What have you hit while on the train that was too slow or too stupid to get out of the way?
Although I do not work on a train crew I have seen many in-cab videos of moose getting struck. It seems that they aren’t very bright creatures; even wailing on the horn doesn’t even seem to phase them.
I, too, am not a railroad employee, but have heard some stories of railroad roadkill. Someone my dad knows lives in Western Canada, and works/worked for CN. Apparently, hitting big game like elk, deer, bears, and moose is not uncommon at all. Bears especially are prone to being hit by a train, because they tend to venture into railyards to feast on spilled grain (I’ve actually seen photos of bears on top of hopper cars). Another person i know, who also worked for CN, said that one time a crew on a passenger train booked off sick when they arrived at the station (possibly Toronto). He was called to take the power (a then-new pair of F’s) over to the shop. When he arrived, he found the cab filled with fur, blood, and animal parts. Apparently, the previous crew had hit a cow on the tracks, and the impact had blown open the front nose door.
im not an RR employee but a cat was hit in rochelle
Rattlesnakes. Lots of 'em.
If it has the abiltity to move across a railroad track it has been hit and killed.
[xx(] Sadly, down here on the FEC it’s usually drunk bums and suicidal subjects that get killed by trains. [xx(]
In 1989 my Dad, who is no longer living, told me that when he was a kid there was a man in his neighborhood who hated cats with a passion and would often grab a stray cat and head for the nearest railroad line and would somehow secure it to the rail to be run over by a train later. I don’t like cats at all, but at the same time I don’t have the heart to be that abusive to cats.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
I’ve seen pics of deer on top of telephone poles due to the impact from a train.
In 2001 (??) on the C&NWHS trip to Superior (from Spooner, WI) we hit a bunch of cows. It was a deadhead move of the train, and that night we had to clean the blood off the AC FP9s, as well as passenger cars 5 cars back…
Phil
Two years ago, while looking for a spot to shoot photos on the ex-ATSF line out of Willow Springs, I was walking along the tracks, and about 20 feet from the tracks was the remains of half a deer, apparently struck by a train.
Years ago, the trains hit a farmer’s cattle that got on the tracks. The railroads would pay off the farmer for his loss. Does this still apply?
We’ve gotten a few turtles (soup, anyone), but nothing larger that I’m aware of. We’ve had some close calls with deer and bear.
Al Krug’s website has photos of the aftermath of a car/horse encounter…
A few years ago, a CSX freight plowed through an entire herd of roping calves and rodeo cattle in the heart of our yuppified Columbus suburb - the critters had broken loose from a stock barn at the adjacent county fairgrounds during the middle of the night. I think the final total was around four dozen candidates for veal cutlets.
I would have loved to have heard the discussion inside the loco cab - this is NOT the sort of place a train crew would have expected to encounter a herd of cattle.
Was on a southbound Coast Starlight a few years ago that hit a herd of Horses after leaving K Falls and the fire department in Dunsmuir had to come and wash down the lead FP40 at the Dunsmuir station before the train could continue its trip.
Al - in - Stockton
you mean like this
Ive heard a rummor of a CP train that hit a couple deer somewhere in wisconsin and it was in the middle of winter so all the blood on the snow probably made a nice sight for the Empire Builder passengers[;)]
I’d imagine some of these critters would end up under the train. What a mess that would be.
what have i hit while running my train … deer dogs cats horses skunks racoons opposuims snakes cats puppies birds people turkeys bookcases washers bookbags ( with clothes) snowmen ( it had a pair) crossing arms and lots of trees.
Same as above except horses, but add in, a bull, a few cars, a loaded furniture truck (18 wheeler), a company Hy Rail truck (10 wheeler with crane), a propane cylider, shopping carts, riding lawn mower, bicycles, a pink barbie powerwheel (thankfully unoccupied), pumpkins, a couple of cross ties layed across the rail, a couch, and a stack of pallets.
I know mine mostly included non living things, but you’d be supprised at what people put on the track.
Ditto Wabash and then some.
Rdoney
About 6 years ago an Acela took out a Deer at speed between Boston and Providence. Fiberglass all over the place, nothing of the Deer bigger than a foot in size. While with a crew the next day, I viewed what was left of the Deer. The Acela was towed back to Boston.