A closer look
Germany operates a public transit system where full-sized passenger trains dangle completely upside down from a massive steel rail suspended high above a river. The Wuppertal Schwebebahn is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world, having successfully shuttled millions of unbothered commuters through the sky since 1901. During one particularly spectacular marketing stunt in 1950, a circus director decided it would be a brilliant idea to put an actual live, four-year-old elephant named Tuffi onto one of the hanging train cars. Unsurprisingly, the panicked elephant absolutely destroyed the carriage interior before smashing through the window and plummeting thirty feet into the Wupper river below. Thankfully, the thick-skinned beast survived the fall with only minor scratches, leaving behind a permanent legacy that highlights exactly why modern public transport authorities strongly discourage bringing massive jungle animals onto municipal sky-trains!
