Carriage clearance

[Gathursty]

Apologies if I've used the wrong terminology for the title but I've always wondered this about trains.

You can lie underneath most cars but is it possible to do the same with trains? Obviously you shouldn't do this under any circumstances.

 

[Yew]

If it helps, in the original book 'Scouting for boys' it suggested that if someone has fallen on the track, then you should jump on too and get them to lie parallel to the rails. So that suggests that in the past there would have been adequate clearance. However with modern MU's I wouldnt be so sure.....

 

[ainsworth74]

It would depend on the train I would gamble (and how thick you are around the middle!). Coaching stock might be okay but a MU tends to have a lot of equipment underneath the floor so restricting the space available. To be honest the only 'safe' space underneath a rail vehicles is probably that just above the railhead which is only going to be a few of inches.

When it comes to maintenance of course they have pits which you can use to walk underneath trains as well as jacks which can lift entire train up into the air for work to be done.

Also here is a video showing what it would be like to be underneath a train whilst it's going over you:

[youtube]xg5UsrqgtsQ[/youtube]

Or for a UK based viewpoint:

[youtube]w7ddexQNjRg[/youtube]

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I recall a story that once in BR days the public relations ( BR PR? ) set up a ciné camera to film from track level like that only for a passenger to flush the toilet at exactly the right moment...

 

[depablo]

Its an old wives tail about laying in the 4ft and you will be alright, truth is in most circumstances you will be wiped out.

Very little space under modern rolling stock.

 

[starrymarkb]

Plus most stock now has an obstacle deflector just in front of the leading bogie

 

[colchesterken]

I read of a report of an incident where a child fell onto the track at Forest Gate.
The report said it was a good thing a cl 315 passed over her, as they have a higher clearance than other stock they said if it had been a 321 she would not have survived