There are several movies whose titles I can't recall about runaway trains, but here's one where John Voight lost a couple of fingers while uncoupling a car. if I recall, he was an escaped inmate and writing on a car or in the engine in freezing cold weather.
I also have a vague recollection (someone can correct me on this) that if one cuts the air line between two cars, that sets off the brakes and perhaps this would cause cars to, uncouple…
If you cut the air line between the carriages then the brakes on the entire train will come on. Railways have spent over two hundred years designing equipment that doesn't come apart and allow trains to split.
OP: Preventing the brakes from coming on may be your greatest problem. While the couplings are designed to hold while the train is in motion your thieves could always cut them with shaped charges of explosives. But the braking system is specifically designed to bring the entire train to a stop if the lines are damaged. You will need to seal the end of the line on the main part of the train immediately if you want that to continue (and the driver will probably notice something wrong and stop to investigate anyway.)
How are you planning to move the carriages after you've detached them? Automatic train detection circuits will show up the presence of another locomotive moving them.
The train thieves have planned this for a while, and the guy in charge of the actual uncoupling was put in charge of it because he's an engineer and knows what he's doing. Would a clamp on the hose take care of the brakes going on the main part of the train? He would have come prepared, and could put the clamp on before uncoupling
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I don't know if you're aware of it, but you've just described an episode of an old TV show called "Bannecek" which starred George Pepard as an insurance investigator. He's more well known for being Hannibal on "The A-Team". I know it's fiction, but if you can find the episode, it may be helpful to you, to watch what you've just described. -- Dagonell
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I also have a vague recollection (someone can correct me on this) that if one cuts the air line between two cars, that sets off the brakes and perhaps this would cause cars to, uncouple…
Runaway Train
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OP: Preventing the brakes from coming on may be your greatest problem. While the couplings are designed to hold while the train is in motion your thieves could always cut them with shaped charges of explosives. But the braking system is specifically designed to bring the entire train to a stop if the lines are damaged. You will need to seal the end of the line on the main part of the train immediately if you want that to continue (and the driver will probably notice something wrong and stop to investigate anyway.)
How are you planning to move the carriages after you've detached them? Automatic train detection circuits will show up the presence of another locomotive moving them.
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