# Lying in the middle of train tracks! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204 "2004-03-03T01:06:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rik\_q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@rik\_q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rik_q)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/1 "2004-03-03T01:06:46Z")
I’ve always wondered if you would survive if you lied in the middle of train tracks when a train passes? Would there be enough clearance between your body and the bottom of a train and does it depend on the type of train? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/2 "2004-03-03T01:14:08Z")
It would depend on the type of train, and the type of track. My WAG is that if you were _very_ careful, the answer would generally be yes (trains have to have a clearance of at least one rail height - for crossings - and then a little bit more for margin. However, trains also have chains, hoses, and other gear hanging down. These would be your major concern. It would be a very close call. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/3 "2004-03-03T01:50:00Z")
Not a train expert at all, but wouldn’t there be a lot of heat underneath a train from all the friction of the wheels hitting the rails? Wouldn’t you get fried if the train were travelling at a good enough clip? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/4 "2004-03-03T02:01:37Z")
I have heard of train engineers having mental breakdowns after hitting somebody on the tracks. Trains take a long time to stop, and the engineer is often unable to avoid a crash when somebody appears on the track. It would be a shame to traumatize a train crew just for some thrill-seeker’s stunt. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![rik\_q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@rik\_q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rik_q)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/5 "2004-03-03T02:13:42Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I have heard of train engineers having mental breakdowns after hitting somebody on the tracks. Trains take a long time to stop, and the engineer is often unable to avoid a crash when somebody appears on the track. It would be a shame to traumatize a train crew just for some thrill-seeker’s stunt. ☹ I wouldn’t ever try something like that, no way! I was just thinking that if you were in a situation where you couldn’t get off the track and that was the only option, it would be better than getting hit standing up! ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/6 "2004-03-03T02:24:48Z")
155lb rail (about the heaviest rail you’d ever see on a major mainline railroad) is 8 inches tall. ([http://www.akrailroad.com/tee\_rail\_data.html](http://www.akrailroad.com/tee_rail_data.html)) As TheLoadedDog said, the train needs at least that much clearance. So if you can lay down and be less than 8" tall, on a mainline railroad, you’re golden. Try it on shorter yard or shortline rail and you’re toast. ---
**Author:** ![gcarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@gcarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gcarroll)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/7 "2004-03-03T02:25:23Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > Not a train expert at all, but wouldn’t there be a lot of heat underneath a train from all the friction of the wheels hitting the rails? No. One of the major advantages of trains with steel wheels on steel rails is the very low rolling resistance (=friction). BUT, even with the much higher rolling resistance of rubber tires on pavement, a busy road is only slightly heated from the friction. It is heated more by the radiant heat from the engines and the exhaust. > [@BobT](#): > > Wouldn’t you get fried if the train were travelling at a good enough clip? therefor, no. ---
**Author:** ![Willmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ad7895/32.png) [@Willmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Willmore)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/8 "2004-03-03T02:34:03Z")
probably not related, but I saw a movie, in which a guy was “dared” to take out one of the wood planks that are under the rail, and put his head right under the rail, while a train passed over. I don’t know if they did any research on the subject, but anyway, just throwing it out there. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/9 "2004-03-03T04:20:18Z")
A boy is tied to rail tracks by bullies in Roald Dahl’s short story [_The Swan_](http://www.angelfire.com/md/Topperites/swan.html). He survives uninjured. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/10 "2004-03-03T04:51:56Z")
My first husband lived, as a young boy, in West Virginia, in coal country. The men of the community often rode to “town” on the trains, and his daddy taught him how to tell how fast a train was coming by the clickety-clack. They often caught the trains at night. One of the things the little boys did for fun was to lie in the track and let the train run over them. Maybe _that’s_ what’s wrong with him. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/11 "2004-03-03T05:02:29Z")
It seems to me that most modern trains sport a sort of modernized cowcatcher on the front, to remove whatever crap happens to lie in the way of the train. It’s kind of hard to judge if there is sufficient room under the front of [This locomotive](http://www.lethsd.ab.ca/davidson/LethbridgeCityTour/Locomotive.jpg), but I wouldn’t try it. A friend and I in our youth placed a cast-aside railroad tie across the tracks and watched in amazement as the next train launched it into orbit in one piece. Had the tie been lower than the front of the train, we would likely have found mangled bits of it in the railbed, which we didn’t. That said, I suspect that if the railbed is totally clean (i.e. no heaped up rocks), it might be doable. (and I see on preview that small children have done so and presumably survived). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/12 "2004-03-03T06:00:15Z")
One other thing you might want to check first is the speed of the train. Even with sufficient clearance, a train moving at high speed creates a pretty good suction that could easily pull you up where bits of the undercarriage can smash into you. That wouldn’t be fun. ---
**Author:** ![trabi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@trabi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trabi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/13 "2004-03-03T08:18:56Z")
You do know what happens when someone flushes the toilet on a moving train, don’t you? I wouldn’t want to be underneath when that happens :eek: ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/14 "2004-03-03T08:24:44Z")
I am aware of fully grown people that have survived in the gap between the rails; I am also aware of people who have been caught in the turbulence of a passing train and converted into bloody pulp. So this should never, ever be attempted. Additionally, the train driver/engineer is likely to see that he has run over someone and probably killed them; many drivers who run people overare so affected by the experience that they are unable to work again. Doing this to an innocent person would also be reprehensible; you are likely to get yourself killed, and perhaps ruin the life of the person who kills you. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/15 "2004-03-03T11:20:36Z")
…and besides, as **trabi** pointed out, you might get crapped on. ---
**Author:** ![trabi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@trabi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trabi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/16 "2004-03-03T13:24:10Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > A friend and I in our youth placed a cast-aside railroad tie across the tracks and watched in amazement as the next train launched it into orbit in one piece. Had the tie been lower than the front of the train, we would likely have found mangled bits of it in the railbed, which we didn’t. Had the tie been low enough to get under the wheels, you could well be in prison for derailment and possibly multiple manslaughter… ---
**Author:** ![Stalagmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@Stalagmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stalagmite)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/17 "2012-12-04T16:48:01Z")
> **[Terrifying moment teenager lay under a railway line as train sped by - just...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-473463/Terrifying-moment-teenager-lay-railway-line-train-sped--just-inches-head.html)** > > This is the terrifying moment an idiotic teenager risked death by clambering UNDER a railway line - before a train speeds by just INCHES from his head. The stunt is filmed by a friend on a mobile phone while a group of youths can be heard in the... ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/18 "2012-12-04T17:26:56Z")
> [@trabi](#): > > Had the tie been low enough to get under the wheels, you could well be in prison for derailment and possibly multiple manslaughter… I recall several decades ago, about a bunch of yahoos somewhere in the states who thought it was funny to throw a switch and send the train into a dead end siding. The train derailed, a chlorine car spilled, and the idiots were trying to drive away in their van when it stalled and they were poisoned. It’s probably never a good idea to mess with or play games with heavy equipment. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/19 "2012-12-04T17:29:40Z")
Well, given that it’s not 2004 anymore, Youtube is full of examples. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204/20 "2012-12-04T17:35:07Z")
Yes, but could a zombie lie down and survive a train running overhead? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-in-the-middle-of-train-tracks/232204.md?page=2)