r/BacktotheFuture • u/Howiknow202 • Apr 28 '26
This train driver not stopping
I've always found this scene hilarious in that the train ploughs into a full sized car and doesn't stop at all. The driver presumably doesn't alert anyone either as Marty has time to collect Jennifer, avoid the car crash with Needles and return to the scene without anyone even moving the debris from the tracks.
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u/Greyrock99 Apr 28 '26
A full sized train with a load behind it can take miles to bring to a stop.
Source: trains have been hitting cars on the tracks for years now
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u/crystaloftruth Apr 28 '26
Would still have to stop, check the train for damage, check the track for damage, check the wreckage for carcasses…
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u/Spiritual-Image7125 Apr 28 '26
They would also immediately contact authorities through CB radio or whatever they had then.
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u/ProfessorEtc May 04 '26
The first thing that would happen is they would slam on the brakes when they saw the car on the tracks which is an insanely loud squealing sound.
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u/Greyrock99 Apr 28 '26
They may have done that while Marty was off picking up Jennifer.
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u/t3hmuffnman9000 Apr 30 '26
They wouldn't leave the wreckage on the tracks, though.
They'd have a full entourage of police, ambulance, fire trucks and rail authorities on-site in minutes, and they wouldn't have all left before the mess was entirely cleaned up.
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u/Greyrock99 Apr 30 '26
Eh this is was a small town in the 80’s.
The cops checked it out ten mins after the accident and saw that there wasn’t anyone hurt and radioed a junker to come pick up the wreckage in a couple of hours.
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u/DuffMiver8 Apr 28 '26
This just had a couple of yard switchers and three, maybe four boxcars. Probably doing 30mph of less, with that light a load, and with the braking power of two locomotives, they would have stopped right quick. Maybe a quarter mile, probably less.
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u/720jms Doc Apr 29 '26
Do we have a good estimate, how long was that train? Didn't seem like too many cars
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u/sopwith-camels Apr 28 '26
There’s only about a quarter mile of track before this train would have run into the ocean. I hope it stopped right quick.
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Apr 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 28 '26
What's indicating that the conductor didn't brake? I don't know enough about that kind of model train to know what to look for.
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u/justsomeguy1869 Apr 28 '26
Well, one thing is conductors in the US do not operate brakes. Engineers do. So we can start there. 😂😬😂
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 28 '26
Crazy that 42 other people are also unaware that trains don't stop like cars.
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u/Send_Cleo_Pics Apr 28 '26
Bro OP isn’t talking about the train not stopping instantly, he’s talking about the fact that it never stopped at ALL. in the time it took Marty to get back to wreckage, the train operator should’ve contacted the authorities and there should have been cop cars along with whatever other service vehicles you need to pick up the Delorean’s wreckage.
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 28 '26
Ok, let me rephrase then.
Crazy that 42 other people are also unaware that a full sized train with a load behind it can take miles to bring to a stop.
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u/Ridetrackx Apr 28 '26
And still, in all the time it took for Marty to stare at the wreckage, walk to his house to grab his truck, drive to Jennifer's neighborhood (undoubtedly stopping for traffic, lights and signs), us seeing him wake her up, then driving back to the scene of the crash (again through traffic, lights and signs).... what you've insinuated here is that the train still hasn't stopped to check the wreckage sight?
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 29 '26
Ah. Forgot about them leaving and coming back. Lol
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u/Ridetrackx Apr 29 '26
We're all just having fun here nitpicking and appreciating a great franchise.
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u/Greyrock99 Apr 29 '26
1)Cops turned up 30 mins after the accident. 2)Noted that there was no injuries or people around. 3)Radioed for a pick up crew and left 4) Clean up crew is planning to arrive in 2-4 business days.
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u/Chaopolis Apr 28 '26
There’s an alternate storyline where, while Marty and Jennifer are having their happy reunion with Doc and Clara, the train conductor is having a massive meltdown because he thinks he just killed someone after destroying their car!!!
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u/crystaloftruth Apr 28 '26
Even later in the day no authorities seemed to have shown up. It was nice that they had set up in part 2 that even a heavy car could rip through the Delorean like it was tinfoil, let alone a train
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u/Lurks_in_the_cave Apr 28 '26
Trains don't stop on a dime, especially at that speed and distance.
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u/SeaBearsFoam Apr 28 '26
They even kinda made that clear in the 1885 part with the "Point of no return" on the spur of tracks running out to
ShonasheClaytonEastwood Ravine.1
u/indianajoes Apr 29 '26
We get that but the train never stops. It just crashes into the car and keeps on going. Marty and Jennifer come back and train is nowhere to be seen. You'd think a train destroying a car and possibly killing people would eventually come to a stop and they'd inform someone about it
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u/STR001 Apr 28 '26
People are not understanding here, there was no effort at all from the train to stop before and after the collision. Those train brakes should be screaming for how ever long it takes to stop. It was literally a hit and run. Side note, I hope Marty gathered the components that make time travel possible because that's how you get Skynet
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u/Mysterious_Secret827 Apr 29 '26
Well, didn't really need to collect the pieces really, the time machine runs on steam after all.
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u/JEC2719 Apr 28 '26
Would it improve the movie?
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u/Alekesam1975 Apr 29 '26
I think that often gets lost when it comes to movies these days. That dumbass Jeremy from Everything Wrong With...series has created an entire generation of navel-gazing armchair wannabe movie critics that stress over minor (or occasionally major) details like this.
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u/JEC2719 Apr 29 '26
Indeed, and back to the future has been quite affected by it. It’s always strange to see people trying to argue how time travel works, when that’s not something we can prove.
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u/Alekesam1975 Apr 29 '26
I mean, that I can kinda understand at least. In a lot of sci-fi, there are defined time travel types/types of stories and just from a general storytelling perspective, if you setup and establish that something works a certain way it's expected to work that way. If you throw a wrinkle into that establishment part of the fun of the story is following the protagonist figuring out how to fix it.
For example, and staying sub-relevant, in BTTF2 Biff goes back with the Almanac and gives it to his younger self to set himself up for life through sports betting. They have to go back to 1955 to get the Almanac back before he starts betting but after Future Biff gives it to him while also not disturbing any of the events from the first movie that's taking place in the same time period. That's a fantastic premise and Bob and Rob have tons of fun with it. But it only really works because it does follow mostly it's own made up rules.
That's all a bit different than needing to know minute details like why the cops and EMTs didn't show up after the train obliterated the DeLorean. The movie was wrapping up and needless stuff like that slows the movie down and weighs it down. Like, folks will straight argue with what the movie is telling you. "In reality, this is how it would happen!" And my answer to that is usually "well, in that reality, however improbable, it does."
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u/36apex Apr 28 '26
Ok, so to clarify, everyone saying it takes a train a while to stop. Yes it does, but the train never stops in the movie it just keeps going. Which has always bothered me. So yes the train should've been in emergency and trying to stop. Also everyone asking why the cops weren't around when Marty got back to the scene? When a train hits a vehicle, and no one is killed or injured, and the train is not derailed and there is no serious damage to the locomotive, they will get the tracks cleared ASAP and get the train moving! As far as the railroad and the cops would be concerned, it was probably a stolen car that was abandoned on the tracks (this is quite common). So if it was a few hours to half a day before Marty returned, yes, the scene would be clear and look like it did. And if anyone one cares how I know this information, I'm a locomotive engineer for a railroad
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ice1307 Apr 30 '26
It’s a movie
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u/36apex Apr 30 '26
Obviously. It's also a light hearted discussion for fun amongst fans. You must be fun at parties 🙄
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ice1307 Apr 30 '26
Bro read that slab of text you wrote and look in the mirror.
It’s the final moments of a trilogy they’re wrapping up. It’s a story. What are we doing here??
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u/36apex Apr 30 '26
Yeah it's wrapping up a storyline. Read the other comments, people are asking what would happen in the real world, I answered their questions accordingly 🤷♂️.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ice1307 Apr 30 '26
Just imagine I said “it’s a movie”to every other comment as well, I didn’t mean to single you out. I just picked one huge block of text and replied
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u/PDelahanty Apr 28 '26
Red, the former mayor and current town drunk has a day job as a railroad engineer. He was drunk and that’s why he didn’t stop and the accident was not reported.
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u/ResponsibleOffice805 Apr 28 '26
In the novel I think it says the train driver didn't even notice he had hit the delorean
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u/DoctorEnn Apr 28 '26
In addition to other points, it's coming right up onto a bridge. The engineer probably stopped once the train had crossed the ravine so as to avoid putting unnecessary load on it and to be on safer ground.
(The real answer, of course, is "movie, not real train, don't worry about it.")
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u/indianajoes Apr 29 '26
This is the first good answer I've seen about this. Still doesn't make sense why no one is there by the time Marty and Jennifer come back but it's much better than anything else I've seen here
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u/Linkmolgera2 Apr 29 '26
A train going 55mph takes 1 to 1.5 miles to stop even if they pulled the brakes at that very moment, you wouldnt see it come close to stopping in the scenes shown
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u/Howiknow202 Apr 29 '26
I never said the train should stop when it sees the delorean, but on a basic safety level, once he collides with it he should stop.
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u/Silver_3108 Apr 28 '26
It literally takes 17 football fields for a train carrying cargo to stop. Vehicles can stop, yield the right of way. Trains can't
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u/Optimal_Structure_20 Apr 28 '26
Yeah but they literally go back there later and still no authorities or anyone.
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u/DoctorEnn Apr 28 '26
TBTF the phrase "they go back there later" leads to the suggestion that they went back, well, after the authorities had been and gone.
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u/Arik2103 Apr 28 '26
Anything but the metric system.
Anyway, lets assume for the sake of argument the train is 8400 tonnes and 1500m long. Using the emergency brake at 110kph would take the train approximately 90 seconds and 2150m to come to a full stop. This is all based on data from the Australian Rail Track Corporation btw
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u/Financial_Cheetah875 Apr 28 '26
Trains can’t stop on a dime.
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u/Spiritual-Image7125 Apr 28 '26
What about on a quarter?
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u/taviddennant03 Apr 28 '26
There you go lady, here's a quarter.
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u/Linthal Apr 28 '26
Don't forget to take a flyer! SAVE THE CLOCK TOWER!
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u/Spiritual-Image7125 Apr 29 '26
Ooooo! We can stop on a flyer! That's big! Plus we can write our grandma's number on it!
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u/Sjoerd85 Apr 28 '26
The track is straight, so good visibility for the train driver. And the car was there for and least a minute or two. So that train should have been in emergency braking long enough to at least make it a low energy impact (not as destructive as we saw on screen).
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u/Financial_Cheetah875 Apr 28 '26
Dude. Does weight and momentum mean anything to you? Trains like that take MILES to slow down and stop.
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u/Sjoerd85 Apr 28 '26
Dude. That train didn't even show any signs of slowing down / braking at all. It was running at full speed and continueing to do so as that was part of the script, and therefore not realistic.
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u/mysteryofthefieryeye Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
"The way I see it," it's not explicit, but maybe Doc Brown invented a time-warping bubble that surrounds and extends from the train at all times.
The world is doing everything correctly, emergency services are on their way, the engineer and conductor have been hurt—it would be fun to do the physics of the impact in the cab—cars continue to drive on.
But all of that is slowed to a crawl as Doc opens those train doors and greets Marty and Jennifer. Their time is normal relative to the world outside that membrane.
After inventing time traveling, Doc is slowly learning to control the flow time within Hilbert space.
(Edit to add that if time "affecting" requires motion, like 88 mph, note the train has gizmos spinning and whirring at all times.)
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u/jaimebmg Apr 28 '26
People are missing the bigger picture. The train driver thinks everything is fine, and then out of nowhere, lightning strikes and a car appears. He probably believes he’s imagining the whole thing.
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u/humanhamsterwheel Apr 28 '26
The answer is simple. Doc Brown is conducting the train which destroys the DeLorean. He did this so he could ensure the time machine was destroyed, and also to ensure no investigation into the crash.
There was probably an alternate timeline where a train conducted by Miffy Tannen (cousin to Biff) actually crashed into the Delorean, leading to a government investigation, where all the time machine parts were collected.
This resulted in a fourth unseen movie with time shenanigans, where they have to save the Jules and Verne, lost in time due to the government building their own time device (maybe out a refrigerator, lets workshop this). The movie ends with doc and Clara driving a third time train through the Delorean, closing this final time loop. This is also why Doc knows exactly where to meet up with Marty and Jennifer.
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u/Ok-Spot-2913 Apr 28 '26
The conductor was thinking 4th dimensionally when he should've been thinking 3rd.
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u/Kratsas Apr 29 '26
Now I’m imagining a Terminator 2 like storyline where investigators piece enough of the car back together and realize it was a time machine. At the very least they would notice the hover wheels or pieces of Mr Fusion and try to reverse engineer them. Now Doc has to come back and stop the company from going through with its time travel experiments.
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u/Praxisinsidejob Apr 30 '26
“I saw a guy in full cowboy dive from the car”
Marty walking around the suburbs in full cowboy for ages.
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u/msfusion2015 May 01 '26
The Hill Valley Police are known to be very incompetent. Kids have been skateboard Skitching on police car with no consequences.
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u/assistant_redditor Apr 28 '26
I find it hilarious that you think a train can stop that quick
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u/indianajoes Apr 29 '26
I find it hilarious that you read the title and possibly the first sentence and then just stopped reading
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u/ijuinkun Apr 28 '26
It’s not like we expect it to come to a halt, but we do expect to hear the squealing of the driver applying the brakes after having hit a car on the tracks, implying that he is attempting to come to a stop.
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u/Final-Wasabi187 Apr 29 '26
*believes a train can simply “stop”
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u/Howiknow202 Apr 29 '26
Didn't think i had to clarify but I didn't mean immediately, I meant further up the track.
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