Drive Like a Foamer

Those two idiots, i.e. the Love brothers, are VERY well known throughout eastern Nebraska! Hope the injured family sues the living daylights out of him.

I have no respect for people who drive without licenses and/or insurance.

He deserves hard time in prison.

About the steam runs ..l do hope, in event of a suit, of the probably unaffluent perp, that the insurance co. or injured party's ambulance chaser does not go after railroad as "attractive nuisance", or some such dreamed up hokum and malarkey!

colorado hirailer posted:

About the steam runs ..l do hope, in event of a suit, of the probably unaffluent perp, that the insurance co. or injured party's ambulance chaser does not go after railroad as "attractive nuisance", or some such dreamed up hokum and malarkey!

Right, and now you know why the attorneys at CSX want NOTHING to do with steam locomotives on their property!

In my days of going after NS steam program trains, I was never the driver (as I didn't own a decent car then nor knew what roads went where in other states), so I could observe the world around me at times like that. I noticed then that there were pacers and among them, people rushing past them to get ahead of the train for the next setup spot. I knew a couple of the pacer types and it was funny to hear them describe it. They said they’d get ahead of the ‘motorcade’ alongside the locomotive, slow down and get the position alongside the head end. THEN, they’d gripe that soon afterward, several other vehicles would in order do the same thing they had just done! I had heard stories about some vehicles already ‘established’ alongside the drivers wouldn’t slow down and threaten to rear-end the car daring to take their spot. They probably never did, though (as let’s face it, railfans aren’t generally a scary bunch other than for their social skills of lack of hygiene).
I have put the pedal to the metal to get ahead of a train to get several different shots, but usually on a highway where passing people was no big deal. My eyes were always on the road at all times, then.
I’ve never been a pacing type of person.

colorado hirailer posted:

About the steam runs ..l do hope, in event of a suit, of the probably unaffluent perp, that the insurance co. or injured party's ambulance chaser does not go after railroad as "attractive nuisance", or some such dreamed up hokum and malarkey!

The insurance company can't go after the railroad. UP has zero contributory negligence here (that's my day job, for 15 years, so I know what a carrier can or can't go after).

This wouldn't stop a personal bodily injury attorney from trying that, though...

When I was 13, I was riding my bike home from school, and, naturally, had to go down Santa Fe Avenue to check out the Fullerton station.  An extra section of Number 23 was standing on the main with A-B-A Alco locomotives, muttering unevenly.  I was so intrigued by the Alcos that I rode right into the back end of a parked 1953 Ford station wagon.  The bike stopped instantly, but I didn't, and went down hard on the crossbar with predictable results.

That's the last time I ever gave a train my attention while driving.

There's no secret as to the best 'chase & pace' sites for trains passing through an area.  It's not just the hazard these yahoo's pose to other drivers on the road, but one convertible carload I saw pacing our steam train about 50 years ago had occupants clearly competing for the Darwin Award.

So, since these locations are so well-known, and notification of foamers....as well as local and state law enforcement agencies....of a steam pass-through is no NSA secret, why wouldn't a gendarme...or two...be posted roadside with plenty of visibility to thwart this sort of stuff???  I've seen them posted at rural or notably dangerous road crossings for such events, but seldom....if ever...roadside on a parallel highway.  

Yep, once again.....the only 'winners' in this sort of situation are the lawyers.

dkdkrd posted:

There's no secret as to the best 'chase & pace' sites for trains passing through an area.  It's not just the hazard these yahoo's pose to other drivers on the road, but one convertible carload I saw pacing our steam train about 50 years ago had occupants clearly competing for the Darwin Award.

So, since these locations are so well-known, and notification of foamers....as well as local and state law enforcement agencies....of a steam pass-through is no NSA secret, why wouldn't a gendarme...or two...be posted roadside with plenty of visibility to thwart this sort of stuff???  I've seen them posted at rural or notably dangerous road crossings for such events, but seldom....if ever...roadside on a parallel highway.  

Yep, once again.....the only 'winners' in this sort of situation are the lawyers.

What you suggest has indeed been done in the past, especially in southern California. Almost ever time SP 4449 made trips to/through southern California, starting in 1984, the California Highway Patrol had an officer in our crew car with a radio. Every time that officer witnessed some sort of idiot stunt, he quickly radioed to his "ground forces" in automobiles and/or motorcycles, and the idiot/idiots were fairly quickly caught. 

Maybe it's time to re-establish the "Bear on the Train" concept again?

Hot Water posted:

dkdkrd posted:

There's no secret as to the best 'chase & pace' sites for trains passing through an area.  It's not just the hazard these yahoo's pose to other drivers on the road, but one convertible carload I saw pacing our steam train about 50 years ago had occupants clearly competing for the Darwin Award.

So, since these locations are so well-known, and notification of foamers....as well as local and state law enforcement agencies....of a steam pass-through is no NSA secret, why wouldn't a gendarme...or two...be posted roadside with plenty of visibility to thwart this sort of stuff???  I've seen them posted at rural or notably dangerous road crossings for such events, but seldom....if ever...roadside on a parallel highway.  

Yep, once again.....the only 'winners' in this sort of situation are the lawyers.

What you suggest has indeed been done in the past, especially in southern California. Almost ever time SP 4449 made trips to/through southern California, starting in 1984, the California Highway Patrol had an officer in our crew car with a radio. Every time that officer witnessed some sort of idiot stunt, he quickly radioed to his "ground forces" in automobiles and/or motorcycles, and the idiot/idiots were fairly quickly caught. 

Maybe it's time to re-establish the "Bear on the Train" concept again?

Absolutely 

I think most here would agree with you, Jack.

Any older train buffs from the East coast, do you remember the guy who had a new SAAB (I think) with the top cut off, a pedestal mount (like for a machine gun on a military vehicle) with camera mounts, safety stripes with the phrase "STEAM LOCOMOTIVE PACE VEHICLE" down both sides? I think this would have been in the late 80s or early 90s. I saw that car a few times while chasing/riding NS steam trips. I so wish I'd gotten a photo of it then.

p51 posted:

Any older train buffs from the East coast, do you remember the guy who had a new SAAB (I think) with the top cut off, a pedestal mount (like for a machine gun on a military vehicle) with camera mounts, safety stripes with the phrase "STEAM LOCOMOTIVE PACE VEHICLE" down both sides? I think this would have been in the late 80s or early 90s. I saw that car a few times while chasing/riding NS steam trips. I so wish I'd gotten a photo of it then.

Nor there's a guy that needs a name!

The solution seems so simple.  And, yet......

"Common sense is not so common."
         * Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764)

This is why you'll never be seeing the flying cars we've been promised since the 30s.

People can't drive in two dimensions, you want to throw in a third?