Derailments and accidents can happen frequently with model train sets for any number of reasons. Regardless of how good the trackwork is on your model train sets – derailments still happen. Sometimes train derailments are caused by a super-light flatcar being shoved behind a heavy boxcar, or a hopper with out-of-gauge wheelsets somewhere waiting to pick a switchpoint or be forced off the track. S-curves on model train sets can also prove a hazard for passenger cars.

Sadly, train accidents on real-sized prototype train tracks are far more serious than on model train sets.

There were at least two railway accidents in 1944:

January 16, 1944
A train crashed in Torro Tunnel in Leon Province, Spain. More than 500 were killed.

March 2, 1944
A train stalled in tunnel in Salerno, Italy, suffocating passengers. 521 die.