History Main / ChainedToARailway

* WesternAnimation/HuckleberryHound is a truant officer sent retrieve two recalcitrant twin boys. He humors them by letting them tie him to a toy railroad track, only gets run over by a real train.

* A Cartoon Network installment of their ''Shorties'' interstitials 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}}.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' finale, w bu which takes the form of a monochrome 20s cartoon, ends with the dogs leaving the damsel in distress on the track when even after being saved just before all she does is yell for help.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' episode "I Feel Fine," movie hero Dick Dashing challenges Paul to perform the same stunts he usually does. One stunt has co-star Bridget Buildup tied to a railroad track with Paul trying to untie her before the train gets there. Paul simply holds his hand out to show the train was a cardboard prop. Later in the sequence, Dick Dashibg attempts the same stunt, only he and Bridget get flattened by an actual train.

* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the 1919 silent film ''East Lynne with Variations,'' ([[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Lynne loosely based on the 1861 novel.]]) Showing the sheer age of this trope, [[https://i2.wp.com/moviessilently.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2-railroad-tracks.jpg?w=600 the magazine ''Photo Play Journal'' already described it]] -- and other parodied cliches -- as Main/TheOldestOnesInTheBook.

* Happens to Batman in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "ComicBook/EmperorJoker!".
* This is how one ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' episode opens; Jim and Peter Puppy are tied to a railroad, implied to be a consequence of switching bodies (but not heads) because Peter can't use Jim's super suit very well. Psycrow, meanwhile, is driving an express at them. Jim manages to get back inside the suit, free them, and bend the tracks so they're pointing up. The train is sent flying up, Psycrow falls out ("Maximum suckage.") and Jim and Peter walk off to have their bodies fixed. Then the train falls on Psycrow. Later on in the episode he still has the train on his back.
%%* Shows up in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Miscellaneous Disney Short|s}}'' ''The Brave Engineer''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Pinkie Pie has an ImagineSpot of this happening to her. Notably, this may well be the first instance of the trope where both victim and perpetrator are actually ''on'' the train.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' episode "Fair Weather Friends", where [[{{Yandere}} Berry]] tried to do this to Mac, only with a toy train set.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel'' cartoon "Catty Corned" a particularly nasty dog does this to a scientist's cat whom he thought had swallowed some explosives, and the dog was trying to find ways to set off the explosives with Secret and Morocco thwarting his attempts.
* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' where the three headed son of the chicken from outer space attempted to avenge his father's death by destroying Courage, one of his attempts was this, however, Courage managed to save himself by using a track switch, [[InventionalWisdom which two of the heads wondered why they included in the plan]].
* A mass version of this trope is used in Book Four ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' to make AnOfferYouCantRefuse. Kuvira uses [[ExtraOreDinary metalbending]] to attach a group of bandits' wrists to a set of train tracks. Either they take the chance for "rehabilitation" and pledge their allegiance to her, or she'll simply leave them behind. They take the offer.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' episode "Silents Please!". [=CatDog=] saves a woman tied to the railroad tracks, but it is revealed that this is part of a filming set. Cat puts her back to the railroad tracks and leaves, while she gets run over by the train.
* ''WesternAnimation/NumbChucks'': In "Hunk O Chuck", Fungus is MistakenForDying. To help him cross something off his BucketList, Dilweed kidnaps Burford and dresses him as a woman before tying him to the railway track so Fungus can fulfill his ambition of recuing a damsel who has been tied to railroad. HilarityEnsues.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': In "Luminians on the Loose", Luthor leaves Jimmy Olsen on the tracks where the express is scheduled to come shortly.
* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a {{Homage}} to a [[SilentMovie silent movies]] in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[{{Trainstopping}} a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang wrongly saving them]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'', Peter does this to himself accidentally. During a fight in the subway, he gets knocked into a tunnel wall -- and the impact damages his web-shooter, pinning him there with webbing just as a train approaches. He uses the other shooter to throw a lever that makes the train change tracks.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'': In "The Fugitives", Clover has an ImagineSpot of [[AlphaBitch Mandy]] being tied up on railroad tracks as a train approaches her.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' features a memorable moment where "classic" villain The Red Death does this to an up and comer 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.
* Referenced in the ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'' episode "The Caretakers", when Davey and Goliath take a hike on train tracks. But then Davey decides to pretend he's a damsel in distress tied to the tracks and starts making "clackety-clack" train noises, and thus cannot hear [[RailroadTracksOfDoom an actual freight train speeding towards him]]. Luckily Goliath pulls Davey off the tracks just in time.

* Featured in the third part of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJg9BALKLwo "Zorro est arrivé"]], a French comedy song by Henry Salvador, based on "Along Came Jones".

* Music/{{Chicago}}'s 1974 TV special "Meanwhile Back At The Ranch" is filled with old silent movie gags. One has a gender flip of this, with guitarist Terry Kath being tied up on the tracks by the villain, Anne Murray.
* In the music video for Music/AFlockOfSeagulls' "Heartbeat Like A Drum", a woman is tied down to railroad tracks in the fashion of an old-time film, but surprisingly the train merely passes right over her, showing the whole thing to be an optical illusion.
* The traditional CallAndResponseSong "Bill Grogan's Goat" has Bill tying his goat to railroad tracks as punishment for eating three red shirts off his clothesline. Interestingly, the goat coughs up the shirts and flags the train in time.
* "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.

* In the original ''VideoGame/WayOfTheSamurai'', the ''main character'' can end up tied to a railroad track if the player makes some bad decisions early on. It's also possible to get yourself ''killed'' this way by [[TooDumbToLive refusing the rescue attempt]].
* This trope makes an appearance in ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' where the player has to rescue one of the goblins who is tied to a railway.
** The player saved more than just the goblin; if Zanik were to have been run over, it would have started a war between the Dorgeshuun and the Dwarfs (who built the train) which was exactly what Sigmund (the villain) planned.
* Happens in "The Khallos Express", a 70s Bond-parody level in ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' where your sidekick's partner/girlfriend had been captured and tied to the tracks. After beating the boss, they manage to stop the train...nowhere near close to hitting her.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDL_GcXoQIQ To get the achievement]] [[DastardlyWhiplash "Dastardly"]] in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', you have to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential tie up a female NPC and watch her get run over by a train]]. This actually caused a minor kerfluffle over the net because the video that first showed it just happened to use a ''nun'' as the victim, and many people assumed that was part of the achievement.

* In ''[[VideoGame/NancyDrew The Haunted Carousel]]'', the villain arranges for Nancy to get her foot trapped between the rails of a roller coaster's tracks, and she must free herself before being splattered by the oncoming train of cars.

* When you first enter the [[TheWildWest Western]] room of ''VideoGame/StayTooned'', Pixel and Chisel tie Fiddle to a railroad track just outside a tunnel. To save Fiddle, you must build a wall using the bricks next to it to stop the train. The outcome is random; Sometimes the train crashes through the brick wall and runs over Fiddle anyway, sometimes the train goes the other way and runs Fiddle over, and sometimes Scoops saves Fiddle by [[ExtremeOmnivore eating the rope]] (and [[FurIsClothing his fur]]).

* A parody of this trope is part of an early scheme in ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland''--Sid requests Liln put on a frilly dress and be tied to train tracks, demanding Stephen save him by grocery shopping. Liln doesn't do it though.

* In an ''Webcomic/TruckBearingKibble'' [[http://truckbearingkibble.com/comic/2008/09/22/doctor-anachronismus/ comic]], an anachronistic DastardlyWhiplash villain ties a woman to a hover-train track.
* Done semi-seriously in the ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' storyline [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/030203 Girls' Night Out,]] where some ridiculous gangsters tied Torg and Riff to train tracks. Lampshade-hanging ensues.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041025 along with a few other problems]]
* Inverted in an ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' [[http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/2704.htm sketch,]] with Guenevere rescuing Lancelot.
* ''Webcomic/ChoppingBlock'' describes this as [[http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20000913.html "the back-to-basics approach."]]

* ''Webcomic/TheHandbookOfHeroes'' comic [[https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/railroad "Railroad"]] has Fighter tie his fellow party members to a railroad track in front of a train as a metaphor for an attempt to derail railroading from the GM.

* The ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' series of survival guides presents: [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/so-youve-been-tied-up-left-dead-train-tracks/?wa_user1=4&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=companion So You've Been Tied Up and Left for Dead on Train Tracks.]]

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight'', where the villain Snidely Whiplash is found to have this "thing" about tying ladies to railroad tracks. In one episode it's treated almost as [[FreudianExcuse a creepy, fetish-like obsession stemming from his lonely childhood.]] (Incidentally, he at one time not only tied three women to railroad tracks -- including Nell -- but also a man, Horse, Inspector Fenwick... and himself.)

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'', when Jay poses as a damsel in distress to find out the identity of Samurai X, AKA [[spoiler: Nya]].
* Parodied in numerous ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoons, including Creator/BobClampett's "WesternAnimation/TheBigSnooze", in which Elmer Fudd (who's dressed as a woman) is tied to the tracks by WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and the "Super Chief" runs right over him -- the "Super Chief" being a long line of little bunnies following Bugs, who's wearing a [[KarmicTrickster feathered headdress]]. Other cartoon-inspired versions include the train running over the bad guy who may or may not even be standing on the tracks, or derailing into a pile of twisted steel, leaving the tied-up person without a scratch.
** One toon ended with Bugs tied to the tracks by Crusher (the wrestler antagonist) and is just about to be run over by the train...when the film is literally cut abruptly stopping the cartoon. One guess as to who did it.
** This was also subverted in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'', when the Evil ACME Chairman, among one of the many classic tricks for D.J.'s father Damian to meet his doom, ties Damian to the railroad tracks, where the streamlined ACME Train of Death is hurtling towards him. If that doesn't kill him, the surrounding dynamite would. (Wile E. Coyote is also driving the train.) However, Damian is saved in the nick of time, and the train eventually crashes (thanks to it running into some dynamite).

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in ''The Itchy and Scratchy Movie'', in which Itchy does just this to Scratchy - however, Itchy discovers that the engineer won't let him in the engine of the train without proper training. So Itchy goes to college, passes his exams, gets his degree, finds a job as an engineer at a railway, and proudly rides the train right over Scratchy (who, being the [[ButtMonkey poor luckless bastard]] that he is, had ''almost'' managed to free himself in the meantime before fate caught up with him).

* {{Lampshaded}} in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' where the villainess does just this to Darkwing and Launchpad. DW lectures her for resorting to such and old cliché, but is forced to admit that while not terribly original, tying someone to a railroad track is indeed ''effective''.
* In the 1948 ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "Kitty Foiled", Tom tied Jerry to a toy railroad track. The mouse got saved by the canary, who bombed the toy railway with a ''bowling ball'', smashing straight through the floor and dispatching the onrushing train into the basement.

* Played straight on at least two instances in the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon. Since he was a robot, he was electrified to the rail rather than tied.
* Happens to Scoutmaster Lumpus on ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' after he is captured by the clowns of Slapstick Mountain.
* Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode set during the silent film era. The Brain's latest scheme involves becoming a silent film star, and he and Pinky make a movie featuring this trope. [[spoiler:However Pinky's cut of the film is [[SoBadItsGood hilariously bad]], [[LeslieNielsenSyndrome typecasting the duo into comedy forever]].]]
* This happens to Doc and a couple of guest characters (one of them a child) in the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' episode "Fire and Iron".
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' has Heloise having a DreamSequence involving being tied to the tracks, only to be rescued by Jimmy.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop''. It even features in the credits.
* The above-quoted ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' episode has Bebop and Rocksteady doing this to Splinter. Of course, Splinter is eventually saved and the train winds up destroyed (thanks to Rocksteady cutting the brakes.)
* In the ''WesternAnimation/EekTheCat'' episode "Cape Fur", the KillerRabbit sees [=JB=] playing with a toy train in his room, so he eventually ties him up to the railroad tracks and turns the train on. As the train is about to hit [=JB=], he cries for help. The titular Eek hears [=JB=]'s crying, so he goes up to his room and unties him, but unfortunately, Mom comes up and sees both of them, and after untying [=JB=], Eek gets hit by the train, and then his family locks him in a cage for punishment.

* ''Film/Sabotage2014'' is a rare ''male'' example: DEA commando Pyro wakes up to find his RV has been dragged into the path of an oncoming train.
* This crops up in ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' where the three candidates for the position of Lancelot end up drugged and [[TheHero Eggsy]] ends up tied to a track by a man demanding to know about Kingsman and Harry Hart. [[spoiler: This ends up being a SecretTestOfCharacter to see how devoted the candidates are. Eggsy and [[LittleMissBadass Roxy]] pass with flying colours. [[TheBully Charlie]]... [[DirtyCoward not so much]]]].
* ''Film/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2004'' has Count Olaf attempt to kill the Baudelaire orphans by leaving them in a locked car parked on the railroad tracks.
* ''Film/StuartLittle'' features Stuart lampooning this trope by tying himself to a model railway, with his own tail.

* This trope is referenced in the song "The Happiest Home in These Hills" from ''Film/PetesDragon1977'', with the two sons in the Gogan family singing (among the many awful things they plan to do to Pete for running away) "Tie him screaming to a railroad track".

* Creator/RoaldDahl uses it -- and not as parody -- when two bullies tie a boy to the tracks in the short story "[[http://www.angelfire.com/md/Topperites/swan.html The Swan]]" (from ''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More''). We witness each excruciating second as the boy realizes they aren't joking and don't plan to untie him, anticipates his death, stops to calculate the necessary clearance, realizes he could possibly make it if his head were a bit lower, burrows the back of his head into the gravel, and then keeps his body still and taut as the train rushes over him. (And the train tracks aren't the last torment the bullies inflict on him, either; they end up shooting him in the leg with a rifle.)

* Played completely straight in Creator/TadWilliams' ''River of Blue Fire'' series. However, since the villain in question is [[spoiler: the bored, sociopathic god of a virtual world]] the women end up run over, multiple times.
* In the Creator/IanFleming novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' the villain Scaramanga does this to BondGirl Mary Goodnight. Literature/JamesBond is unable to save her [[spoiler:only it turns out to be just a dummy on the tracks, to draw Bond out into the open.]]

* The heroine of Creator/CharlesStross's ''Literature/SaturnsChildren'' is chained in front of a ''city'' that travels across [[MercurialBase Mercury's terminator]] on rails.

* One chapter of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''Literature/AngelsOfMusic'' features a gathering of bad guys including the villains of the old film serials ''The Perils of Pauline'' and ''The Exploits of Elaine'', who have a conversation with each other about how this never works out for them.
* In ''[[Creator/MatthewReilly Contest]]'', Swain kills an alien by latching one end of a set of handcuffs around its incredibly thin neck, the other around a hook in a subway track, pulling it across the rail, and letting a passing subway train slice it in two.

* Parodied in ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''. Sabrina even does the scream-and-struggle seizure, but quickly stops as she realizes that screaming is pretty pointless if you're in a silent movie. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leCLZxxN6KI&t=1m47s Watch]].
* Parodied in a ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' sketch where Miss Piggy was tied to a track by a Snidely Whiplash like character. Wayne appears as the hero, but forgets about saving Piggy when he recognizes the villain as a fellow boy scout from his youth. Instead, Wayne advises the villain on how to tie knots restraining her properly and leave as friends. Luckily, Piggy escapes by rising her to her feet and literally tearing off the section of track she is tied to.
* Parodied in ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' episode "The Gravediggers", in which Mrs Peel is tied to the tracks of a ''miniature'' railway.
* Used, inevitably in the old Adam West/Burt Ward ''Series/Batman1966'' series. It is claimed that, in keeping with their different status ([[TheHero hero]] vs {{sidekick}}) Batman was chained to a ''larger gauge'' railway than Robin was.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/MacGyver1985'': [=MacGyver=] and an old man he is protecting are knocked out and tied to a railroad track by the villain; however, the railroad track is just a film studio prop, and the purpose is to scare the old man (who suffers from a heart condition) into having a heart attack.
* Parodied in a sketch on ''Series/TheDaveAllenShow'': a villain ties the heroine to the railroad tracks and leaves her to be run over by "the Flying Scotsman". In this case, 'the Flying Scotsman' turns out to be a kilted Scotsman with wings strapped to his arms.
* ''Series/TheATeam'' once did this to a perp in "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E1BulletsAndBikinis Bullets and Bikinis]]". In order to get Councilman Prescott to sign a paper they tied him to railway tracks at the end of a tunnel. He wouldn't talk at first, but soon he noticed a train approaching from the far end of the tunnel and signed it, only for Hannibal to leave him tied to the tracks. Of course it was then revealed that the oncoming train [[BigShadowLittleCreature was just Murdock on a bike, complete with a high-powered lamp, a fake chimney and a tape player with train sound effects]].

* This is done in a ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' episode titled 'The Perils of Penelope'. Penelope wasn't actually bound to any rails, but she was bound to a ladder that was stretched out right in the path of the approaching Anderbad Express Monotrain.
* Played straight in the long-lost 1952 Creator/BobClampett-created childrens' puppet show ''ThunderboltTheWondercolt'' (a heroic horse), which featured an episode where Thunderbolt's friends Speedy Turtle and Chipper Chipmunk are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTBQmR8_ZPI tied to the railroad tracks]] by the villain Willy the Wolf, as a train approaches. They try signaling with a mirror, which luckily grabs Thunderbolt's attention. The train is actually treated as a huge menace, complete with the locomotive designed to resemble a World War II fighter plane (complete with the shark-style markings). Thunderbolt arrives at the last minute, stops the train cold (presumably by derailing it), and frees his friends.
* In the pilot episode of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'', Brisco and Lord Bowler are tied to the railway tracks by the John Bly Gang.
* In the ''Series/EvenStevens'' episode "Louis in the Middle", Tawny pretends to be tied to a miniature railroad while Alan attempts to run her over with a train in an effort to shake Louis out of his 'hero syndrome' mindset.
* In one episode of Brazilian show ''Series/TVColosso'', a producer working for the fictional network had been tied to railroad tracks. The reason her captors did it to her was to force the train out of the tracks.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' had an episode where Al briefly hoped Peggy would be "accidentally" tied to railroad tracks but commented that she'd end up flipping the train.
* ''Series/CassetaAndPlaneta'' has a sketch where they are tied to railroad tracks, but the train stops because of a railroad workers' strike.
* Done as an opening sketch on the Australian kids science show ''Scope'' on the episode devoted to trains.
* Unusual example appeared in ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' - Hanson was handcuffed to a railroad track by the episode's ManicPixieDreamGirl so that he could feel the "rush" of impending death. She did rescue him in the nick of time, of course.
* The theme re-appeared in television cop drama ''Series/{{Longmire}}'' Season 1 Episode 8, in which a cult leader conspires to send all his 12 young female followers to 'rebirth' by means of running over their drugged bodies with a train passing nearby his compound. 11 of the cultists volunteer by consuming a draught of narcotic and laying down on the tracks, but one of them is unwilling, and is tied to the tracks with barbed wire. The plot is discovered by the titular hero when he realizes the import of a mural on the wall of the cult compound. The damsels are saved from the onrushing train at the last possible moment.
* Played straight (but only the trope!) in an episode of the German series ''BerndDasBrot''. Openly declared in the credits as a homage to the old silent movies.
* Happens as an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAcNPX4VLj0 imagination]] spot in the Episode 'Lights, Camera, Distraction' of the Disney Show ''Series/{{Jessie}}''. Jessie (Debby Ryan) is trying to finish a movie for a film festival and in one scene Zuri Ross imagines herself as the mustaches twirling villain and Jessie as the Damsel In Distress tied to a railway with a lot of rope. She mentions that she will be saved by her hero (Tony played by Chris Gayla) but Zuri has him too tied to the railroad tracks. The imagination spot then ends after Jessie admits to evil Zuri her plan worked.
* 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]].
* ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': This is what the kidnapper plans to do to his victim if the ransom is not paid in "Lucky Numbers". His wording is how Lucien realises that she is being held in the railway yards.

* ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns'': Played completely straight when Gwen's stalker and doppleganger ties her and Jade to the railroad tracks in order to MurderTheHypotenuse and romance Gwen's husband Will.
* In a fifth-season episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', the Gary Green native to 2018 is rescued by the Legends in 1874, causing 2020 Gary to develop a fear of trains.

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* Played straight in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' when Joseph and Abdul are both magnetized to one of the rails (and each other) by their enemy. Of course, Abdul could have just melted away the rail with his power over fire, but since it would derail the oncoming train, they had to be a bit more clever in their escape.
* In the fourth episode of the ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' anime, Shinpachi and Kagura (who is "introduced" in said episode) are pushed onto a train track while being stuck in a garbage can. They are saved by Gintoki... who just happened to be around because he managed to find that week's ''Magazine/ShonenJump'' at the station's newsstand.

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

* Chicago gangster Bobby Smiles did this to Franchise/{{Tintin}} in ''[[Recap/TintinTintinInAmerica Tintin in America]]''. Tintin is saved not by Snowy (who had been driven off by Bobby and his friend moments earlier), but by [[DeusExMachina a fussy old lady who demands that the conductor of the train do something about a puma chasing a stag]], thereby stopping the train so that Tintin can get the conductor's attention. This wouldn't be so ridiculous if Gladstone Gander was tied up in his place, but each of these events looks horribly out-of-place in ''Tintin'' books...
* In the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica story in ''All Star Comics'' #40 (1948), a teenage gang ties one of their members to a stretch of disused railroad tracks as a prank (the idea being to scare him). However, an explosion forces the railroad to reroute a train onto the 'disused' tracks...
** In a previous JSA story in ''All Star Comics'' #34, the Wizard shrinks Franchise/GreenLantern and ties him to the track of a model train set. The villain even Lampshades the trope.
* ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Detective Comics]]'' #532. The plot in one sentence: Joker ties Batman to a train and Vicki to the track; Batman breaks free and saves her.

* The villains do this to [[TheNthDoctor the Tenth Doctor]] on the 1st issue ''Series/DoctorWho'' Ongoing Comics...then again the setting was Hollywood, 1926.
* ''[[ComicBook/SergioAragonesDestroysDC Sergio Aragones Destroys DC]]'' has one pair of tied damsels on the splash panel for his Superman story (keep magnifying glass handy).
* In ''ComicBook/SensationComics'' #26, ComicBook/WonderWoman is tied to the railway tracks with what she thinks is her magic lasso. It isn't as [[ItMakesSenseInContext her mother has stolen her lasso and replaced it with a copy]]. Once she realises it is a fake, she is able to break loose and [[{{Trainstopping}} stop the train by lifting the locomotive off the tracks]].
* In ''Comicbook/TheMuppetShowComicBook'' #2, there's a page called "From the Top-Secret Casebook of Scooter, Boy Detective", which ends with Scooter watching the hypnotist Creepy [=McBoo=] tying a chicken to the railway tracks and noting "Remain firmly unconvinced that [=McBoo=] is not an evil hypnotist."
* ''WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight'': One story's last panel features an insurance salesman trying to sell Snidely Whiplash a special villains' policy by saying it'll cover him if he's struck by a train while tying someone to a railroad track.
* ''ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp'': In "Perils Before Swine", Penelope is being tied "to yet another train track" and sees this as the Hooded Claw not having much originality.

* In the FanFic/ThisTimeRound story "[[http://www.ttrarchive.com/mastertest1.html Master Test]]", the Jacobi Master, challenged to prove his evilness, decides to tie Mel to a railway. She complains that he's being unimaginative.

* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the 1912 German comedy short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsFY1qnYFG0 Buster in Nodland,]]'' in which the eponymous KidHero has a dream where a group of equally young cowboys tie him to tracks of a toy train. Fortunately, he is rescued by his "[[PuppyLove girlfriend]]", Henriëtte.
* As noted above, by the time this was first done in film for 1913 comedy ''Film/BarneyOldfieldsRaceForALife'', it was already a subject for parody, and in fact might have already been a DiscreditedTrope or DeadHorseTrope.
* However, the above-mentioned ''Under the Gaslight'' was [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004749/ adapted to the screen in 1914,]] and still got away with using the trope, (perhaps thanks to having a GrandfatherClause on its side.)

* This happened in one episode of The Million Dollar Mystery, a 1914 serial, where Florence Gray Hargreave ([[TheDanza Florence]] La Badie) saves her co-star Jim Norton (James Cruze), [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AunRxv41d-8/W_XC6JpHWxI/AAAAAAAAQiI/gyAZfjChrHsPZfLXgFk2mji616H6PLdewCLcBGAs/s1600/Million%2BDollar%2BMystery%2B%25281914%2529.jpg who has been bound to a railroad.]]
* [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0797931/?ref_=ttmi_tt According to IMDB,]] this is one of several [[DeathTrap Death Traps]] in which the DastardlyWhiplash [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Villas Canbe]] puts the DesignatedVictim [[MeaningfulName Gladys Villing]] after she rejects his advances in the 1915 comedy ''The Strenuous Life''. The hero, [[AwesomeMcCoolName Manly Fellows,]] eventually gets tired of the constant rescuing and settles down with her mother instead, [[DatingCatwoman while Gladys marries Villas.]]
* While this may never have happened in the original ''Film/ThePerilsOfPauline'' serial, it ''did'' happen to Violet Standish -- also played by Pearl White -- in the 1917 serial ''The Fatal Ring,'' perhaps contributing to the misconception. (Somewhat [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that she wasn't actually chained or tied down; [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/The_Fatal_Ring.jpg/220px-The_Fatal_Ring.jpg the poster merely shows her lying unconscious on the rails.]])
* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the 1919 silent film ''East Lynne with Variations,'' ([[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Lynne loosely based on the 1861 novel.]]) Showing the sheer age of this trope, [[https://i2.wp.com/moviessilently.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2-railroad-tracks.jpg?w=600 the magazine ''Photo Play Journal'' already described it]] -- and other parodied cliches -- as Main/TheOldestOnesInTheBook.
--> Old-timers! Look to the right and see what Ben Turpin does with your favorite "mother and chee-ild" [sic] scene! And in the picture below, how he lays flippant hands upon one of the most sacred traditions of melodrama -- the railroad rescue!

* Parodied in the movie ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'' where the security guard is tied to toy train tracks by the miniature cowboys in a diorama.
* Played nearly straight in the film ''Film/StayTuned'', when Helen is tied to the tracks in the path of an oncoming train that's going to crash into [[StuffBlowingUp a stockpile of explosives]]: "[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill He's going to hit me with a train AND blow me up?!]]" Then again, the movie sends up a ''lot'' of {{Dead Horse Trope}}s.

* Parodied in ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'', where one of the many tortures that is done to Gizmo has him tied to a miniature train track. A miniature train then painfully collides with him, but does no lasting damage.
* Played straight, probably for the first time in years, by ''Film/TheMatrix''. Rather than tying Neo down, immortal Agent Smith just puts him in a chokehold and makes him watch the oncoming subway train. (Smith, being an [[RespawningEnemies Agent]], doesn't have to worry about dying himself.) Unfortunately for Smith, his goading triggers Neo's BerserkButton, and Neo escapes.

* A variant of this trope is done in ''Film/ThreeNinjas: High Noon on Mega Mountain'' where the bad guys tie Rocky's girlfriend to the tracks of a roller coaster. What makes it nightmarish is that they just tie her arms to the track and leave her dangling, meaning if Rocky had failed to save her, then the roller coaster would have severed her arms and then she would have fallen to her death.

* Parodied in the song "Along Came Jones", first a hit for The Coasters and later covered by Music/RayStevens. The song tells of a man who is watching TV when he sees three different shows in which a DamselInDistress is held by a villain, and rescued at the last second by a MartyStu named Jones. In the third verse, the damsel is tied to a railroad track.

* In an episode appropriately entitled, "The Perils of Penelope", Lady Penelope was once tied to a monorail track in ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''.

* UsefulNotes/MalcolmX's father was murdered this way, when he stood up to a gang of white supremacists. Even worse, the death was considered by the police to be a suicide.
* The infamous case of the "Boys On The Tracks". In the early morning hours of August 23, 1987, Arkansas teenagers Don Henry and Kevin Ives were run over by a freight train. The initial autopsy report claimed that the boys had passed out on the tracks after smoking a large amount of marijuana. However, a second autopsy indicated that not only had the boys very little pot, but that one of them may have already been dead when the train hit him. The case remains unsolved and no specific suspect has ever been named, but it is believed that while out hunting, the boys stumbled upon a drug deal, were killed to ensure their silence about what they had seen, then placed on the tracks to cover up evidence of the murder.

* When you first enter the [[TheWildWest Western]] room of ''VideoGame/StayTooned'', [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Pixel and Chisel]] tie Fiddle to a railroad track just outside a tunnel. To save Fiddle, you must build a wall using the bricks next to it to stop the train. The outcome is random; Sometimes the train crashes through the brick wall and runs over Fiddle anyway, sometimes the train goes the other way and runs Fiddle over, and sometimes Scoops saves Fiddle by [[ExtremeOmnivore eating the rope]] (and [[FurIsClothing his fur]]).

As bizarre (and horrible) as it may seem, this trope ''is'' TruthInTelevision. [[AMillionIsAStatistic At least six people]] in the United States were killed between 1874 and 1910 as a result of being tied to railroad tracks. Of course, it was never as common in real life as in fiction, no doubt because [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim there are more efficient ways of murdering people]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a {{Homage}} to a SilentMovie in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[{{Trainstopping}} a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a {{Homage}} to a SilentMovie in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[Trainstopping a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a {{Homage}} to a SilentMovie in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[StoppingTrain a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to the WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a {{Homage}} to a SilentMovie in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[StoppingTrain a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a homage to a SilentMovie in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[StoppingTrain a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls with a homage to a [[SilentMovie]] in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[StoppingTrain a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls by a homage to a [[SilentMovie]] in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[StoppingTrain a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].

* Happened to WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls in the episode "Slave the Day". [[spoiler:But [[StoppingTrain a train is eventually stopped]] by [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang, wrongly saving them]].