This was the first thought to cross my mind when I saw the “Real Garden RR” post and the house 20 feet from the tracks.
Derailments are not uncommon.
Fortunately they don’t turn out this bad most of the time.
They had a derailment in SC a few years ago that resulted in many deaths, from leaking chlorine gas.
Ralph
I got to talk to an old man once. He lived in a house near the track. “One night, I thought there was a storm or something. I heard some thunder, then went back to sleep. In the morning, there were wrecked train cars everywhere. I was trying to climb out of the wreckage and a cop shouted, ‘Hey! What are you doing in there?’ ‘Trying to get out,’ I replied. ‘Where did you come from?’ I pointed to my house.”