i had seen a cow get hit by an sd40 while i was out in the colorado river white water rafting that was pretty cool hamburgers and steaks flying everywhere
Back in 1984 I rode the Algoma Central up to the canyon and back for the day trip. Rumor had it there was a dead bear along the side of the track, which had been hit the previous day.
The conductor when asked confirmed it.
Is that train still running? It sure was quite a ride.
ed
Back when i lived in Elko, NV a couple cases where a train hit an entire herd of antelope made the news.
Same here as most,cats,dogs,deer (12 at one time once in Lucasville,Ohio)turkeys,railgreasers (opossum),racoons’s,buzzards,brand new Sherrif cruiser in 1993 (Impala)a K-car,Mercury Cougar,crossing gates(knocked around or down by cars or coal trucks,tree’s and two weeks ago a minivan parked on the rails,rearended it at 30 mph.
Lately people ,might be because of summer,might be mp-3’s,have been walking all over the tracks.
It’s real hard to try and figure out what to do until the last moment in cases of hitting something,or close calls.
I have put my train in emergency a few times to avoid hitting things,such as semi trucks stalled on the tracks.
I and other Engineers do not want to hit anything.It works on your nerves after a few times.I’ve had fatal incidents happen,and it’s something you don’t forget.
I fool around with model trains like alot of people on this and other train forums do,and it makes me so mad to see people “glamorize” in these videos they make of their layouts with crossing accidents [tdn]
I have hit tractor trailors cars pickups , but the thing that rocked my engine the most was when i hit 2 big ole hogs. Oink Oink kind. hit them at 20 mph and the darn things snaped a cross buck sign then got up and walked off. but you could have sworn we coupled in to another train hard the way that felt
Search around on Youtube, and you’ll find videos of these things in action.
When I was in Alaska, I heard that the ARR has a problem with moose. I was told that a bull moose will actually charge a locomotive (after seeing what a large moose is capable of, it doesn’t surprise me). I have a pin somwhere from the ARR somewhere that has “Alaska Moose Gooser” on it. I also saw a video from the cab where the moose was running between the rails, and the train eventually caught up to it and hit it. I also heard that the ARR was fined every time they hit a moose, but I think that was more rumor than fact. I don’t know how the state would be able to track every incident.