science

Railroad plough

Railroad plough is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Railroad plough rather than just read about it. In short: A railroad plough is a rail vehicle which supports an immensely strong, hook-shaped plough. It is used for destruction of railroad ties (sleepers) in warfare, as part of a scorched earth policy, so that the track becomes unusable for the enemy.

Key takeaways

Railroad plough belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Railroad plough to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Railroad plough from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A railroad plough is a rail vehicle which supports an immensely strong, hook-shaped plough. It is used for destruction of railroad ties (sleepers) in warfare, as part of a scorched earth policy, so that the track becomes unusable for the enemy. 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. 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 Imperial Russian Army in World War I, during their retreat from Galicia and Poland. Railroad ploughs were in use by the Czechoslovak Army during the German occupation in 1938, and by German Wehrmacht armed forces retreating northward through Italy and westward from the Eastern Front in World War II. 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.

Surviving vehicles

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

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

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Railroad plough

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Railroad plough claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Railroad plough before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Railroad plough ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Railroad plough

In research: Railroad plough appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Railroad plough in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Railroad plough is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Area denial weapons, Military railway equipment, Ploughs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Railroad plough outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Railroad plough in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Railroad plough means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Railroad plough out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Railroad plough in simple terms?

Why does Railroad plough matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Railroad plough?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Railroad plough.