Kelly in Kansas

Easy enough. You mentioned a log load. Fairly substantial flatbed at about cowcatcher level with a relatively loose load ... the train will bend the flatbed and scatter the load, where some of both will go on the tracks and if you're unlucky in the way it goes under the wheels, the debris lifts the wheels off the rails and punctures the fuel tank, which is suspended below the locomotive between the wheel sets.
 

My sarcasm apparently didn't come through online . . . the train came off the tracks primarily because the truck was in its way since it was trying to cross when it should not have. :-)
 

Sorry. I took the question too literally. Sometimes the end result is a broken truck and a dead driver, with the train unscathed (apart from the nightmares the engineer will have) and ready to continue its run when the coroner, police, and federal railway administrators release it.
 

I'm just always amazed how the media seems to report that trains hit cars and road vehicles like trucks instead of mentioning something about how most of the time it is because that vehicle was trying to outrun the train and/or didn't even look to see if one was coming if it's not a signaled crossing . . .
 

Yes ... try dealing with a news type that thinks one can somehow steer a train.