Railroad plough

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A railroad plough is a

In use, the plough is lowered to rip up the middle of the track as it is hauled along by a locomotive. This action breaks the wooden ties (sleepers) which forces the steel rails out of alignment, making the line impassable by later rail vehicles.^[1] Bridges and signalling equipment also suffer serious damage.

Deployment

A similar device, which ripped the rail off the ties, had been used by railway troops of the

The German author Arno Schmidt (1914–1979) in his post-war novel Leviathan uses the image of a railroad plough as a symbol of evil.^{[citation needed]}

Surviving vehicles

Location	Image	Description
Belgrade Military Museum		A plough is on its permanent outer exhibition.
Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina		A plough is displayed in front of the museum.
Victory Park on the Poklonnaya Hill		A replica of a German railroad plough is on display.[3]
Unknown		A captured German World War II example was kept at the Longmoor Military Railway. This might have since been transferred to the care of the UK's National Army Museum.

See also

• Sherman's neckties – A railway destruction tactic used in the American Civil War by the Union to prevent the Confederacy from using the tracks by making them difficult to repair.
• Nero Decree – Hitler's unfulfilled plan to destroy German infrastructure, during retreat, to avoid it being used by the Allied forces

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Railroad ploughs.

• Schwellenpflug, the rail wolf used by Germans in retreat.
• Photos of "rail wolf" in action and resultant damage
• Video of German soldiers using a rail plough.
• Andrew Grantham's blog