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.

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_picard_maneuver@lemmy.world

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