History Main / RunawayTrain

* In the 1952 FilmSerial ''Film/ZombiesOfTheStratosphere'', the villains try to rob a train of its cargo of uranium. Bob Wilson climbs on board to stop them, gets overpowered and handcuffed to the train, whereupon the villains jump off figuring their robbery has been foiled anyway. Larry Martin uses a tank being converted into an agricultural tractor as an all-terrain vehicle to chase after the train, but it's heading towards an oncoming passenger train so it's diverted onto another line that's a dead end. Will our heroes be killed in the crash?! [[CliffhangerCopout Of course not]]; they jump off beforehand and the only people who die are those [[NoEndorHolocaust poisoned by the radioactive material that's now been scattered across the countryside]].

* ''[[Literature/ClockworkCentury Dreadnought]]''. The armoured train Dreadnought is racing at full speed to keep ahead of the much-faster Confederate train Shenandoah, which is on a parallel line. When the latter pulls ahead everyone realises that the Shenandoah could use its guns to blow up the tracks ahead and derail the Dreadnought killing everyone on board, so they need to stop the train. Unfortunately the Dreadnought is so heavy and powerful that even with every brake applied in the locomotive and every carriage there's still a question as to whether it will stop in time.

The fail-safety in train air brakes can itself fail if all of the braking air is used up, though this can only really happen through improper train handling procedure. Also, the air brakes on non-powered rolling stock can be easily deactivated (bottled) or disabled (bled), allowing the cars to move on their own under force of gravity and friction in certain situations. Fortunately the safety systems and operating procedures remove the potential for runaways except in the presence of negligence or intentional sabotage.

Expect to see a ''lot'' of these trains in desert valleys heading for an unfinished bridge or even a ''cliff'', despite it [[FridgeLogic making absolutely zero sense]] why these trains would've been on partially-completed/dead-end tracks even before they went haywire.

* ''Stop the Train!'' is a SocialDeduction game in which a passenger train to Paris is out of control and players must attempt to slow it down and ultimately stop, otherwise it will crash if it arrives at Paris at any speed. However, one player is a saboteur trying speed up and crash. Cards are played that will either increase speed, maintain the current speed or apply the brakes to slow down, but no card actually stops the train (the train will only come to a stop if the deck runs out before reaches Paris). Why exactly the train crew aren't around trying to control the train (or alternatively are taking orders from passengers to change speed) is never explained.

* ''Film/SilverStreak'', where a [[spoiler:sociopath trying to steal a fortune through faked documentation of art, has disabled the emergency brakes and is pointing the train toward downtown Chicago.]]
* ''Film/{{Speed}}'' had a runaway metro at the end; ''Film/Speed2CruiseControl'' had a runaway ''boat'' that was played like this trope.

* In ''Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree'', the hijackers disable the safety features and create a runaway subway train to cover their getaway. The UsefulNotes/NewYorkCitySubway's safety systems eventually stop the train without harm however.

* The entire plot of ''Film/{{Unstoppable}}''. VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, namely the "Crazy Eights" incident mentioned below. The plot of the movie is that the brakes on train 777 work, however the DeadMansSwitch is disabled due to other brakes not working, and there's nobody aboard to stop the train which has been set to full throttle causing it to blast across the rails at 70 miles an hour, is carrying dangerous chemicals, and is headed towards a residential area. In addition to trying to slow it down by coupling to it from the rear, certain things go awry such as a train derailer failing due to the weight and speed of the train. While many of these details are exaggerated for television (for example, nobody died in the real incident), certain things are true such as the train derailer failing to stop the train and that the train was carrying very dangerous chemicals.

** Technically [[spoiler: Batman was the one who made the train uncontrolled since he knew Gordon would blow up the rail supports.]]

* ''Runaway'', by Creator/CordellBarker: The main train engineer gets distracted by a beautiful lady, and heads to the toilet room with her. The train then hits a cow, knocking the stoker onto [[BillionsOfButtons one of the many levers]] causing the train to accelerate out of control, and him unable to stop the train. The train speeds through and demolishes a bridge before going up a steep incline - and running out of fuel before starting to slide back. The stoker asks for more fuel from the passengers (the rich people pay the poor for their wood items and clothing, before detaching the back segment), with it eventually coming to rest at the apex. The engineer eventually gets back to the engine, but gets distracted again while the train accelerates downhill.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "Christmas With the Joker", the Joker blows up a railroad bridge as a train approaches. Batman and Robin arrive in time to disconnect the locomotive and rescue the engineer so that only the empty locomotive is destroyed.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''" In "Christmas With the Joker", the Joker blows up a railroad bridge as a train approaches. Batman and Robin arrive in time to disconnect the locomotive and rescue the engineer so that only the empty locomotive is destroyed.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''" In "Christmas With the Joker", the Joker blows up a railroad bridge as a train approaches. Batman and Robin arrive in time to disconnect the locomotive, hit the brakes, and rescue the engineer so that only the empty locomotive is destroyed.

* There's one in the sixth ''Manga/CaseClosed'' movie, ''The Phantom of Baker Street''. [[spoiler: Conan ends up fighting Jack the Ripper in a TraintopBattle.]]
** And in the 24th movie, ''The Scarlet Bullet'', Conan and Sera find themselves trapped on the "Japanese Bullet," the world's first vacuum-tube super-conducting linear train, when the villain sends it racing out-of-control towards the stadium where the opening ceremony of the World Sports Games is being held.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

-->'''Dimitri''': I hate trains! Remind me ''never'' to get on a train again!

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

--> '''Big Smoke:''' Follow that train!
* A sort of reverse example occurs in ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'', where the player must ''start'' a runaway train full of explosives(!) and ''clear'' its path so that it crashes into a blocked gateway which must be opened.

* In ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter2'', Gabe Logan escapes the mountain on a freight train, but the Agency blows up the trestle dead ahead, and with not enough distance to stop the train, Lian Xing has to airlift him with a stolen chopper before the train crashes.

* ''VideoGame/FearEffect'' have this occurring in the waterfront stag, when Hana accidentally triggers a stationary train into moving. Then Hana's partner Glas suddenly runs up, shouting that the bridge ahead is down, causing Hana to jump off. Their third member, Deke, on the other hand is on top of said train, and need to outrun the crashing train carriage-by-carriage.

* A 1980s ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}'' episode "Wild Train Ride" has the Blockheads intentionally set this up with the train Minga and Granny are riding on. They lock the train's engineers in the station restroom, start up the engine and hop off before it pulls out, and since the trains in the ''Gumby'' universe can travel anywhere they want, carrying their tracks wherever they go, this brings things UpToEleven in that the train leaves a path of destruction and can even enter books the way characters can (naturally, {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Granny enjoys it, and Minga is initially scared, until she compares the train crashing through a house to a ride at ''Ride/{{Disneyland}}''! Things get worse when the train ends up in a book about the Rocky Mountains and ends up on a railroad track route with [[TrackTrouble a washed-out bridge]]. But luckily Prickle (who was planning to ride the train with Granny and Minga but missed it due to the Blockheads starting it up early) phoned Gumby about the runaway train, and they arrive in a helicopter with the train's engineers, lowering them onto the locomotive and stopping the train just in time. Granny's comment on the whole experience is this...