Why didn't just leave the train
Why didn't they just derail the train inside the tunnel or at the tunnel entrance? The German teoops train couldn't get around them. Also they could have destroyed the tracks or the bridge.
share......my first thoughts would have been to abandon the train .....set the train in reverse ...set the throttle ....and let it back at high speed toward the troop train.
shareyes that would have been the best choice, they wasted an enourmous amount of energy and time cleaning up the rubble and fixing the track.
also where the took the piece of rail out they could have just thrown it out of alignment just a little it doesnt take much to derail a train at the speed the troop train was going it shouldnt have stopped that fast, at that corner the engine and most of the train would have gone over the edge!!!
They DID try to abandon the train. That's when the strafing German plane cut off the faster way to escape by foot on the cliff stairway. And they did take the rail from behind them to replace the destroyed one ahead of them, which DID stop the German troop train. Obviously continuing on aboard the train would have gotten them away from the German troops, whereas going on by foot would have meant their death or capture as the Germans caught up with them. I mean, going on by train is the only reason why ANY of them escaped.
It's not like they had all the time in the world to come up with those fanciful alternatives of yours. They had to think fast.