History Main / RunawayTrain

* The climax to''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' 's ''Murder on the Rockport Limited'' arc has the party trying to stop an out-of-control locomotive before it can collide with a populated city and cause massive destruction. [[spoiler: They actually fail to stop it; massive destruction is only avoided by teleporting the speeding train elsewhere.]]

** There is also an incident of a runaway train caused by children interfering with the controls. As with all incidents in the series, this was based on a similar real-life occurrence. The train is caught when an inspector on another engine hurls a lasso around the train and catches it, allowing the fireman to jump over to apply the brake.

* In ''{{Tintin}} in America'', Tintin steals a locomotive to catch up with the express train the villain has taken and discovers that the brakes don't work. In ''Prisoners of the Sun'', Tintin and Haddock are suspiciously placed alone on the last coach of a Peruvian train. The coach comes detached from the rest of the train, and the emergency brake doesn't work.

* As with the literature it's based on, the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' show uses this a lot, having its own distinct theme music, being an OhCrap moment for the engine in question and usually ending in a crash of some kind. In earlier seasons, these crashes were reasonably realistic, though in the later seasons, the crashes were either less violent (the seventh season episode "The Spotless Record" defies the Laws of Physics) or much more severe (the sixth season episode "Gordon Takes a Tumble" features Gordon coming off the tracks, and crashing into a hay pile, and pile of tires, and a farm house, before coming to rest; through the entire sequence, he never lost speed AT ALL).

* There's one in the sixth ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie, ''The Phantom of Baker Street''. [[spoiler: Conan ends up fighting Jack the Ripper in a TraintopBattle.]]

* In ''Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree'', the hijackers disable the safety features and create a runaway subway train to cover their getaway, hoping the police will assume they died in the inevitable wreck.
** The UsefulNotes/NewYorkCitySubway's safety systems eventually stop the train without harm however, implying it was just meant as a distraction while they escaped.

* In ''Film/AtomicTrain'', a runaway freight train carrying hazardous materials, including an old nuclear bomb. The cause of being a runaway? An air hose breaks and then the train's brakes become useless (in real life, this wound automatically apply the emergency brakes and stop the train, but this film is full of errors and continuity goofs!), causing it to speed up towards Denver. They try all the old "how to stop a runaway train" bits, but to no avail, even though no one even gave a thought on uncoupling the freight cars from the locomotives. Eventually they set a derail at a sharp curve, and inevitably, [[spoiler:the train crashes and the atomic bomb explodes, destroying Denver!]] Oops.

** An episode of ''Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters'' centers around an [[TheCorruption infected]] Resshamon nearly causing an actual train to crash. The protagonists barely manage to stop it in time and the episode is heavily based on the ''Tamers'' example above.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{MAD}}'', in one of their signature crossover parodies, combines ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' with ''Film/{{Unstoppable}}''.

* As with the literature it's based on, the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' show uses this a lot, having its own distinct theme music, being an OhCrap moment for the engine in question and usually ending in a crash of some kind. In earlier seasons, these crashes were reasonably realistic, though in the later seasons, the crashes were either less violent (the seventh season episode "The Spotless Record" defies the Laws of Physics) or much more severe (the sixth season episode "Gordon Takes a Tumble" features Gordon coming off the tracks, and crashing into a hay pile, and pile of tires, and a farm house, before coming to rest; through the entire sequence, he never lost speed AT ALL).

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster The San Bernardino train disaster]] in 1989: An overloaded train didn't have enough braking power to slow itself when descending a long grade into the town of San Bernardino, derailed, and destroyed several houses. Then two weeks later the gasoline pipeline that ran parallel to the tracks, and was damaged during the cleanup, ruptured, spraying gasoline over the surviving houses in the neighbourhood, and then caught fire.

* In ''Film/SpiderMan2'', Dr. Octopus sends a train on a runaway course. [[MagnificentBastard "I believe you have a train to catch."]] At least Doc is a physicist and engineer (he built his cybernetic arms) and is seen doing specific damage to the controls.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' has an old runaway subway car that plays out this trope (the villains have been using it as a hideout/laboratory.) Nick and Judy are able to successfully [[[[HighSpeedTrainReroute reroute]] the subway car to avoid colliding head-on with a speeding freight train, but the car ends up derailing and [[StuffBlowingUp exploding]] when it tips from speeding on a curve and reaches the end of the line. Played more realistically in that the train ''does'' have a proper DeadMansSwitch; Nick is stuck more-or-less stationary keeping the train going, requiring Judy to protect Nick, the subway car, and herself.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' has an old runaway subway car that plays out this trope (the villains have been using it as a hideout/laboratory.) Nick and Judy are able to successfully reroute the subway car to avoid colliding head-on with a speeding freight train, but the car ends up derailing and [[StuffBlowingUp exploding]] when it tips from speeding on a curve and reaches the end of the line. Played more realistically in that the train ''does'' have a proper DeadMansSwitch; Nick is stuck more-or-less stationary keeping the train going, requiring Judy to protect Nick, the subway car, and herself.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse on the Orient Express'' climaxes with DM tasked with stopping the train before it reaches the Paris terminal as the driver and fireman abandoned it (due to the episode being a lower-class farce).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail "Marge vs. the Monorail"]] features a Runaway Monorail, rendered brakeless by its laughably cheap construction quality. Someone suggests [[CutTheJuice cutting the power]] when the brakes don't work. Another person says they can't because it's solar-powered. Bitterly, he says, "Solar power. When will people learn?"
** [[FridgeLogic They would be able to open the main circuit breaker though.]] [[TheAllegedCar If it even had one, that is]]

* ''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), 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.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Axon Also from the 1950s in the UK]]: a train from Buxton was approaching Dove Holes summit when a steam pipe burst in the cab, forcing the crew to evacuate and leaving the train, with brakes off and regulator still open, to accelerate under power down the other side of the hill. The fireman jumped off, but the driver, with nerves of steel, hung on to the outside, trying to reach in and knock the regulator closed. He failed and was killed when the train crashed into the back of the one in front. He was awarded the George Cross for his heroism and later a modern locomotive was named "Driver John Axon GC" in his honour.

* Also from the 1950s in the UK: a train from Buxton was approaching Dove Holes summit when a steam pipe burst in the cab, forcing the crew to evacuate and leaving the train, with brakes off and regulator still open, to accelerate under power down the other side of the hill. The fireman jumped off, but the driver, with nerves of steel, hung on to the outside, trying to reach in and knock the regulator closed. He failed and was killed when the train crashed into the back of the one in front. He was awarded the George Cross for his heroism and later a modern locomotive was named "Driver John Axon GC" in his honour.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' fanfic ''[[FanFic/BookFiveLegends Book Five: Legends]]'', the villain arranges one with the Republic City Mag Rail to distract Korra, forcing her into a SadisticChoice between saving the passengers or capturing the bad guys. Not surprisingly, she chooses the former.

* ''Bollywood/RaOne'' has part of the climax take place on a train being temporarily helmed by the BrainwashedAndCrazy heroine.

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 a 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.

* Creator/DonRosa's ''The Three Caballeros Ride Again'' has the trio fighting a villain on the flatcars of a train when the driver detaches the flatcars in order to save himself. Once they've defeated the villain, they remember that the other direction of the track is incomplete, and indeed ends right at the edge of a huge cliff. Incidentally, the track is a real one, completed in the early 1960's. Unfortunately for the protagonists, all Rosa's comics are set in the 1950's.
* In ''{{Tintin}} in America'', Tintin steals a locomotive to catch up with the express train the villain has taken, and discovers that the brakes don't work. In ''Prisoners of the Sun'', Tintin and Haddock are suspiciously placed alone on the last coach of a Peruvian train. The coach comes detached from the rest of the train, and the emergency brake doesn't work.

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

* ''Film/{{Disaster on the Coastliner}}'' is a MadeForTV film where a man takes over the engineer's console of a passenger train running from Los Angeles to San Francisco, locks the other train running from San Francisco to Los Angeles on the same track, and has both hijacked the LA-Bound train's radio to come into his phone so the engineer thinks he's calling the control center, and sabotaged the computer system at the railroad control center so they can't switch the signals to red so the unaware engineer would stop his train. The man taking over the first train is using the threat of an unstoppable wreck to blackmail the president of the railroad (Raymond Burr) who was unaware of the misconduct, to publicly admit that the railroad killed his wife due to negligence and intentionally bribed the inspector who investigated the accident into saying it wasn't the railroad's fault.
* ''Film/FinalRun'' (1999) has a state-of-the-art computer controlled train malfunction and is in danger of crashing into a hospital.

** There is also an incident of a runaway train caused by children interfering with the controls. As with all incidents in the series, this was based on a similar real life occurrence. The train is caught when an inspector on another engine hurls a lasso around the train and catches it, allowing the fireman to jump over to apply the brake.

** The Cannonball runs away due to a faulty gasket in "The Old Timer," since it's causing the brake lines to not build up enough pressure. It takes switching the train onto a spur line near the depot to halt it, since it rams into the track bumper instead of running clear into the next county. Casey requests to have it fixed, but the next morning, only temporary repairs are done on it. [[spoiler: When Redrock, who had been forced into retirement, attempts to bring the runaway Casey Jr. back home and finds the trestle had been washed out, he remembers the faulty brakes and has to place a tie onto the tracks to wedge it into the locomotive's pilot truck, giving it a means to stop before it falls to its doom.]]

** Casey invokes this himself in "The Marauders." Under orders from the railroad to deliberately wreck a train, he is assigned an old clunker due for the scrap heap, and is instructed to derail it on a curve so the team of U.S. Marshalls onboard could fake their deaths and ambush the titular gang when they hit the next town. To fool everyone, Casey feigns the brakes are busted when it nears the curve, jumping off and letting it careen off the tracks to its doom.

** “The Trackwalker" does this to the entire Cannonball courtesy of [[spoiler: Vic Hogan, a corrupt fireman]]. After having spent weeks blackmailing his [[spoiler: old engineer, Jeff Roberts]] to keep quite about [[spoiler: his true identity]], Casey forces him off the property, leaving [[spoiler: Hogan]] to sneak into the Cannonball's cab and tie off the throttle while it's in motion. Casey Jr. was checking the steam at the time, so he's [[spoiler: able to warn Jeff about the runaway, allowing him to untie the throttle and stop the train while Casey warns an oncoming Northbound Express of their presence.]]

* ''Series/DadsArmy'' used this trope in one episode. The unit had to move a train out the way of an incoming one after the drivers got drunk, but ended up with a runaway train after it turned out they'd left the brake wheel back at the station and that the line was all downhill from that point. Cue Captain Mainwaring climbing over the train roof, the warden, vicar and verger on a handcart trying to bring them the brake wheel and then them having to go damn fast the other way after the platoon accidentally put the train into reverse.

* Played almost perfectly straight in one of the later (and far sillier) episodes of ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', with a trans-atlantic mag-lev. [[RefugeInAudacity Underwater]]. They even had to get it to jump the tracks...

* "Blood on the Coal" by The Folksmen (the folk incarnation of [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]]). As all folk bands have a song abut either a mine disaster or train wreck, the Folksmen decided to combine them by having a song about a runaway train ''in'' a mine. The song features on the soundtrack of ''Film/AMightyWind'' (although it predates the movie).

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresInOdyssey'' Dylan and a deaf kid named Eliot end up on a train with the train's driver having fallen out of the train. Whit calls them on the train's phone to give them instructions on how to stop the train, but Dylan accidentally breaks the phone, so Whit has to shout the instructions at them from his flying vehicle. Dylan isn't able to understand him, but Eliot somehow does and they manage slow down the train enough that it only gently bumps the train in front of it. Eliot later explains that he was reading Whit's lips.

* ''WesternAnimation/BooBoomTheLongWayHome'': the SeriesFinale involves one of these. Boo-Boom and his friends have to stop a train transporting prisoners, including Boo-Booms' parents. They do so by unhooking the carriages that contain the prisoners. Unfortunately, since the train was going up a mountain at the time, the now unhooked carriages immediately go back down again, straight for a blown up bridge, forcing the heroes to come up with a way to stop them before the carriages reach the ravine. They succeed by deploying the brakes of a tank that was also being transported by the same train.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' where Johnny and Duke took up full-time superheroics featured not less than five of these over the course on one episode, including two on a collision course. Dukey lampshades this by the fourth one.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' episode "The Good, The Bad and the Tigger" featured an Old West variation of this trope, in a near episode-length fantasy. The accused train robbers Tigger and Pooh (both of whom apparently "borrowed" the train, mirroring them borrowing Christopher Robin's toy train in real life) wind up rendering the train a runaway, mostly due to Tigger fooling around with the controls in the locomotive. Pulling all the levers and switches doesn't stop the train, pressing the brake only results in the train flipping over and going the other direction, and then it eventually rams into Sheriff Piglet's speeding handcar and blows up, [[NonFatalExplosions but nobody dies]]. Later Pooh and Tigger try to put the train back together, but the train comes to life and start zooming around the town without any rails and Piglet ends up stuck on the front of the train. Tigger paints fake tracks on the ground, [[InsaneTrollLogic under the logic that trains can't resist following tracks]] and then decides to wait for the train to run out of steam. Several days later the train is still going so Tigger causes it to crash with a banana peal, and Piglet is ok.
* Episode 15 of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' ("The Wild Brood") features one, complete with a knocked-out engineer, broken bridge and exploding locomotive (also a shout-out to the train fight and wreck scenes in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail "Marge vs. the Monorail"]] features a Runaway Monorail, rendered brakeless by its laughably cheap construction quality. Someone suggests [[CutTheJuice cutting the power]] when the brakes don't work. Another person says they can't because it's solar powered. Bitterly, he says, "Solar power. When will people learn?"

* Seen in ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' in the episode "Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer the Universe", when Bebop and Rocksteady's attempt to [[ChainedToARailway tie Master Splinter to the railroad tracks]] goes horribly wrong thanks to Rocksteady pulling out the brake lever. They wind up rerouting the train via a switch so it doesn't run over Splinter, but instead it hits a runaway dinosaur robot and blows up, completely derailing in the process.

* A [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_rail_accident real-life incident]] happened in Australia when the driver of a commuter train suffered an apparent heart attack and died. He didn't fall out of his seat, and was heavy enough that the weight of his leg kept enough pressure on the pedal which controlled the dead-man's switch to prevent it from tripping by release, but not enough pressure to trip it by too much pressure, causing the train to go out of control and crash. The accident resulted in the addition of a second switch, a button that has to be pressed every 30 seconds to prevent the emergency brake from stopping the train automatically.
** Crews had also been known to cheat the deadman footpedal by jamming a flag stick (of coincidentally perfect length) between the underside of the control desk and the footpedal, although there was no evidence that this was the case in the abovementioned crash. Needless to say that sort of thing is a rather career-limiting maneuver these days.

** Another similar problem occurs with modern trains. Many have none fail safe electrically operated brakes, backed up by a failsafe direct system. If these are left unattended with just the electrically operated brake in use, a failure of this can cause a runaway. Drivers must therefore always use a failsafe method of securing the train whenever they are leaving them unattended.
* Another cause of runaway trains can be the failure to properly connect the brake pipes when trains are being formed, leading to part of the train being unbraked (in extreme cases the entire train other than the locomotive). A simple error is to connect the pipes but to leave the isolating valves closed. To guard against this a brake continuity test should be carried out to make sure the brake is correctly operating along the whole train. This is done by opening the brake pipe at the back of the train and observing a reduction in brake pressure at the front. In many countries drivers are also required to carry out a running brake test to make sure that the brakes operate as they should, usually whenever a driver takes over a train (also allows them to get a feel for the brakes on the particular train).
* In the past many trains were not continuously power braked, being brakes on leading vehicles only, or just the locomotive. This could often lead to runaways on falling gradients if insufficient brake power was available to slow or stop the train or the train traveled at too high speed. Freight trains were often unbraked or partially braked until quite recently (as late as the 1970s in the UK). On long falling gradients is was often required for the train to stop to allow the crew to manually apply parking brakes on some wagons to prevent the train running away on the hill. Runaways could easily occur if this was forgotten.

** On 3rd January 1940, a Spanish express train which had continued in service despite reports of serious brake problems ran away down a mountain gradient and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_del_Bierzo_rail_disaster collided with an empty local train]] inside a tunnel at Torre del Bierzo. A freight train travelling in the other direction then struck the pile of wreckage. Although the official death toll was only 78, recent researches have suggested that the [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime authoritarian Franco regime]] covered up the full magnitude, and that over 500 people may have died.
* A particularly tragic runaway train accident was the Armagh rail disaster in 1889 where a train carrying children on a Sunday school outing stalled climbing a steep hill. The decision was made to divide the train and take the front portion forward, collecting the rear portion later. Although the train was fully braked the brakes were not failsafe so once the locomotive and front portion of the train were uncoupled the rear portion would be unbraked and roll down the hill. As no handbrakes were available either, the crew secured the rear of the train by placing a number of stones behind the wheels. This was effective, but sadly as the front portion started to move it rolled back into the rear portion with enough force to crush the stones, the rear of the train then rolling free down the hill until it collided with a following train. 78 were killed, 260 injured, including children. This accident caused such shock and outrage that it lead to massive changes to rail safety in the UK, requiring continuous automatic brakes on all passenger trains, and also improvements to signalling. The accident is seen as the beginning of the modern era in UK rail safety. It remains the worst railway accident ever to occur on the island of Ireland.

* Also from the 1950s in the UK: a train from Buxton was approaching Dove Holes summit when a steam pipe burst in the cab, forcing the crew to evacuate and leaving the train, with brakes off and regulator still open, to accelerate under power down the other side of the hill. The fireman jumped off, but the driver, with nerves of steel, hung on to the outside, trying to reach in and knock the regulator closed. He failed, and was killed when the train crashed into the back of the one in front. He was awarded the George Cross for his heroism and later a modern locomotive was named "Driver John Axon GC" in his honour.

* The 1988 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de_Lyon_rail_accident Gare de Lyon train crash]] was the result of this. A commuter train driver inadvertantly disabled his train's braking system while trying to reset an emergency brake and a misleading gauge reading failed to alert him to the error. As he came down the grade into the Gare de Lyon station in Paris, he realized he had no brakes and the train was out of control. Officials at the station tried to avert disaster, but a combination of miscommunication and technical misunderstanding led to the out-of-control train coming in on a track occupied by a delayed outbound train. The commuter train hit the waiting train head-on, killing 56 and injuring another 60.

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* In ''Film/BreakheartPass'', the carriages containing the troopers are uncoupled from the train and rolls out of control down a steep section of track. [[spoiler:They eventually derail and kill all the troopers]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{MAD}}'', in one of their signature crossover parodies, combines ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' with ''Film/{{Unstoppable}}''.
* ''WesternAnimation/ColorClassics'': "Play Safe! Play Safe!"
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' episode "The Ruff Ruff Bunch", Lucky's team must stop a train in which the episode's eponymous club is on after the train's conductor was accidentally knocked unconscious.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': At the end of "Mystery Train", Finn accidentally smashes the controls of the locomotive, resulting in the train running out of control towards a broken bridge.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo'': International Rescue have to stop a runaway experimental train in "Runaway".
* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'': Clover and Sam have to stop a runaway train they get trapped on due to one of Lumiere's riddles in "A Spy is Born 2".
* ''WesternAnimation/BooBoomTheLongWayHome'': the SeriesFinale involves one of these. Boo-Boom and his friends have to stop a train transporting prisoners, including Boo-Booms' parents. They do so by unhooking the carriages that contain the prisoners. Unfortunately, since the train was going up a mountain at the time, the now unhooked carriages immediately go back down again, straight for a blown up bridge, forcing the heroes to come up with a way to stop them before the carriages reach the ravine. They succeed by deploying the brakes of a tank that was also being transported by the same train.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresInOdyssey'' Dylan and a deaf kid named Eliot end up on a train with the train's driver having fallen out of the train. Whit calls them on the train's phone to give them instructions on how to stop the train, but Dylan accidentally breaks the phone, so Whit has to shout the instructions at them from his flying vehicle. Dylan isn't able to understand him, but Eliot somehow does and they manage slow down the train enough that it only gently bumps the train in front of it. Eliot later explains that he was reading Whit's lips.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlaminThongs'': In "Train in Vain", Holden builds a rail system to avoid having to walk to school, but half-way through its maiden voyage, he remembers he forgot to build stops. When the brakes don’t work, the train just gets faster and no one can get off!
* This is the plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' episode "Catch That Train!"