We have a rail line running close (2 miles). I have wondered about a derailment and what could leak. A workmate used to be a fireman, and they were trained about terrorists sabotaging rail cars; chaining the valves or piping on chlorine or propane so when the cars moved it would rip open. If I ever undertook such a thing I would either get a leg cut off or spill a whole car of corn syrup (lol).
As I like railroads It is fun to listen to the crossing trains in the night, and sometimes watch a heavy coal drag work the grade close by. You don't think of prairie roads hav ing a grade, but it is enough to work the big locos, running around 12 mph, then getting up to around 30 going through a sag, then having to slow for Watkins just outside Aurora. It is not mountain railroading, though. UP runs their steam on this line once every 5 or 6 years, so we are due. For others interested this line used to be a branch of the Rock Island running in from Kansas. When Rock went under it was taken over by the UP with new sidings, lots of ties and ballast replaced. I watched the salvage train go through, must have been 250 or more cars, picking up everything left all the way from Denver to Kansas. That was one of the saddest things, the whole thing was running only around 8 mph on the poorly maintained tracks, then the rails rusted until the takeover.
