In today’s video, we take a look at Tuffi, an elephant that decided to dive out of a moving rail car… 40ft in the air… in Germany…
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Picture & Information References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffi
https://web.archive.org/web/20100824171557/http://www.wdr.de/themen/panorama/28/wuppertal_tuffi_jahrestag/index.jhtml
https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/wuppertal-zirkus-elefant-tuffi-in-der-schwebebahn-a-1103841.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wuppertal_Friedrich-Engels-Allee_0008.jpg
http://www.circopedia.org/Franz_Althoff
source
Interesting footnote: Tuffi in Italian means "Dives". What a coincidence, eh?
It's not a suspension monorail…. It's clearly a DangleBahn!
I would like to add that the Schwebebahn has been running almost uninterrupted with iirc 3 times it was shut down, and it has the least accidents.
Btw you pronounced most things almost spot on.
Whenever I hear the story I remain perplexed about how the elephant survived this without serious injury. Not only breaking through the carriage, but then also falling 10-12m. Supposedly she just hit a very muddy spot below the shallow water, but for an animal that can't even jump, dunno, seems like they'd injury more easily under such circumstances …
Nice though that it worked out okay. Would have made a far more disturbing story had it killed her.
I guess the lesson to take away is simply that the press will make any situation worse as per usual.
“Elephant park loomed ahead. Duncan's driver applied the brakes, but it was too late. The statue flew into the air and landed in the lake. Luckily, nobody was hurt. In no time, Sir Topham Hatt arrived. He was cross.” – Thomas Narrator
This maybe out of place.
Watch the Kirby Falling meme while during 4:13
(No I’m not a fan of Animal Cruelty, I just think it’s funny that if Tuffi could scream that would be her scream)
Let’s address the elephant in the train.
There are many crazy stories on this channel but this one is WILD! I'll admit, I was expecting Tuffi to lose her life from that fall but I'm glad she survived that plunge. I'm risking coming off as unsympathetic now knowing Tuffi survived because I can see the humor in this. You can only imagine the splash she made when she hit the river and the surprise of any pedestrians that might have been passing by at that very moment. And something else that maybe worth mentioning is that on this day (April 12th) 1999, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn had it's first fatal accident when a morning train struck a claw fastener left over from nighttime maintenance which caused the car to separate from the front bogie and fall onto a steam pipeline and into the river below. Five people were killed and forty-seven were injured. Maybe the 1999 Wuppertal Schwebebahn accident could be a topic for a future video here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Wuppertal_Schwebebahn_accident
This is the one story everyone from Wuppertal will tell you for the millionth time because with all due respect, it's the only history that city has lol.
I went on this suspended railway in 2019, very unique experience.
"an elephant pushed me an elephant hooshed me"
Great video, I’d love to know more about the river Clyde stunt in the future!
What is it with Elephants 🐘 having issues with trains? And of all types of trains, a flippin’ monorail 🚝!!
That poor calf…It’s a sheer miracle that Tuffi survived!
oh thank god tuffi survived
N. b.: A local milk-factory has chosen the name Tuffi as a brand.
What is it with trains and elephants?
The Caladonian railway parked every engine they could over the newly built river clylde? That'd be an interesting video
You do come up with the darndest things.
An elephant on a monorail would never work in anyone’s favour
Your pronounciation for "Wuppertaler Schwebebahn" is actually really good!
Greetings from GER🇩🇪
everyone being loud in the monorail
Tuffy: "ight, I'ma head out"
There are too many stories with elephants and trains. This one ended ok, Jumbo didn't end so nicely.
I don't know if you take requests, but maybe you could do a video about the Vatican's personal railway.
Fun facts: The Schwebebahn at some point had a small branch line going west from its main line. To facilitate that they had to build a turntable over the river to rotate the whole track section. For how old it is and how many passengers it has moved it is one of the safest rail lines. Wuppertal itself is a city of inventors and just a stones throw away you'll find world renowned manufacturers of knifes, tools and the birthplace of Wilhelm Röntgen, discoverer of the x-rays. Not far away is one of Europes highest railway bridges in Müngsten, which still stands and has trains running over it every day providing a vital connection across a valley that otherwise takes twice as long to traverse. The Wupper itself has a rich history of supporting industry and flooding Wuppertal.
Not only is the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn very unique, it’s also the safest transport in the world. There was only ever one accident with a car derailing without any casualties
This reminds me of something I read in the book Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It's a very interesting historical non-fiction novel about the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, and the intersection of two men who changed the country: Daniel H. Burnham, architect and city planner who oversaw the construction of the Exposition, and H.H. Holmes, considered the first American serial killer.
Among other things, the Exposition featured a giant observation wheel designed by the engineer George Washington Gale Ferris, as part of a competition for something that would match or surpass the Eiffel Tower of the Paris Exposition of 1889. The story goes that one man riding the wheel (the compartments were about the size of a contemporary tram car) started to panic, rushing about, throwing himself against the walls, and even breaking windows. A woman removed her skirt and threw it over his head so he couldn't see, then held him closely and worked to calm him down, until the ride was finished.
since were talking bout elephants and trains, here in Canada there was a pretty famous story of two elephants hit by an unscheduled freight train after the Barnum and Bailey circus was departing (you can google Tom Thumb and Jumbo the elephant St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada)
Im glad tuffi was ok
I looked at the title and the thumbnail, and I was just like,"I have so many questions."
Thankfully, the poor elephant falling out of the monorail was not part of the stunt. And, by sheer miracle, Tuffi emerged unscathed, if a little bit shaken. It's even more amazing because elephants are so heavy that it makes even tripping cause serious injury. Even at the size she was, I would think a horse sized animal would not have been able to survive that fall. But she did, and that's a good thing.
It's also a good thing that her owner treated her well, and seemed like a decent fellow in general. Like, paying for any trouble Tuffi might cause while out and about.
Leave it to the media to cause chaos…