Person filming: Tries not to die People in comment section: why did you move the camera

It's because of these train enthusiasts videos that I've been waiting in my car like 50 to 75 feet back from active train crossings for the last several years.

An amazing catch with additional luck avoiding getting hurt.

and the box car be like wait for me.glad you trainspotters are safe.

Cameraman: Moves away and puts his life first People: Surprised Pikachu face

1:33 Look ma......no engine😂

Aaaand now you guys know the reason why the train crews are always yelling at our fellow railfans to back away.

And that is why I don't stand that close. My rule of thumb: the faster it's moving the futher away I stand. It only takes a split second for a 100 ton rail car to mow you down just as any traveling vehicle.

Im a former conductor and the one thought that races through my mind when i see or experience a derail is "if there are people around, are they ok?" "How bad was the accident and what caused it?"

That’s crazy! Glad you guys are alright!

And with that, Thomas' job as a useful engine came to an abrupt end. But seriously, filming alongside a freight train is one of the scariest photography assignments you'll ever do.

Switching cars at 55MPH: One hell of a drop maneuver 1:34

Well I don’t mind the person move the camera, I’m just wondering why he stop recording. Leaving us wondering what happened. Some serious stuff! Glad yall safe. Could have been a lot worse.

This is why you never stand close to the right of way or drive up to the gates at a crossing. Been working on trains for over a decade in Canada for CN and the old timers warned us to always stand 100 ft or more away when inspecting passing trains. Stay safe. Thanks for posting the video.

Once again, here's the straight dope. When anyone hears the air go it's time to beat feet. An emergency application of the brakes may be the result of a derailment or the cause of a derailment. For the latter, here's the anatomy: Two things happen when the air goes while out and running. First of all, the forces at play throughout the train skyrocket, both through the drawbars and where wheel meets rail. If the lateral force becomes greater than the vertical force the car will derail. In curvature, that will pull the cars off to the inside of the curve (string-lining) or climb the outer side of the curve causing "jack-knifing." This is especially true if the train is descending grade or the dynamic brake is used for any purpose, such as slowing and at all times when the slack is bunched (in buff). If you suck out a drawbar on the leading end of a car in the direction of travel it can be driven into the ground, causing a derailment. On the trailing end it can derail the car behind it. The second thing to happen is because the engineer loses the ability to control that slack. That is the name of the game and the most important part of train handling because speed changes or terrain, like a washboard usually require slack management to keep the forces within acceptable limits. Here's why. When a train being pulled goes into an undesired emergency application of the brakes, it nullifies power from the engine immediately. That all but nullifis control, but in dynamic brake there is a short time limit before that drops out, so the head-end doesn't run out the slack and cause a derailment, usually due to a drawbar failure. This happens automatically because of the pneumatic control valve (PC) on the engine. Further it engages the A-1 charging cut-off pilot valve. Just a fancy way to say the air pressure cannot be restored until the train stops and the PC is recovered, which also has a time out. This keeps the train brakes from releasing or being released while still under way. Bottom line here, waaaaay too close for filming, or anything else for that matter. Use a tripod when the angle is right and back off. All those loaded center beam flats loaded with wood tip the scale at about 138 tons per copy. If you don't want one in your lap keep back and to hell with the camera.

Awesome catch ! 👍🏻

The sheer amount of luck that happened here, a train going 60mph derailing close to you, on the very last car. I’m so glad it was the last car that derailed, had it been a car around the middle of the train, that would’ve been drastically different

Must have been one heck of an experience. Glad you are okay.

Glad you guys are ok!

It’s not every day that you see something like this

As much as I love rail fanning, you experienced my worst fear. You are lucky those were the last few cars. Imagine if another dozen or more were behind that could have created a far more tragic ending. Count your blessings by investing in a long zoom lens if you have a DSLR.

Great capture, and glad you were vigilant enough to get out of the way in time--all railfans should be.

A good illustration of why you NEVER stand too close to a moving train. Sh*t can go sideways in an instant, and while the odds of a derailment are low, they can and do happen. Very fortunate that nobody was hurt - derailments at speed are terrifying.

The FBOX boxcar involved in the separation was likely a load of woodpulp bales or paper rolls from a northern Quebec paper/pulp mill. Since CN 369 originates at Senneterre, QC, they handle many of these loads. And it was on the tail end, so it was likely not a car that was picked up at Montreal/Taschereau Yard. These loads can weigh in at up to 143 tons gross (car empty tare weight + load weight). I have worked for the railroad for 21 years & would've likely ran away from the right-of-way in the event that FBOX car decided to turn over on its side. I wouldn't be any closer than 20 feet from the track, but I wouldn't have stuck around to possibly get crushed flatter than a piece of aluminum foil.

I saw this on the news, pretty crazy. Good thing you guys didn't get hit!

I love when videos end just as they get interesting

Holy derail Batman! You were pretty lucky too. Awesome timing. Great catch. Please be safe!

Wow. . .this video perfectly illustrates why standing too close to a moving train is NOT a good idea!

One in a million shot and you turn the camera away.

Wow, talk about lucky. If that happened farther up the train, this would have probably turned out much worse. Glad your ok!

I'm glad you're safe dude. This got you one sub added to your account. Not everybody witnesses a derailment and nearly falls victim to it.

Wow nice catch! My son and I did a two day trip from the Quebec border to Kingston follwing the crossing and we did this one but was so foggy. Great share

Wow, so glad you guys are safe... That's gotta be something to see in person... Wow.

A great rarity to ever catch something like this happening, right place, right time. Whoa! another mess to clear up.

Wow, that's a really good one ! Thanks for sharing!

Wow, good catch!!!! Glad you're ok!

1:22 you hear the brakes come on.

That's why I keep my distance when watching trains! I NEVER get that close to a railroad crossing, even if it's on public property! Hearing the bells ringing upclose constantly is annoying as hell for me, too.

You knew this train was messed as soon as the horn blew lol.. Glad you guys are alright!!!

This is why I always park far back from the tracks at crossings.

Whoa! That's crazy! Glad no one got hurt! That was quite the derailment!

When their going sixty, you better hope the derailment happens far enough away to make an escape if it is hazardous.

Crazy video. Happy you guys are safe.

that lone boxcar just riding on inertia alone is crazy

Wish you would’ve shown more after the incident? Did the boxcar rolled into the rear of the train??

i dont blame the guy for not filming and jumping out of the way. You never know, the last wagon could have kept sliding along the side of the track and took him out. Lucky it fell the other way.

Man that was close. Glad you spotters are safe. Damn good engineer to be able to make sure that crossing was clear for traffic after a derailment. And to bring that list boxcar along unattached no less.

Glad you guys are alright! What a rush!

Lucky you guys that you are safe. Anything could have happened. It’s okay if we can’t see the derailment. Life is more important than fun.

2 years late, but I'ma make this comment because no matter what you do there's no winning: I don't blame him for freaking out when that last car started to derail, there's so many train derailments where you see a bunch of the train cars /tip/, and the rail cars passing him at the time would've 100% hit him if he didn't move and IF they tipped. Plus, if you were there in real life I'm sure you would've freaked out too if a train started to derail that was passing you at a decently fast speed.

Good catch and at the end, Wow 🤯

I think back how stupid my brother and I were putting our safety at risk watching trains. We knew standing so close to the tracks wasn’t a good idea, but the adrenaline rush must’ve been worth it. As far as the camera situation goes I think it’s one of those situations where you don’t know what you would do until it happens. Would have been nice to see more shots afterward, but it’s still an awesome video.

That's why when I'm out railfanning and near the tracks as a train is passing, I look in the direction a train is coming from as much as possible, paying attention for anything wrong.

That had to have been scary seeing that boxcar roll by itself.

What an awesome catch!

Glad you are safe. How steep is that declination way back?

Invest in a tripod. You might have to recover the destroyed camera. But at least you would have gotten the shot. Without putting yourself in danger.

one of the first few thoughts in the heads of the crew was if me and my friend were ok.. Awesome crew there

Wow! Glad everybody was OK!

To explain this. This is what happened. The 2nd rear car (the yellow tbox) either broke a knuckle or became uncoupled due to to the low spot in the rail. Notice the cars prior are moving up and down and the couplers are slamming on the carrier irons. When the two rear cars broke loose, the train goes in emergency. The immediate slack action causes the rear car to derail, falling over. Amazingly not taking the tbox car along with it. That's why you see the one singular car going by itself. This was most likely due to excessive slack action combined with a low area in the rail.

Wow that's something you don't always see, magnificent catch!! You were at the right time at the right place 👍👍👍👍

Boxcar wait for me

Scary! Glad you are ok.

Nice camera work, John Ford!

Great Zeus, that almost gave me a heart attack!

Why is it in any video where something bad happens, at that very moment the bad thing occurs, camera goes off everywhere else? Even when the person recording isn't even in harms way. At the moment of impact, the camera is looking the 1) sky 2) ground 3) tree off to the right 4) etc. Never fails.

That’s scary stuff glad you guys were okay and the boxed car stayed on the rail

I always feel a bit of tension when I'm in the first car stopped at a railway crossing.

Good filming Lucky they avoided death!! Now I know, never stay close to a moving train!!!

Seems like you can't please anyone here. Stand too close to the train, people yell at you for being in danger, stand too far away and people yell at you for not getting a good enough shot. Run away from the derailment, people yell at you for not filming it. If you had stayed to get a good shot of it, people yell at you for not running away. You litteraly cannot win with these ass holes.

Oops! Any idea what caused it? As for the camera moving, it appears it was mounted on a tripod, so I'd think they could have left it recording and run away, in fact grabbing the camera would have slowed them down as well as disrupted a once-in-a-lifetime recording. But I could imagine grabbing your stuff before running being pretty reflexive.

Thanks for getting it on camera

I've always been afraid of that happening. Luckily it was the last car, otherwise the ones behind it would have pancaked.

The next defect detector radios in "what the Fuck"?

Well that was pretty crazy, glad you are okay

In my 55 years on this planet I've seen only 2 derailments in person (both had already happened when i had seen them) and I've yet to see a vehicle get struck by a freight train, you hear of it from time to time on the news. You can see it here on KZfaq, but I've never seen it in real life.

Doesn't it remind you of the Christmas movie The Polar Express when the car coupler slipped off, and the coach rolled away?

1:34 yellow boxcar: AIGHT IMMA HEAD OUT, Edit: thanks for 28 likes 2nd edit: THANKS FOR 71 LIKES 3rd edit: OMGOMG 78 LIKES!!! 4th edit: OH MY LORD THANKS FOR 85 LIKES!!! 5th edit: OH MY LORD 95 LIKES!!!!!! CAN WE GET TO 100? 6th edit: thank you for 112 likes 7th edit: SERIOUSLY 127? CAN WE HIT 1K? 8th edit: YES 130! KEEP IT UP!

Epic images...Great video....Big like from Romania

Holy shit. That’s nuts, too bad you didn’t get it all on film, but I can’t blame you!

British Railways stopped using slip-coaches in 1960.

Oh phooey! 10 more seconds of footage would have been great... but when you gotta go, you gotta go!

That is scary indeed. Of course Canadian rails the train crew was concerned about the buffers being okay than the cars. But seeing that ttx box car running on its own is frightening and the background another box car tipped over that ttx box car could've done the same. So yeah you guys reacted really well.

Wow! That’s scary! What was the cause of the derailment?

Hours and hours spent filming trains, and when something interesting finally happens . . . .

okay stop saying "WhY did YoU Move The CamerA aWAY" bruh he could of died if he did not move

My Grandfather, who worked for New York Central for 46 years, said one of the most stupid things you can do is to stand next to or pull your car close to the tracks as a train, at these speeds, is going by. This explains why.

I know that was dangerous filming but damn I wish you would had caught the full derailment , but safety first 👍... But that train was really moving fast ... Good filming !

Did you have to change your underwear when you got home? Because that's a situation worthy of making someone crap themselves...

*no one* Kingston Firebuff: *films entire train except for the part we actually WANTED to see*

Should’ve kept the camera pointed and run but I would rather you be safe either way, great response to it! Did the right thing

Fantastic capture

You missed it ! Lol. Hold the line!!! Thats Ok . I chased a black bear once and thought I had my phone on record .

1:26 What you came here for.🙃

Superb catch 👍🏻

Some people I think forget the size and speed of most trains, and likely dont understand how terrifying this would be, even from 100 ft away

Events like this are the reason I always railfan with a clean pair of underwear in my emergency box in the trunk of my car.

Go Home, Railcar. You're Drunk

Ohh wow good catch!! Glad you didn't get hit.

it's always good to keep the distance, I imagine the shock when I perceive the end coming to the ground and towards you !!!