 4:35pm Seeing the perspective of a toy train is way, way more fun than it should be. About 160 feet of Lego train tracks were laid out around this guy’s house, through the inside of home, next to his pets, and beyond. The tracks went outside too, winding all over his garden in the front yard, under the wooden fence, and onto…Japan's Invisible Train Should Be Running By 20184/08/16 8:00pm Japanese train-travel company Seibu Railway hopes to make a major design leap in time for their 100th anniversary;
a new line of fast commuter trains that “blend into the landscape.”DC Is Shutting Down Metro For 29 Hours So Prepare For a Traffic Apocalypse3/15/16 4:41pmIf you live in DC, I really hope you get to work from home on Wednesday. Starting at midnight tonight, the nation’s capital is closing its entire metro for at least 29 hours for a system-wide safety survey of electrical cables.Train Tracks Are the Most Dangerous Way to Charge a Phone3/07/16 8:30am Did I mention it’s illegal too? Because it’s super illegal.Hyperloop Is the Perfect Way to Move Goods—Not People3/01/16 12:20pmThe Hyperloop may prove to be a wondrous and radical technology that will change everything we know about travel. But there are several major challenges it needs to overcome, and those challenges suggest that Hyperloop might be better suited for transporting goods—not people. Lionel Has Turned the Classic Model Train Set Into a Race Track2/13/16 10:53amIt’s a testament to the devotion of train enthusiasts that model railroads have remained a popular hobby for over 100 years.
And to keep another generation interested in the toys, Lionel has turned its classic trains into something that looks more like a slot car track.Thomas the Tank Engine Is Adding More DC Comics Mashups to the Railyard2/11/16 9:00amThere was little doubt that combining superheroes and anthropomorphic toy trains would be a big hit with kids. But following up on the success of the initial reveal at Comic-Con last year, Mattel is going to introduce 35 new DC Super Friends/Thomas & Friends Minis mashups including Emily in a Poison Ivy getup, a…Thousands of People Are Stuck in This Ridiculous Human Traffic Jam at a China Train Station2/03/16 10:13am People in China have been trying to travel across the country for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday but some—if tens of thousands of people can be considered just some—have been stuck in one of the most insane human traffic jams in the world at the Guangzhou Railway Station in southern China. Los Angeles Has Invented the Multimodal Navigation App of My Dreams2/01/16 7:40pmFor years now, I have very publicly wished for an app that would list all my possible transportation alternatives in the palm of my hand, then guide me to my destination once I’d made the decision of how to get there.