UPDATED INFORMATION.
Just read that charges have been filed against that family for trespassing and child endangerment. Hopefully charges will be filed against that photographer also.
One day I was watching trains safely near Chaney Jct in Houston TX. An EB SP train suddely came to a stop. I tought for a moment the trucks on each side of the couper seemed to, for a second, jump off then land back on the track. I thought I was seeing things. That night I ased a SP official about it. He said if the train went into emergency braking, that was possible....I was luckly the train teturned to the rails. Stay off, stay alive!
The scariest thing for me in the OP video was what looked liked two youths that go to the right of the freight train. I assume they figured they didn’t have time to hop the fence so they just glued themselves to it. It must have been scary as heck to be so close to a freight train going that fast. I bet those two learned a lesson. They are very lucky.
People just don't understand how fast trains are going and how little notice they will have if a train comes. It is worse with electric powered trains, but even with diesel prime movers the sound may simply not be there, but people might assume it is. Kids I can understand, as kids we occasionally put pennies on the tracks of what is now NJ transit, then DLW/Conrail, we didn't dawdle and on that stretch you could see the train a long way out, but even so (it is why the project safety programs are so important, kids need to know).
Just as an fyi (not that it is relevant to this situation), Mennonites and Amish are not the same people, though they are related historically and do share some similar beliefs. The Mennonites and the Amish have one thing in common, they don't have one unified belief system, The Amish tend to stay to the older ways, but not all do, and Mennonites range from being pretty old school with dress, modern conveniences, etc, others live more in the 'modern world'.
We had an "incident" here in the Chicago area recently at a NS crossing involving a Metra train. This is the former Wabash line from Chicago to Bement, Ill. which has Metra operating from downtown, out to Manhattan, Ill. Some "genius" stopped at an intersection where the tracks bisected the intersection. The gates came down, and while he was within the intersection, just past the gates, and safe had he stayed put, he decided to cross the tracks just seconds before the Metra train hit him. Of the 4 people in the car, one later died of their injuries, while the other three were hurt, and taken to the hospital. Had he stayed stopped, the train would have gone by, and they could have gone on their merry way! Now the NS is being sued for negligence since they didn't protect this idiot from his own stupidity!!!! Bet ya' he was on his cell phone too!!!
