Walking the tracks

SAD......so EASY to prevent.

I walked tracks on the way to the local convince store back in the day. And I was 7 years old. But we had been given 'safety school' in class that covered walking to school do's and don'ts, bike riding, car riding and safety around trains.  It may seem 'old fashion' today but I still remember it today. (seeing a bike with a dummy on it get hit by a real police car at 45 mph will stick in your mind.)

Plus we didn't have cell phones or ear plugs....Thank GOD.

 

Dad always fussed at us to not walk on the ties between the rails. It had to do with the whole "don't flush the toilet in the station" thing....

 

Gilly

We used to walk on train tracks as kids. Used to see how far we could walk on the rail tops. This was back in the day (late '50s to early'60s) when transistor radios were the thing and no one ever carried one with them and we didn't have earphones. We were always quite aware of the trains and paid close attention to make sure one was not coming. If one was we got out of the way long before it got near us. We were always afraid of them and had plenty of respect for the trains. Even so, we were probably lucky nothing bad ever happened and I sure wouldn't recommend ever trying this. Things seemed so different back then than they are today. 

 

It seems like the number of needless train accidents, both vehicle and pedestrian, has really been on the rise lately. Seems like something is posted here almost every day about something like this. Very sad that people don't do more, pay closer attention or whatever, to stay out of the way of trains these days.

 

 

The victim had his hoodie pulled over his head and his ear phones in at the time of the incident.

 

That explains it right there. He didn't see or hear the train nor was he paying any attention to his surroundings. It  bad he was killed and it could of been avoided. I feel bad about the train crew as they have to live with this even thought they were powerless to do anything but watch.

Well, the family will sue the RR. You know that'll happen.

Maybe some suits should also be filed against those electronic device companies, something where the family states, "There should have been a way for the Ipod or phone to know a trainw as coming and alert Junior of it!"

-or something equally insane that doesn't accept personal responsibility...

Well, as a kid I did a lot of walking tracks, on top the rails, etc.....tie spacing never seemed to be right for me to comfortably walk in the center.  But living in a house

close to a state road, we were cautioned to "look both ways before crossing the street"

to our aunt's house on the other side, and to apply that to hanging around the RR

station a short distance away.  Trains were frequent and we were aware of them,

big, noisy, and intimidating.  And I early learned that they can outrun their sound.   I

apply this early learning when photographing around railroads.   I think the lack of frequency in some areas, and a lot of APPARENTLY unused track,  lead people to discount them as a possible hazard...but lightning and tornados strike.  The earbud

thing can get you splatted on roadways, too, so parents need to train their kids.

Link to the local paper, another sad story.    http://www.commercial-news.com...a1-234358a4052b.html

IMO Please note that Spring is one of the most difficult times of the year for depressed individuals.  Apparently it is difficult to accept all associated with this season. IMO.  

 

quote:

Well, as a kid I did a lot of walking tracks,

Maybe a lot of people here don't realize that walking along the right of way was a common thing. Especially, in the mountains of West Virginia, where unless you had wings the closest distance between two points was along the railroad tracks.
That point was made brutally clear one day when our "detour" crew departed Hinton, WVa. and had to drive fifty miles by road to get to a point twenty one rail miles away to where our inbound train had run out of time!

I retired from a major Railroad over a year ago. I had seen and been involved in Trespasser fatalities during my career. They never ended well and there was so much heartbreak and loss involved, it hurt. It still hurts to think about some of those incidents. 

 

Bottom-line, stay off the tracks and stay off railroad property unless you are escorted by a properly trained employee with permission from the railroad.

 

You have no idea how this affects employees and families until you have gone through it.

 

Railfan responsibly!!!! There have been too many incidents of people being killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time!

 

ANYTIME IS TRAIN TIME!!! Trains are surprisingly quiet.

 

I remember I guy I knew would wait until the last min to cross the tracks with his car to see how close the train would get. I personally don't like those kinds of trills. 

People have the misconception that you will hear or seen a train coming in plenty of time to get out of the way. That is simply not the case. That was our 1st test as conductor new hires in class. We went out to the Metrolink mainline, standing a safe distance away from tracks, with our back to the oncoming train... we had to let the instructors know when we could hear it.

Needless to say, by the time you could hear the train, it was right on top of you.

I can agree to an extent.......

But when I go out as a rail fan, weather it's on Metrolink, Cass RR or CSX mainline in WV....I HEAR trains LONG before I ever see them.

My daughter lives 4 blocks from the CSX mainline in St Albans. I can hear the Amtrak Cardinal horn (different than freight) hop in my car and get to the tracks in time to take photos!! It helps that there are hundreds of street level crossings from Charleston to St Albans.....but I can hear trains.......

 

Part of why I have a hard time understanding why folks never hear them and get hit.

I agree, Budd cars could sneak up on you if you had your back turned   if out flagging.

 

As a kid of nine I used to walk the tracks of thr SIRT on Staten Island daily, knew the train schedule, kept my eyes open, and never ever walked on the railheads. The friendly freight crews at the time told me never to do that, or step near switch points. There were no fences in those days. Lots of kids did that. There were no easy road connections between some stations and my friends lived at the next station. The official line is "never", but in retrospect, with caution and common sense it was no big thing.

 

But this was a small railroad, with scheduled passenger, and not the Southern or CSX, which is a different story.

 

As far as walking with a hoodie and earphones on?

 

I am speechless.

 

My Grandmother (1900-1995) told me several times of one time she was walking along a logging RR's tracks as a young lady (maybe she was just a kid), I have no idea where, and she almost jumped out of her socks when a train rolling downgrade blew it's whistle right behind her. She took it as the crew getitng as close as they could before sounding the whistle, to scare her. It worked all too well, she said. I never forgot that story.

 

I grew up several miles from the nearest RR track, the old Seaboard east-west main between the L&N interchange and Jacksonville, Florida. Getting to the tracks as a kid was something I never got to do due to the distances involved and country roads with no way to ride a bike in safety to them. But I also didn't have any portable music back then as the Sony Walkman didn't come out until my teens and I didn't get one until I was about 19 or 20. By then I was driving, so walking on tracks wasn't anything I ever needed to do.

But I never walked around listening to music under any conditions, it was something I only did if I was in one spot for a while.

That's because you are looking for them, waiting for them. The public in general isn't looking for them, or expecting them. Especially when wearing ear buds, headphones, or otherwise distracted. You can hear the rail noise long before the train is ever in sight, but you have to pay attention, and listen for it  

Jerry, its been a long time since I have been in Cedar Lake, where this young man was hit was this the former Monon track? All I can recall is the Monon track west of the lake and no other tracks.

If you are walking on the tracks with earbuds in and your hood up your just plain stupid. No need to debate any further

Even if paying attention, what one can or cannot hear depends on a lot of factors. Atmospheric, background noises and location all contribute to the mix. Add into this the noise your own self makes that most people don't pay any attention to.

I once lived in a house where I could hear trains ten miles away. I have stood less than thirty feet from the 611, looking straight at it and never heard it moving. And I was once almost knocked down by a flat car that we set out and as I was walking away back to our train, it started to roll away.

So, don't be so surprised and quick to judge!

Be alert, stay on your toes and keep your head on a swivel

I am beginning to think what different people hear IS drastically different!!!!

(I know the wife don't hear me!)

And you are correct about why I hear trains. My first memory ever is of a coal train running through Ashland KY where we lived for two years. That and family working on the RR......I think it's part of my, and some others, DNA!!

Kinda like a dog and dog whistle.......only with trains!

I can attest that you don’t always hear them coming.  I grew up a few hundred feet from the old Reading RR Plymouth branch and would walk along the tracks quite often.  On one occasion a diesel blew the horn RIGHT behind me.  Much like P51’s grandmother it scared me out of my skin, but luckily I had time to get out of the way.

I was lucky enough to have some abandon tracks near me when I grew up so those were the only tracks I walked I was taught the difference never walk used tracks and how to tell if tracks tops had a shine to them don't walk between the rails. 

When I grew up there where allot of abandoned tracks, now not so much these days.

Most of the tracks have High Speed freight on them, and I tell all to stay clear!

 

3 big strikes here:

 

1) Walking on a mainline

2) Earphones on

3) "hoodie" up

 

I really think there should be some safety updates for the kids at the local schools.

 

I used to walk the tracks from time to time.I will never forget the time I was walking by the station.Train on the main line coming along making very little sound.I was shocked I could not belive it.I have noticed one thing thou.Right before the train pass the tracks make a odd squill.But there is one train that you can hear.That is a train pulled by 3 or 4 ge locomotive pulling a long train.I did the trying to walk on the rail a few times.But mostly I walked on the side of the tracks.Its just not smart to walk along railroad tracks with earphones on and to have a hood over that.Its just an early ticket to the grave.

It is not smart to walk along railroad tracks, PERIOD!!!!     Earphones or not.

I'm surprised more people don't get killed on the Northeast corridor. Those trains are tearing along and make very little sound. When I lived near that line, I used to sometimes go near the tracks with a camera and on several occasions, I was facing one way and a train came from the opposite direction, right into my viewfinder from the other way, and I never heard it at all.

I was always well off the right of way and under no danger, but it always shocked me anyway.

I was walking yesterday on a trail that parallels the tracks. I was probably about 100 yards from the tracks watching some geese on a pond on the opposite side of the trail from the RR tracks. A four engine train came by and I didn't hear it until the engines and two or three cars had passed me. It was one of the cars making noise that I finally heard. I think that was a first for me, for not hearing a train, but they really can sneak up on you so to speak. I had not heard it coming prior to that either. You can usually hear them long before you see them. It was also a clear day with very little wind. Usually you would hear them (and sometimes feel them) a longer distance away on a day like that.

very sad to hear this all to often these days of either a person hit by a train or a vehicle trying to cross the tracks with a train approaching.

 

I grew up in 50-60's around a very busy yard and 2 mainline track with the twin city zephyrs.

the one thing I had then and I still use today is common sense. an item missing in most if not all of the younger folks of today.

 

if you don't have respect for where you are things can and will harm you.

 

in today's world railroads or any other business are held accountable for those that feel they have no responsibility for ones own actions or carelessness so it must be the railroad or businesses fault.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never wear ear buds when driving or walking because you can't hear anything but what's coming out of the attached player. That's one of the reasons they advise jogger, particularly women not to wear them as it interfered with situational awareness.

 

On welded rail, you can hear the rails "sing" when something is coming, but the distance varies with weight and speed. But you have to be listening for it and know what you're listening for (railfan situation mentioned by Doug above).

 

That said, the bottom line is that you have no business walking on railroad tracks.

Ironically and sadly,  about the same exact thing happened in the Central Florida yesterday.  No hoodie but the man had ear buds in and did not hear the Amtrak train in the Frostproof FL area:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com...-20150330-story.html

 

Sad..........

Shoot, growing up when I was a kid every Sunday evevening me and my dad would walk the tracks. We would pick a grade crossing to park near, then take off on foot down the tracks. Using common since, our eyes and ears we never had any trouble. Just a freindly wave to the crew as they wave back. But those walks down the track is what sparked my interest for trains. The different schemes and logos on the engines, all the different freight, the crazy chemicals hauled, where the trains originated from and where they were destined for, all really intrigued me. And I blame those walks down by the track for this o guage train I still play with.

Way back in the mid-1980's, I was part of the General Claims Department for a Major Class 1 Railroad. One of the cases I had the misfortune to be involved in, dealt with two little boys (7 and 9 years old). They had been trespassing on our tracks and were struck and killed by a train on a bridge. Suffice it to say, the situation was gut wrenching. Visiting the County Coroner, the Funeral home and then the individual families. This was a low point of my railroad career.

 

Unless you have been there and dealt with a situation such as this, you can't imagine the way all of this played out.

 

I love railroads, I spent over 36 years of my life in the industry. I have seen the real ugly part of the business and that is dealing with trespasser fatalities. No one wins and everyone loses. The Families suffer tremendous pain. The Train Crews have an indelible image of someone being killed while they were at the throttle.

 

Bottomline, stay off of the Tracks. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is dangerous and the only person responsible is you. I hated that job. It left an imprint on me that will never subside.

Another factor concerning the inability to hear an approaching train or any other vehicle is that even a 2-3 mile per hour wind will fill your ears with white noise. At 10-12 mph the wind will completely block out an approaching train, car or truck....try this while riding a bike with traffic.     

  

Earl