Reminds me of a humorous story of my Uncle flipping a train track switch when he was a small boy - during WWII.
My grandparents were not too happy when the FBI showed up on their front doorstep.
I love the scene from “October Sky” when they pry up rails from an abandoned spur (they thought) to sell for scrap, and a train comes down the track...they go mental trying to put the rail track, only to see the train go by on a parallel track!