History Main / ChainedToARailway

* A variation (without the actual chaining part) appears in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLNb6dbFni8 The Train Wreckers]]'' (1905), where a group of bandits knock a woman out and just leave her on the tracks.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' features a memorable moment where "classic" villain The Red Death knocks out the up-and-comer Blind Rage attempting to blackmail him and wakes him up tied to the tracks of a New York freight train. Red Death then [[ToThePain proceeds to lecture his victim]] [[ReconstructedTrope on the merits of the process]], its relatively cheap costs and the terror that comes with the growing anticipation of an oncoming train, plus the minor HopeSpot of escape. [[spoiler:[[UncertainDoom We never see if Blind Rage survived or not, but his odds weren't exactly great.]]]]

* In the {{Manhwa}} ''Manhwa/LetDai'', Dai does this to Jaehee after he considers him to have spurned his love.

-->-- '''Khallos''', ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'', milking the pun and the situation for all they're worth.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' features a memorable moment where "classic" villain The Red Death knocks out the up-and-comer Blind Rage attempting to blackmail him and wakes him up tied to the tracks of a New York freight train. Red Death then [[ToThePain proceeds to lecture his victim]] [[ReconstructedTrope on the merits of the process]], its relatively cheap costs and the terror that comes with the growing anticipation of an oncoming train, plus the minor HopeSpot of escape. [[spoiler:[[UncertainDoom We never see if Blind Rage survived or not, but his odds weren't exactly great.]]]]

** A more literal variant of this appears in the Saw spinoff ''Film/Spiral,'' where the opening trap features an officer effectively tied to subway tracks [[TongueTrauma by his tongue]].

* The [[RecycledInSpace entirely railroad-focused]] adventure serial ''The Hazards of Helen'' (1914-1917) naturally used this trope a few times. Though as the protagonist -- played [[TheOtherDarrin initally]] by [[TheDanza Helen Holmes]] -- was a competent ActionGirl who usually saved the day, this falls more under BadassInDistress.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' features a memorable moment where "classic" villain The Red Death does this to an up and comer named Blind Rage attempting to blackmail him. He then proceeds to lecture his victim on the merits of the process, its relatively cheap costs and the terror that comes with the growing anticipation of an oncoming train, plus the minor HopeSpot of escape. [[spoiler:[[UncertainDoom We never see if Blind Rage survived or not, but his odds weren't exactly great.]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' features a memorable moment where "classic" villain The Red Death does this to an up and comer named Blind Rage attempting to blackmail him. He then proceeds to lecture his victim on the merits of the process, its relatively cheap costs and the terror that comes with the growing anticipation of an oncoming train, plus the minor HopeSpot of escape. [[spoiler:[[AmbiguousSituation We never see if Blind Rage survived or not, but his odds weren't exactly great.]]]]

* One episode of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' starts off with the "camel spotting" sketch (a [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial thinly disguised]] trainspotter claims to be watching for camels), which is interrupted when several one-shot characters steal the camel-spotter's CatchPhrase, "you're no fun any more", prompting him to threaten the next person who uses it with being tied up and thrown under a camel ([[DontExplainTheJoke here to be read as "train"]]). [[BrickJoke Later in the episode]], the "embezzlement" sketch ends with one of the characters inadvertently using the phrase, causing him to appear and [[NotHyperbole carry out his earlier threat]].

* "Brand New Friend" by Lloyd Cole: The dysfunctional pair countless times "swore and lied that we'd tie ourself to the railway line", but they were all mouth.

* Used in the ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' episode "A Mountie Always Gets His Duck" where the villain (A French Canadian with a Scottish accent) ties Duckula's friend's fiancée to a railway line. Nanny inadvertently saves them all by walking directly in front of the train and wrecking it.

* Played in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' with an optional GF the player can acquire. Literally flaming tracks appear after barriers appear on either side of the enemies and the background morphs into unintelligible [[SwirlyEnergyThingy space vortex-y swirly things]]. Then you see his light…um…light up and see him zooming down the tracks at a rate of knots, and seconds before contact is made it zooms in to give you a shot of his demon face before he slams through the enemies, and before long all returns to normal and the enemies receive damage and a huge number of additional status affects. You can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4VjvBaMHJg see all of this here.]]

* UsefulNotes/MalcolmX's father was murdered this way, when he stood up to a gang of white supremacists. Even worse, the death was [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch considered by the police to be a suicide.]]

* A Cartoon Network installment of their ''Groovies'' interstitials, "El Kabong Rides Again," starred WesternAnimation/QuickDrawMcGraw as El Kabong thwarting a Mexican bandito who has tied his love interest, Baba Looey and members of a Dia de Muertos band to a railroad track. Music by Music/{{Calexico}}.

* Played ''straight'' in the 50s ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS6E12ThePerilsOfSuperman The Perils of Superman]]". Victim was Lois Lane, natch. For bonus points, they also had Perry White tied to a log in a sawmill.

* In Creator/CraigShawGardner's ''Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies'' one of the tapestries in Doctor Dread's hideout depicts a man in a stovepipe hat gloating at a woman tied to the tracks.

** Courage also has a fantasy of the Chicken doing this to Muriel in the Pilot.