Railway Frolics
A pal of mine works for Network Rail. Nowadays he's stuck in an office all day, but for many years his duties included dealing with fatal accidents. Oh, what a lot of fascinating information that gave rise to. Typical sample

The undertakers didn't turn up, so we had to clear the line ourselves. I was dragging the torso over to the plastic bags when I though "This is getting lighter", so I looked down and saw that his intestines were dropping out.

Amazing fact for the day: when people standing on the track are hit by high-speed trains, they accelerate so fast (0 - 100mph in the time it takes for the train to move the thickness of the torso) that it's common for them to be lifted clean out of their shoes, which remain undisturbed in the final stance.
(ubergeekian, Wed 8 Feb 2012, 19:02, 6 replies)

I come from a railway town and have heard many such stories.
For example, people who deliberately stand in front of trains are usually sick as they wait. So if you find the sick, you know where they were hit.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 8 Feb 2012, 19:36, closed)

Railway suicides
are divided into "standers", "kneelers" and "sitters" by staff. Messy and horrible for the drivers, who can generally see what's coming for a fair time before impact.

My friend has also had to deal with a few cases of children playing terminally on the tracks. Those are absolutely no fun at all for anyone.
(ubergeekian, Thu 9 Feb 2012, 6:25, closed)

To be fair, children playing on the lines are probably having lots of fun.
It's only the arrival of the train that spoils things.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 9 Feb 2012, 10:34, closed)

The thing with the shoes
...is apparently because a massive impact causes all the blood to drain very fast from the extremities, reducing their volume. Post-impact cadavers are usually about 4 shoe sizes smaller than in life.
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Wed 8 Feb 2012, 22:33, closed)

For comedy value they should really be smoking gently when found

(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 9 Feb 2012, 11:31, closed)

Do you believe this yourself?
Or are you just trying to make up "facts" for the rest of us to enjoy?
(Eukanuba, Thu 9 Feb 2012, 12:44, closed)