(erielack) A penny for your thoughts

["Lynne" <LKRanieri_@_comcast.net>]

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FlattenedPenny.jpg (image/jpeg, 249x326 32755 bytes, BF: 2.48 ppb)

   A thoughtful NJ Transit worker was outside of our museum doing some work during the summer. He popped into the museum and gave me this flattened penny for our archives. A friend was with me and she started reminiscing about when she used to put pennies on the rails -- then said, "Let's go do that!" The dutiful NJT employee said you were not allowed to do that now, but when I asked why he just said "You are not allowed to put things on the rails."

My assumption is that the reason is that you might get hit by a train doing that, of course, but I began to wonder whether there were additional reasons, such as ...

- -- could the penny shoot out and hit someone if it was run over at an angle?
- -- could something so small on the rails cause a derailment?

I should note here that I do not show it to the children who visit, as I don't want to give them ideas, but I am thinking about a little story about it in our next newsletter and I would like to get the facts straight about what problems it could cause.

Thank you.
Lynne

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