this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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hmmm

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For things that are "hmmm".

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[–] jballs 109 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Hey, this past week our funny photo went viral throughout the whole world. Thousands of shares and likes in many different countries! Once and for all: the picture was taken in Belgium, in a small village called Bornem.

After a minor intervention, we had some time left near the railway to make this picture. Since there were no trains running at all for a week due to maintenance works, we can state that our joke was a real success! Thanks to our entire team, 2nd sqdn Firefighters Bornem!

Well played, Belgian firefighters.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago

Stuff like this is what the internet is made for.

[–] southsamurai 74 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

My question is, would it work?

Then, would it work safely?

My thought would be that the engine would be heavy enough to either go through the risers anyway, or at least bite in enough that the rest of the cars would finish the job. But maybe I'm wrong; some materials could survive that kind of weight being focused on that small an area.

But, if it did work, would the train go off the tracks? Or, would each set of wheels stay in line since al the others on the train length would still be aligned by the rails? I can see it working, though I'm dubious because there's a lot of room for error in each side hitting at different times could shift things enough to be a problem, maybe start the train rocking, even if it didn't derail.

Or, would that lift be enough for the train to rise enough to make it catastrophic immediately? If the front wheels pop up enough to leave the rails, it could be horrible when they come back down; and if they don't land back on the rails, crash ensues.

Firefighters aren't idiots when it comes to their gear. Some of them are dumb as rocks about anything other than fire fighting, but you don't stay on the job long if you can't do the job and keep each other as safe as possible. So, why would they deploy this in that way if it wouldn't work safely? Having to run hose over train tracks would likely be common enough to need a solution, so maybe this is it?

I dunno, I'm going to go see if I can find answers. I have family that are, or were, firefighters and I've never seen these things before, or heard about them. So I'm extra curious.

Edit: First link I found lol

Edit 2:

So, my cousin actually texted me back promptly. He said that if they had to run hose across tracks, they'd contact the companies directly and have rail traffic stopped while they were working. If that's not possible, they'd likely just run them across and hope no trains made it there before they were done.

However! What would happen if it was done is not much.

Either the ramps would get crushed/cut under the train, or would get bumped out of the way as the wheels hit it. Most likely the first one, depending on materials used. It's way harder to derail a train than that.

Apparently, most firefighters know about this picture, EMTs too. I didn't even have to send him a copy of the image, he knew right away what it was lol.

@the_[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 51 points 5 days ago

You already found the answer but I was going to comment that the pic was a joke.. a train wouldn't even notice those things on the track.

They do have derailers that are designed to specifically pop a train off the tracks though. They are made of steel and are usually put on the end of secondary lines just before they meet a normal line. In the event that if a train car rolls away it ensures that it can't roll into an active line and cause an accident but will instead get derailed and popped off the tracks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derail

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If you find out, please report back!

I assumed that this was the doing of a rookie or someone having a laugh.

[–] southsamurai 14 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I just texted my cousin that works as a firefighter to ask about details, but the picture itself was staged by firefighters, and isn't what they would use to run hose across tracks.

I edited in a link about the staging, and I'll ping you if/when my cousin responds

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's hilarious that they knew about the pic, lol

[–] southsamurai 8 points 5 days ago

Ikr? The text I sent was along the lines of "hey, I saw this pic of a hose and wanted to ask you about it"

That's all he needed lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

If you really must you can run the hose under the rails just after the level crossing. All kinds of cables are already installed like this. You may need two or three people shoving the ballast with shovels to fit a big hose like that but it should work.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

My guess was that they were hazing a rookie, but the real answer is funnier!

What do firefighters use to run hose across tracks? I would have just assumed that they didn’t do it at all.

[–] southsamurai 4 points 5 days ago

They would contact the rail companies and ask travel be stopped, if possible. Otherwise they just run it across and hope. There are devices that can do the job, but my cousin says he's never seen any on an engine.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's really just a creative solution to the trolley problem.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Accelerationist here, full speed ahead and then the train just jumps over everybody. It's the only way forward.

[–] merde 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (3 children)

What is the material in between and on the outside of the tracks?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago

I dunno what it is now, but it's about to be "train".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Appears to be tree meat cooked well-done

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

It looks like wood to me.