History Main / HighSpeedTrainReroute

* During the climactic train chase in ''Film/{{Paddington 2}}'', Paddington is left stranded in the train's rear which Phoenix decouples, sending it on a dead-end track by hitting the railroad switch with a rod when passing it by. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/673D9jHDLg4?t=106 here]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' episode "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS5E23BusyGoingBackwards Busy Going Backwards]]", Toad the Brake Van wishes he could go forward instead of backward. The Troublesome Trucks grant his wish by breaking away from Oliver as he makes it to the top of Gordon's Hill. With no conductor to stop him due to having jumped clear, the signalmen take action by switching the points to avoid having the runaway Toad crash into other engines. Toad eventually comes to a stop when he is directed into a muddy pond.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/CastleInTheSky https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dola_switch_0.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Keeps the story from going off the rails.]]

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* ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'': Film/JamesBond is pursuing Octopussy's train in [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains a car which has become an impromptu train]]. When the station master sees Bond, he quickly changes the tracks, putting Bond on a parallel track. Bond manages to jump from the car to the train just before the car is struck by another train coming from the other direction.

* ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'': Occurs several times during the trolley mission in Breeze Harbor, where you have to also collect 50 gears while avoiding blocks, gaps, and TNT.
* This occurs at the opening sequence of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''. One of the Mooks reroutes the rails so that they lead to a cliff in order to get rid of Jacob Frye who was still on it. The driver attempts to stop the train but it's too late and he gets killed in the fall. Jacob barely escapes.

* ''VideoGame/DeliverUsTheMoon'' has a TimedMission where you have to save a RunawayTrain from crashing by switching tracks via keyboard commands.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' episode "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS5E23BusyGoingBackwards Busy Going Backwards]]", Toad the Brake Van wishes he could go forward instead of backward. The Troublesome Trucks grant his wish by breaking away from Oliver as he makes it to the top of Gordon's Hill. With no conductor to stop him due to having jumped clear, the signalmen take action by switching the points to avoid having the runaway Toad crash into other engines. Toad eventually comes to a stop when he is directed into a muddy pond.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode "Decoy for a Dognapper", the VillainOfTheWeek sends Scooby on a ride down the train tracks on a rail car, which naturally puts him in danger of getting run over. while Shaggy pumps desperately to keep them ahead of the locomotive, Fred backtracks to the switch, reroutes the rail car to a sideline, and switches it back just in time to save them.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Slugterra}}'': While pulling a TrainJob in "Mario Bravado", Eli pulls off a trick shot to switch the path of Pronto's wagon off the main line and on to a spur. However, the spur leads to a dead end, forcing Mario to pull off an even more impressive trick shot to open the lock and free the prisoners before the wagon crashes.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' episode "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS5E23BusyGoingBackwards Busy Going Backwards]]", Toad the Brake Van wishes he could go forward instead of backward. The Troublesome Trucks grant his wish by breaking away from Oliver as he makes it to the top of Gordon's Hill. With no conductor to stop him due to having jumped clear, the signalmen take action by switching the points to avoid having the runaway Toad crash into other engines. Toad eventually comes to a stop when he is directed into a muddy pond.

* Pictured above from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'': The Dola gang uses a [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains car on tracks]] to follow Pazu and Sheeta who are fleeing on foot. When the heroes change tracks, Dola shoots the lever with her FlareGun so they can switch tracks also and follow along.

* Pictured above from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'': the Dola gang uses a [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains car on tracks]] to follow Pazu and Sheeta who are fleeing on foot. When the heroes change tracks, Dola shoots the lever with her FlareGun so they can switch tracks also and follow along.

* In ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'', the Dola gang uses a [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains car on tracks]] to follow Pazu and Sheeta who are fleeing on foot. When the heroes change tracks, Dola shoots the lever with her FlareGun so they can switch tracks also and follow along.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': In the Pikachu short "Camp Pikachu", while the Pokémon on [[handcar HandcarPursuit]] are chasing a steam train in order for the Pichu Brothers to board it, Psyduck accidentally lands on railroad switch causing the car to move in another direction away from the train.

In fiction, these solutions almost always work. In real life, however, things are a bit more complicated. Shooting a railroad switch might just [[BrokenLeverOfDoom break it]] instead of flipping it.

* The page image comes from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. The Dola gang uses a [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains car on tracks]] to follow Pazu and Sheeta who are fleeing on foot. When the heroes change tracks, Dola shoots the lever with her FlareGun so they can switch tracks also and follow along.

* In ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'', the [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily Dola gang]] uses a [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains car on tracks]] to follow Pazu and Sheeta who are fleeing on foot. When the heroes change tracks, Dola shoots the lever with her FlareGun so they can switch tracks also and follow along.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode, "Manic Mechanic", Heffer speeds out of control in reverse when he takes Rocko's car for a test drive after his, Rocko's, and Filburt's attempts to fix it. At one point, Heffer gets onto a set of train tracks and is being chased by a train. When Rocko and Filburt catch up to him on Filburt's motor scooter, they come to a switch, and change the points to divert Heffer away from the train.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox64'': Used as both a game mechanic and mission objective in the Macbeth level, which requires Fox to use the Landmaster tank to shoot all eight rail switches, in order to [[InstantWinCondition reroute the enemy supply train into their own depot.]] Failure to do so results in an OptionalBoss fight.
* ''Videogame/SwordOfMana'': The abandoned mine is a MinecartMadness level where you have to do this several times to reach the boss and advance the plot.

* Judy Hopps from ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'' sees the subway car with the nighthowler lab being on the same track as an inbound locomotive that bears a resemblance to a charging rhino. Judy promptly kicks one mook leaning out the broken windshield into a shunting switch that rerails her car onto a disused line that ends at the history museum.

[[quoteright:302:[[Anime/CastleInTheSky https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dola_switch.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:302:Keeps the story from going off the rails.]]

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}s -- Animated]]

[[AC:{{Film}}s -- Live-Action]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Philosophy}}]]
* The Trolley Problem is an ethical thought experiment defined in 1967. In the original setting, a runaway trolley approaches a switch, and will kill five people if it stays on its current track. If the test subject switches the trolley to a sidetrack, the trolley kills one person instead. In the 2000s it became widespread as a mental exercise and later as a meme. It is also an illustration of machine ethics, relevant to the rise of self-driving cars. Related to ThreeLawsCompliant robots.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* Three instances occur during Creator/AardmanAnimations' ''WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers'', all during the ChaseScene while TheVillain attempts to escape aboard Wallace's model railroad:
** Feathers shoots away the doggie door, which will allow the model locomotive to carry him outside. Gromit is riding atop the trailing cars, and alertly smacks the BigRedButton that shunts the locomotive onto a spur line, keeping Feathers indoors.
** Feathers fires his eighth shot from a revolver at another track switch that shunts the last car, which Wallace is riding, onto another line.
** Feathers uncouples the engine and tender from the rest of the train, then whacks a third switch to shunt the trailing cars with Gromit atop them onto another spur, which is incomplete. Fortunately, Gromit seizes a box of track sections and builds more track as he goes to continue the pursuit.

[[AC:RealLife]]

[[AC: Anime & Manga]]

[[AC: Films -- Animated]]

[[AC: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]

[[AC: Philosophy]]
* The Trolley Problem is an ethical thought experiment defined in 1967. In the original setting, a runaway trolley approaches a switch, and will kill five people. If the test subject switches the trolley to a sidetrack, the trolley kills one person instead. In the 2000s it became widespread as a mental exercise and later as a meme. It is also an illustration of machine ethics, relevant to the rise of self-driving cars. Related to ThreeLawsCompliant robots.

[[AC: Video Games]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

[[AC: Real Life]]

* ''VideoGame/StarFox64'': Used as both a game mechanic and mission objective in the [=MacBeth=] level, which requires Fox to use the Landmaster Tank to shoot all 8 rail switches, in order to [[InstantWinCondition reroute the enemy supply train into their own depot.]] Failure to do so results in an OptionalBoss fight.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' episode, "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS5E23BusyGoingBackwards Busy Going Backwards]]", Toad the Brake Van wishes he could go forward instead of backward. The Troublesome Trucks grant his wish by breaking away from Oliver as he makes it to the top of Gordon's Hill. With no conductor to stop him due to having jumped clear, the signalmen take action by switching the points to avoid having the runaway Toad crash into other engines. Toad eventually comes to a stop when he is directed into a muddy pond.

* In ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'', the [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily Dola gang]] uses a [[CarsWithoutTiresAreTrains car on tracks]] to follow the heroes who are fleeing on foot. When the heroes change tracks, Dola shoots the lever with her FlareGun so they can switch tracks also and follow along.

* In the climax of ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'', when Judy and Nick are trying to make off with a subway car with a [[spoiler:lab full of Night Howlers]] inside, the train looks like it's about to collide with an incoming freight train. Judy promptly kicks a {{Mook}} leaning out the broken windshield into a switch that rerails the car onto a disused line. That said, [[RealityEnsues the sharp turn causes the car to tip over and derail]]...

* During the climactic train chase in ''Film/{{Paddington 2}}'', Paddington is left stranded in the train's rear which Phoenix decouples, sending it on a dead-end track via hitting the railroad switch with a rod on passing by. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/673D9jHDLg4?t=106 here]].

* ''Videogame/HalfLife'' - '''ZCE'''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' episode, "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS5E23BusyGoingBackwards Busy Going Backwards]]", Toad the Brake Van wishes he could go forwards instead of backwards. The Troublesome Trucks grant his wish by breaking away from Oliver as he makes it to the top of Gordon's Hill. With no conductor to stop him due to having jumped clear, the signalmen take action by switching the points to avoid having the runaway Toad crash into other engines. Toad eventually comes to a stop when he is directed into a muddy pond.

* Judy Hopps from ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'' sees the subway car with the nighthowler lab being on the same track as an inbound locomotive that bears a resemblance to a charging rhino. Judy promptly kicks one mook leaning out the broken windshield into a shunting switch that rerails her car onto a disused line that ends at the history museum.

[[quoteright:302:[[Anime/CastleInTheSky https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dola_switch.png]]]]
[[quoteright:340:[[Disney/{{Zootopia}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zootopia_train_switch_2.png]]]]