History Main / RailroadTracksofDoom

* The Tundra Express map of ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has frequent high-speed trains passing through several areas. Make sure you're nowhere near the rails for more than a few seconds, or ''whack''.

Bear in mind that it is very, very rare for someone's life to be saved because the train actually stops; this is TruthInTelevision, since a real-life train can need upwards of 2 kilometers (over 1 mile) in order to come to a full stop (unless it's a subway or light rail train, in which case stopping distance decreases to about 50 meters, but that's still risking a lot).

* ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' featured a desert track with a train which would spin you out of control if you tried to cross the tracks at the wrong time. However, if you timed it correctly and very carefully, you could also drive on the tracks through the tunnel in a valuable shortcut.
** Likewise, In ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'', there is a mine cart track in Komodo Joe's boss race. If you time it right and have a turbo, you can cut about 30 seconds off the course (more if you stay on the tracks past the first tunnel... and avoid the oncoming carts.)

* The big-screen version of ''Film/TheFugitive'' has the bus transporting Kimble and company to death row rolling off the road and onto a railroad track when the driver is shot by a convict attempting to escape. Kimble just has time to pull an injured guard from the bus before the inevitable highballing freight hits.

* The woman in "The Hitchhiker", an episode of the original ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', stalls out her car on the tracks just as a train is coming. She'd actually stopped to wait when she saw the lights flashing, but [[TooDumbToLive got scared and tried to drive on]] when she saw the hitcher.

* In ''Film/LethalWeapon4'', a hitman is shown taking out a target's car by ramming them into the path of an oncoming train with his larger SUV. Later, he tries the same trick on Murdoch [[spoiler:who pushes back using reverse in his similarly sized car, and then suddenly releases shifts back into forward gear in time for the hitman to be the one hit by the train]].

* In ''VideoGame/DejaVu 2'', trying to cross the tracks at the railroad station will unerringly summon a train to run you over.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank's old pickup was destroyed when it stalled out at a grade crossing and was eventually run down by a train.

* At the end of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Marty returns to 1985 in the De Lorean on train tracks (since without gasoline in 1885, it was necessary to use a train to boost the car up to the needed 88 MPH) and notices a nearby crossing signal is blinking red. At first he thinks it's just because of him—but quickly discovers that he coincidentally landed on the tracks at the exact same time as a freight train shows up.

* In the ''Series/Rescue911'' segment appropriately named "Runaway Boxcars", an elderly couple are swept away without warning by a pair of RunawayTrain cars at a crossing, and a nearby police officer risks his life to stop the train before it pushes their car off a bridge or crushes it.

* The UsefulNotes/NewYorkCitySubway kills about one person a week (58 in 2014, 50 in 2016), and the statistics are printed on the back of MetroCards and in train cars. A good portion are suicides, followed by clueless passengers followed by clueless passengers hopping over the platform to retrieve something they dropped. It's possible to dodge an oncoming train by simply [[ByWallThatIsHoley rolling under the gap beneath the platform]], but nobody ever thinks to do this (at least not on purpose). Occasionally, some of these track fatalities occur by touching the electrified third rail and [[HighVoltageDeath getting zapped to death]]. Another problem posed by track fatalities is that they in turn disrupt service, frustrating riders even more.

---> '''Huntress''' Train.
---> '''Question''' [[CasualDangerDialogue I see it.]]
---> '''Huntress''' [[OhCrap Train!]]
---> '''Question''' I see it! *turns into an empty tunnel at the last second*

** Something similar happens in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'', which seemed to - ahem - borrow a lot of Road Runner gags.

* ''VideoGame/FZero GX'': Captain Falcon's special movie involves him trying to save Mrs. Arrow's baby trapped in the middle of a railraod crossing. She stares in shock, but Falcon arrives and grabs the baby and jumps out of the crossing to avoid the oncoming train. He gives Mrs. Arrow her child, only to have the back of his pants ripped in the process.

* [[EpisodicGame Episode 2]] of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' includes a scene where Chloe is lounging on some railroad tracks and gets her foot caught in the switch. It's up to Max to figure out how to get her loose before she gets splattered by a train.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'': Some levels feature trains that run around the map, sometimes for plot reasons like dropping off troops. Any infantry unit will obviously get crushed if they stand in front of it, but so does any vehicle regardless of its size... even ''buildings'' can't stop the train from going about its rounds.
** Hell in some mod's maps the main engine is ''invincible''!
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankIntoTheNexus'' has a train on planet Silox that you can get run over by when fighting Neftin Prog, Ratchet saved Clank from this the first time the train came by now it's up to the player to keep dodging since the train can change tracks.
* ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'' has trains in Canada you must regular be aware of.
* ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters2003'' has a couple levels with trains that can't be destroyed and can kill the player.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' often features trains that the player must be wary of.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Infamous}}'' as powerful as Cole [=McGrath=] is, the player still must be wary of the Empire City subway that can really knock Cole far if hit as well as take some damage.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' you can get killed by the subway but you can destroy it with explosives.
* In ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'' there is a multiplayer map with a subway you must watch out for.
* In ''VideoGame/SubwaySurfers'' you have to constantly change tracks to avoid the subways.
* In ''VideoGame/LANoire'' there's is a an active railyard that Cole Phelps must be wary of if he happens to chase criminals over there.
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' in the multiplayer map express, there's a bullet train that can kill players.
* In the opening scene of ''VideoGame/DarkFall Lost Souls'', the Inspector wakes up in a debris-filled train tunnel. He only has a minute or so to explore before the sound of an oncoming train is heard, getting louder and louder as he searches in vain for a way through the blockage. [[spoiler: Subverted in that it's ''just'' sound: the tunnel is haunted by the noise of trains long gone, and the Inspector revives unhurt after the "collision".]]
* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', one of the portrait stages (13th Street) begins in an {{Expy}} of the London Underground. At first one wouldn't think much of the railroad tracks, thinking it's just part of the flavor (it's a repurposed segment that appeared earlier and was used for a minecart ride)...then the locomotive suddenly appears.
* ''[[VideoGame/DefJamSeries Def Jam: Fight for New York]]'' has a stage set on a subway platform. Every few minutes, a train comes by. It is possible to win by knocking your opponent onto the tracks at the right time.

* The climax of ''Film/DickTracyVsCueball'' is a running shootout between Tracy and Cueball in the rail yard. While attempting to escape, Cueball gets his foot wedged in the railroad tracks and is run down by a train as he tries desperately to free it.
* ''Film/TheEscapist'': As the escapees are fleeing along UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground tunnel--trying to reach Charing Cross station before the tracks go live--Batista gets caught when the points switch and trap his foot. Lenny tries desperately to free him as a train bears down on them.
* ''Film/TheReluctantDragon'': During the "Making Of Foley" segment with Casey Junior from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'', the little train is puffing his way along down the track with a small passenger train when he suddenly hears a horn blaring in the other direction. Cue a nasty-looking streamliner barring down on him, and Casey quickly hunkers up near a telephone pole waiting for the inevitable collision as he begs for a sleeping switch to wake up. The switch sees the danger and quickly changes tracks.
* At the end of ''Film/{{Train}}'', Vlad has been badly wounded and left for dead lying on the railroad tracks by Alex. After she has walked off, his eyes snap open to show that he is NotQuiteDead. However, he then hears the sound of a train approaching at high speed and, unable to move, he can only lie there as the train runs over him.
* In ''Film/TheWalkingDead1936'', Blackwood arrives at the railroad station, intending to skip town. When he finds Ellman waiting for him, he panics and tries to get away by running across the tracks, and [[LookBothWays directly into the path of an oncoming train]].

* The second ''Literature/AlexRider'' book, ''Point Blanc'', has an incident where the annoying Fiona falls off a horse and breaks her ankle in the middle of a kilometre-long train tunnel. Alex and her make it out of the tunnel (on Alex's horse), and manage to jump off the tracks seconds before they are hit by a train.

* Like the kids in ''Film/StandByMe'', Will Tweedy, the main character in ''ColdSassyTree'', was very nearly run over by a train while he was fooling around on a trestle. He can't outrun the train and survives, with some burns and hearing damage, by lying down between the rails.
* In Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/TheBlueCastle'', Valancy is crossing the tracks when one of her shoes -- previously referred to as foolish -- catches. Barney manages to wrest her free.
* ''Shortcut'' by Donald Crews.

* In ''Seven Up'', one of the Literature/StephaniePlum novels, it looks like this is how [[spoiler:Eddie [=DeChooch=]]] met his fate when the remains of his car are found scattered around the track after a collision. As it turns out, he [[spoiler:tried to go through with it, but had a PottyEmergency while waiting and didn't get back to the track in time]].
* ''Literature/RaisingSteam'' includes a heart-stopping moment when Moist suddenly sees two kids listening to the funny noise the rails make and realises the train is coming straight towards them. [[spoiler: He manages to save them, by dragging them ''completely'' under it.]]
* ''[[Literature/RiversOfLondon Whispers Underground]]'' opens with SnoopingLittleKid Abigail getting Peter and Lesley to investigate a ghost on the train tracks under her school (which she saw while waiting to see if the steam locomotive that passes occasionally was the one from the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films). It turns out to be a kid from the late 80s, who picked exactly the wrong time to spraypaint "[[Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure Be Excellent to Each Other]]" on the sidings. Seeing him [[LivingMemory re-enact what happened next]] convinces Abigail to stop looking for the Hogwarts Express down there.
* In ''Literature/WatershipDown'', a group of rabbits with no experience of trains hear about an 'iron road'. Later, fleeing from enemy rabbits by night, they run across the tracks and watch in terror as a train cuts down their pursuers, which they take for an act of divine intervention.

* ''Series/HappyDays'': Combined with BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts in the episode "The Spirit Is Willing," which aired toward the end of the last season. Fonzie, who is restoring a 1954 Chevrolet convertible, is test-driving the newly-refurbished wheels with his ghostly friend, Nancy, when the car stalls in the middle of a railroad crossing. When the signal lights come on, Fonzie tries to escape the car but finds himself locked in with Nancy holding him back until the train strikes the car ... but at the last instant, Fonzie awakens and realizes he was [[AllJustADream having a nightmare]].

* Played with in ''Series/{{Sh15uya}}'', where the only way out of Shibuya is to cross the train tracks... except if you do attempt to cross them, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption a train immediately speeds past and blocks your way]].

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'':
** In an episode, the team solves a case involving a woman whose car was forced onto the track and run over.
** In another, a group of teenagers stop on a track and serenely wait for the oncoming train while two of the other kids in the car find out that their doors have been locked and the locking bolts disabled. [[spoiler:The driver and his girlfriend were part of a suicide pact engineered by the chief villain who needed to eliminate the second couple because they knew too much.]]
* The TV show ''Series/MostShocking'' shows a few Real Life instances (see also below) of people getting their vehicles stuck on the tracks. At least twice, car drivers take a wrong turn ''onto'' the tracks and get stuck, and they are desperate to try to get the car off, so police have to intervene to keep them away. Other time, a crossing with a high rise snags trailers by the height. In all these instances, they were freight train tracks and the doom doesn't befall the people (because the police restrains the car drivers and the truckers are smart enough to bail) but the vehicles.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'' used this several times. A surgical intern leaped to his death on the elevated train tracks, while its landmark 150th episode featured the mass casualty caused by a train derailment, which was itself caused by a suicidal young woman parking her car on the tracks.
* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'': In "The Tale of the Dream Girl", the DeadAllAlong protagonist and his love interest met their end this way, when their car stalled on a railroad and he tried to go back to fetch their engagement ring.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Death in a Chocolate Box", the murderer attempts to escape from Barnaby by hitting him while the car is stopped at a set of boom gates waiting for a train to pass. The murderer leaps out of the car and attempts to dash across the tracks ahead of the oncoming train. They don't make it.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' has a subway car that will ONLY roar in the moment you step on the tracks, resulting in your gruesome death if you don't immediately scramble back onto the platform. Made even nastier by a ghost haunting the area, with a habit of pushing people onto said tracks... Later, there's the Rollercoaster of Doom in the AmusementParkOfDoom.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', you can hear the train coming on the Well maps, but that doesn't stop it from claiming victims who step on the tracks at the most inopportune time.
** Taken to extremes in one fanmade map named KOTH_trainsawlaser, which, along with [[ChainsawGood tons of spinning sawblades]] and [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], has one of these with a constant flow that will, more often than not, claim tons of victims. And if not, there's always the '''[[FromBadToWorse TRAIN]] [[DeathFromAbove RAIN]]'''.
* Tyro Station, One multiplayer level, in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' is set in a train station. It is possible to cross the tracks as long as the train isn't passing through. If the train is passing through, insta-kill.
* ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' features an interesting variation of this in the Subway arcade level. The difference being that the trains only come when someone pulls a lever in a booth overlooking the tracks. In theory you can kill an enemy with it, but the chances of it happening are slim and it doesn't count as a kill anyway (just a death for the victim).

* The multiplayer map Terminal from ''VideoGame/Halo2'' has a pair of trains that travel at high speeds and will kill you if you are in their path. You will die even if driving a vehicle of any kind, including the tank

* Old Midway arcade game ''[=APB=]'' had one of these. You ALWAYS had to stop at the train tracks (unless you were fond of getting hit by the train that's always coming by).
* ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'' has an automated tram car in the Morimoto Mars Colony. When an enemy robot takes it back to the surface level, it can't be called again. If Agent 5 actually steps onto the tracks, however, the tram comes careening right at him. The death screen in the original ''Turbo'' version even shows Agent 5's head rammed through the windshield.

* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage 3'' has you walk through a subway station, dodging mine carts while fighting thugs and ninja. At least the thugs take an absurd amount of damage from getting run over...
* At one point in the first level of ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'', a train threatens to run you down and you must duck into an alcove to avoid it. Later, there's a set of rails with no apparent active trains, but they are electrified, causing instant death if you touch them.
* In ''VideoGame/DejaVu 2'', trying to cross the tracks at the railroad station will unerringly summon a train to run you over.
* A good way to get to many places in ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' is by following the train tracks. Thankfully trains will not come by and hit you but the enemies are [[BeefGate much, much stronger]] especially in the tunnel areas.
** After the time skip in ''VideoGame/Mother3'' there is a train that goes from the center of Tasmily to a newly build factory. The first few times you attempt to walk along the tracks a NPC looking strongly like Mr. T stops you warning you that it is a stupid idea and not to throw you life away when he walks away the dialog box then comments your life was saved. Once you seem to frustrate him to point he doesn't bother anymore you can pass through, but unlike ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' there is a train and it will hit (but not kill) you. When you wake up the Mr. T look alike will be there to tell you I told ya so.
* The fourth level of ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} 3'' has you fly the Pyro through the subway tunnels of Seoul, South Korea. Considered as ThatOneLevel by many players.
* ''VideoGame/{{Driver}} 2'' has the "Beat The Train" level in Vegas, where you must rescue a guy trapped in a car parked on a railroad trestle.
* At the end of the ''Miskatonic Station'' level of Blood, curious players can follow the tracks outbound and into a tunnel. No points for guessing what happens, and no, you ''can't'' outrun or dodge it.
* This can happen in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'''s single-player mode, as there is always a train in operation; {{NPC}}s that get hit by it [[LudicrousGibs explode]].
* The Tundra Express map of ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has frequent high-speed trains passing through several areas. Make sure you're nowhere near the rails for more than a few seconds, or ''whack''.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/StandByMe https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tracks_of_doom1.jpg]]]]
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'''An example''': A babelicious college-aged girl, wearing a plain white T-shirt and jeans, is driving her sports car at 55 mph and texting a friend as she nears a railroad crossing with a train coming. The ominiously toned announcer reminds audiences of the warning (in this case, "You chose to text on your cell phone while driving") before stating, "These are the next 60 seconds of your life.") The scene will shift back and forth between the train and the driver -- in this case, the engineer frantically sounds the horn and the young woman just presses the "send" button on her mobile device as her car enters the crossing ... and is struck by the train. The deadly consequence shown (the dead woman, horribly bloodied and entangled in the twisted frame of the car) before the announcer finishes with "America's roads can be highways or dieways ... the choice is yours!"

* The very first chapter of ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' has a subway train coming just as the main characters are attempting to help a drunk who has fallen off the platform.

* Inverted in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'': The bad guys are attempting to send the sand steamer (essentially, a giant track-less train) over a cliff.
* In the first ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' film, the title character is traversing a tunnel when rails appear out of the ground. The train follows soon after.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' comic story "Bus Fuss" had Chicken taking the school bus on a joyride after accidentally knocking the driver off the vehicle with a large spitball. But the bus ends up stalling on a railroad crossing just as a speeding train is approaching, driven by the Red Guy with No Pants (in the role of [[PunnyName Casey Clearbottom]]) and hauling freight cars loaded with Chemical X. Fortunately, Cow changes into her Super Cow alter-ego and saves everyone from the bus, right before the train hits it, causing [[StuffBlowingUp the bus to violently explode]] and [[UpToEleven the entire train to derail]], much to the Red Guy's amusement.

* Brad Bird likes inverting this trope. In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Bomb Voyage's grenade destroys the El Train tracks right as a train is rounding the corner.

%%* Trev Diesel from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.
* At the very beginning of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', Lightning [=McQueen=] and Mater can be seen exploring an abandoned railroad tunnel, only to be chased out by... [[BigShadowLittleCreature ...a Galloping Goose.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/GayPurree'', Jaune Tom and Robespierre are nearly killed while crossing a train trestle. They survive only by dropping down and hanging between the ties.

* ''Film/LastClearChance'': A 1959 driver's education film, financed by Union Pacific Railroad, depicting the dangers posed by railroad tracks and what happens if drivers fail to pay attention or heed basic safety rules near tracks. The movie's grim ending – a young man being killed and his fiancé (presumably) mortally injured but initially surviving, after waving back at the young man's younger brother and unaware the car the young couple is in is about to be struck by a train – and two rail workers observing, "Why don't they pay attention?" would become much maligned by critics and would be ridiculed in the television series ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. However, the film itself was praised by many other critics who lauded the film's sobering message about driver safety, especially around railroad crossings.
* Union Pacific – and other railroad companies and, much later, Operation Lifesaver – came out with several other driver's education films stressing railroad safety and depicting the deadly consequences of car-train collisions. Examples:
** ''Film/LookListenLive'', produced by UP in the mid-1940s (circa 1948-1949). One of the dramatizations is of a family of five who, en route to a park for a picnic, are killed when their car collides with a train after the father (who was driving) neglected to look for trains before driving across the tracks, insisting "there are no trains this time of the day" - the moral, of course, being that a train can be expected at any crossing at any time of the day. The story of the ill-fated picnic trip famously also shows a terrier waiting for his masters to return home – set to the tune of "Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone" – unaware that the wait will be in vain. Film clips of three other crossings where deadly collisions had taken place are also shown, as is a re-enactment of a young, high-strung driver who barely avoids his own car-train collision, and is visibly shaken after managing to stop his car a short distance away from the tracks... wondering what might have been... and lucky.
* Creator/BusterKeaton ''[[RailEnthusiast loved]]'' this trope. An especially fine example is the ending of his short ''Film/OneWeek'', in which the DIY house is demolished by an oncoming train.
** Also double subverted in ''Film/ParlorBedroomAndBath'' where his car gets stuck on the train tracks, and he and his love interest desperately scramble to get out of the car as a train approaches... except it's a double track, and the train passes harmlessly. {{Beat}} as they stand around looking embarrassed... and then another train comes in the other direction and smashes the car.
* The big-screen version of ''Film/TheFugitive'' has the bus transporting Kimble and company to death row rolling off the road and onto a railroad track when the driver is shot by a convict attempting to escape. Kimble just has time to pull an injured guard from the bus before the inevitable highballing freight hits.
* In ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'', the railway is literally the last thing they cross- and it's at exactly this point that their injuries catch up with them.

* Subverted in the movie ''Film/OctoberSky'': The boys rip up the tracks of a supposedly-abandoned spur line to sell the iron for scrap. One of the boys lampshades this trope, asking if the the tracks really are unused. Sure enough, the moment they've got the heavy rail fully out of alignment, they hear a whistle... Frantically, they try to get the rail back in place, seemingly to no avail as the locomotive bears down on them... Then at the last moment, the train turns away down the main line; and the camera pulls back to reveal that the line they tore up ''was'' inactive. As the train passes, the engineer gives them a wave and a confused look.
** For just this reason, it is illegal for US scrapyards to accept railroad ties, spikes, rails or any other part of the track. Probably wasn't the case back then though as the film takes place in the late [[TheFifties 1950s]].

* In the first act of ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', the titular character saves Ray's life after his car got trapped on the railway tracks being blocked from the front and back by a traffic jam (which leads one to think: [[FridgeLogic wouldn't an area with the risk of that happening have crossing gates at the very least, if not complete grade separation of the tracks and roadway?]]) But then Hancock remains on the track and [[TrainStopping ends up wrecking the train.]]
** In as urban an area as that appeared to be, definitely; there are less urban areas that do not have gates that that could happen. Would have to be pretty stupid to get onto the tracks without guaranteed room to get off, though.
* Film/JamesBond in ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' is chasing the baddie escaping by train when all the tyres of his Mercedes get shot off. He's in luck since the car's wheels are the exact same gauge of the track the train he is chasing is on; [[RuleOfCool so he proceeds to move the car on to the track and drive on the set of rails next to the escaping train's]]. Some skidding later, he's making good progress when another train is rushing right at him, so he wisely hops off whilst the Merc gets ploughed right through by the train.

* The beginning of the movie ''Film/FriedGreenTomatoes'' uses this trope.

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'': ''You're waiting for a train...'' The first time [[spoiler: Mal and Dom lay down on railroad tracks intentionally, so they can kill themselves and get out of Limbo. Presumably, since they're creating the dreamworld, the tracks and train are there because they ''want'' them there.]] The second time... well, who even needs tracks?
* ''Film/{{Fireproof}}'' has this when a wrecked car (with people inside) is stuck on the railroad tracks. The main character (a firefighter) dispatches a message to stop all trains in the area, but guess what comes whistling around the corner?
* At the end of ''Film/{{Eraser}}'', Arnold Schwarzenegger uses a train to "erase" the bad guys, by having an accomplice park their limo in the path of a freight train, which might be a case of figurative ChainedToARailway.
* In film version of ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', Ron flies the Weasleys' car over the train tracks in an attempt to locate the Hogwarts Express. Naturally, the train is right behind them, causing hijinks to ensue.
* Lampshaded in the German comedy movie ''Film/DerSchuhDesManitu'' with the mule "Apollo 13", who refuses to cross train tracks in the middle of a huge empty desert, because all of his twelve brothers were killed on train crossings. He then suddenly steps right on the track when a train approaches in the far distance and refuses to move in any way.
* Played with in ''Film/MovingViolations''. The nearly-blind old lady's car stalls on the tracks, and she refuses to get out. The other characters hastily push her car out of the way just in time. Finally aware of the danger, the old lady joins the others on the roadside to gape at the passing train, only to have her car, now empty on the street, run down by an 18-wheeler.
* Played with in ''Film/WrongfullyAccused''. In parodying ''Film/TheFugitive'', the bus holding Leslie Nelson's character goes off the road due to a banana peel (yeah, it's of those movies) and crashes on the train tracks. He comes to to find the train heading his way. After launching each and every inmate out the window, he hops out and starts to run away from the train... which ''chases him off the rails'', through a forest and right back onto the rails where it's stopped... by a rail switch, putting it on another track.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}'' movie serial, one of the cliffhangers featured Blackhawk's car being forced on to railroad tracks in front of an oncoming train.
* In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', when the female Muto attacks [[spoiler:the USM train carrying nukes, it is set on fire and nearly crushes Ford]].
* In ''Film/GroundhogDay'', the night Phil realizes that being stuck in the [[GroundhogDayLoop loop]] made him unaccountable for his actions, one of his crazy stunts includes driving on the train tracks...towards an oncoming train. He's able to get off before the train smashes him.
* Played with in ''Film/AntMan1''. While miniaturized [[spoiler: Yellowjacket]] ends up on the tracks of a toy railroad and stands there as a ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' toy train barrels straight at him. However, when the train hits, it is a complete NoSell since the miniaturization process preserves the subjects density. The effect is the same as if a toy train hit a full sized human and the train just bounces off.
* In the 1991 version of ''Literature/AKissBeforeDying'', the villain Jonathan is shown as a little boy watching the Carlsson trains going past his house, fueling his obsession with marrying into the family. At the end, in his desperate attempt to kill his wife Ellen after she learns his secret--he's a murderous sociopath who killed her sister in order to get to ''her''--he chases her onto the train tracks. She's able to get out of the way, while he isn't.
* ''Film/TheatreOfBlood'': PlayedForLaughs of a very dark kind, combined with DeathByTransceiver: a cop hiding in the trunk of a car in an attempt to follow Lionheart ends up parked on train tracks. We hear him over the walkie-talkie to the other cops:

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheGreatRace'' when Professor Fate and Max decide to use train tracks as a shortcut. A train quickly comes along and objects.

* Deliberately invoked in ''Film/BankShot''. Ballentine and Stosh park the stolen bank on a railway crossing. When the signals go off and the guards hear what sounds like a train approaching, they abandon the bank rather than get smashed.

[[folder:Anime]]

** "Look, Listen, Live," produced by UP in the mid-1940s (circa 1948-1949). One of the dramatizations is of a family of five who, en route to a park for a picnic, are killed when their car collides with a train after the father (who was driving) neglected to look for trains before driving across the tracks, insisting "there are no trains this time of the day" - the moral, of course, being that a train can be expected at any crossing at any time of the day. The story of the ill-fated picnic trip famously also shows a terrier waiting for his masters to return home – set to the tune of "Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone" – unaware that the wait will be in vain. Film clips of three other crossings where deadly collisions had taken place are also shown, as is a re-enactment of a young, high-strung driver who barely avoids his own car-train collision, and is visibly shaken after managing to stop his car a short distance away from the tracks... wondering what might have been... and lucky.

** Also double subverted in ''Parlor, Bedroom and Bath'' where his car gets stuck on the train tracks, and he and his love interest desperately scramble to get out of the car as a train approaches... except it's a double track, and the train passes harmlessly. {{Beat}} as they stand around looking embarrassed... and then another train comes in the other direction and smashes the car.

* A similar car-on-tracks moment is in ''The Flim-Flam Man,'' using the tracks as a getaway route until the train appears.

** In "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS7E1EmilysNewCoaches Emily's New Coaches]]", Emily saves Oliver from a similar fate when he stalls on a diamond crossing.

* The last three ''WebAnimation/DumbWaysToDie''.

* This has been used in ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'', to other trains:

* Played with in ''Film/AntMan1''. While miniaturized [[spoiler: Yellowjacket]] ends up on the tracks of a toy railroad and stands there as a ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' toy train barrels straight at him. However, when the train hits, it is a complete NoSell since the miniaturization process preserves the subjects density. The effect is the same as if a toy train hit a full sized human and the train just bounces off.

** In "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS1E17PercyRunsAway Percy Runs Away]]", Percy fails to warn a signalman that he is on the main line, and so finds Gordon bearing down on him with the Express.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters'' has a couple levels with trains that can't be destroyed and can kill the player.

* ''WesternAnimation/HellBentForElection'': The Defeatist Limited’s railroad line once the track is switched to Roosevelt’s, causing the former to crash.

* ''WesternAnimation/HellBentForElection'': The Defeatist Limited’s railroad line once the track is switched to Roosevelt’s, causing the former to crash.