Alert amateur photographers often capture interesting street scenes involving dream cars. In this case, the photographer caught a nightmare scenario come true as a freight-train collision caused damage to 18 brand-new Porsches on their way to delivery.

Thomas Unger, a reader of the German newsmagazine Bild, snapped photos of the crash, which derailed the train and caused several of the high-end sports cars to fall out onto the tracks and be smashed. Some 150 police and rescue personnel came to the scene of the accident, and all told there was almost $1.3 million in damage to the cars. The drivers, Bild said, were only 'slightly' injured. The reason for the accident was yet to be determined.

As the newspaper commented, 'It's hard to believe that trains have the responsibility' of carrying such valuable sheet metal to dealers, but there you have it.

A full set of images can be seen at the paper's Web site.