The locomotive – which dedicated volunteers spent many years restoring to working order – was substantially damaged.
The railroad ties are wood planks about 8 inches tall by 12 inches wide and “tie” the rails to the trackbed. Without sleepers, the rails would spread and topple under the weight of a train – which is what happened (interesting to me for the breadth of information about the variety of railroad ties:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_tie and for an intriguing photo and information about railroad ties being baked in creosote
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7900?size=_original )
The stolen ties were made from hard Australian yarra wood, and are highly prized for making furniture – and sometimes for firewood – and in recent years, railway lines all over South Africa have been targeted by sleeper thieves. Some lines have lost so many sleepers that they have been closed since the cost of replacement has been deemed uneconomic.
Yesterday’s derailment happened on a line that sees many tourist trains during the year. The thieves don’t really care about the consequences, either for innocent passengers or for tourism as a whole. The cost of repairing the locomotive will be a heavy burden for the club which receives no funding other than what it earns from running tourist trains. The cost of repairing the damaged track will run into many thousands of rand – and Transnet is not keen to spend money looking after lines that are not part of its core network.
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/wanderer/2010/06/21/thieves-derail-train-and-give-sa-tourism-a-kick-in-the-head/via
http://tukkers.blogspot.com/ which is NSFW (not safe for work)
Sophia Loren on the hood of a 300sl
Nixon in Paris 1957
Bumper cars at a British carnival
The concept car Ford Seattle
Dizzy Dean trying to start a 2nd career
Daytona Beach racing 1953
Train wreck Palatine Illinois 1950
Cincinatti 1950
Looks like James Dean's Porsche
For the full 8 photo gallery of the above event: http://parkoffka.ru/item/2009/12/14/avariya_na_dreg_zaezde_8_fotografii
Both via: http://mikespock.squarespace.com/rev 
Via: http://burstsausages.com/ from Micheal Vincent's Flikr stream http://www.flickr.com/photos/29514508@N05/3418661259/
Above photo I took at this springs Beatnik Blowout
I wish the story of what the car was doing on a transporter was with the photo, and what caused it to go over the front end, but the world may never get closure on this mystery. Damn shame it happens and wrecks a cool car and a group of people's day. The owner, the driver, the insurance guy, and the potential new owner if there was one.
Photo from http://5window.tumblr.com/ I think, it might have been http://motomania.tumblr.com/ ... I can't recall.
The locomotive – which dedicated volunteers spent many years restoring to working order – was substantially damaged.
