On Christmas Eve, our local daily ran a picture of a woman walking in the gauge of the CSX tracks in her town. The tracks are those of the St Lawrence Sub (CR’s Montreal Secondary), which see up to a half dozen trains per day, oftimes exceeding 100 cars. The rails in the photo are well polished.
I immediately sent (well, emailed) a “letter to the editor” to the paper noting that the photo recorded: 1, a criminal act, and 2, a dangerous act. In addition, I admonished the paper for publishing such a picture. That’s the letter she references below.
I hope the editors of the paper got the message, because the woman in the picture clearly didn’t. Here’s her letter to the editor in reply:
[quote]
Railway has perils but is more convenient (Newspaper's header for letter)
I'm writing this response to a letter published on Jan. 4 in the {local paper} ("Walking along train tracks very dangerous"). I wish to thank the writer for his concern and apologize for any stress he may have endured as a result of the picture taken on Christmas Eve day.
My deliberate act of criminal activity should be explained to further avoid any more do da. It's been my habit for more than 50 years to use that shortcut on occasion.
My home is about 100 yards from my deck to the railway tracks. I can hear a train leavving DeKalb on clear days. I have a deep respect for the dangers of such a force.
My decision to take the shortcut was as simple as it was convenient. I was carrying at least 20 pounds on my back and packages in both hands. I don't drive, therefore I walk everywhere.
This stretch of track is a
A 30 car train can kill you the same as a 130 car train. People always think they will hear one coming, but they can be amazingly quiet at times.
I once called a local TV news room after they aired a railroad story where they filmed the reporter standing between the rails on a main track. The response I received from the person I talked to was, “Wow, I didn’t know that was trespassing”
She should open her eyes and count, not that the number of freight cars even matters as already said. Just as you said, I’ve seen 100+ car trains here many times over the years and for many years, that was the norm.
They’re only sometimes a bit shorter now due to intermodal schedules that often have them running shorter trains as they try to grow their container traffic. Can’t hold a train for a full load and expect to grow that sort of traffic.
And I was surprised by the comments to your letter. Or more correctly, I wasn’t surprised. As I recall from several days ago (Can’t find your letter anymore), several people basically acted like you were making a mountain out of a molehill. People should check the statistics.
Amazing some of the asinine stuff that gets posted in the comments section of this paper’s website for almost every single story.
Last summer, in a rural area, I spotted a grandfather walking a small child on the track. Grandpa was off to the side while the child was walking in the gauge. A deputy I know was nearby and I let him know. He had a talk with grandpa. Gramps can be thankful it was a deputy and not a railroad bull. All he got was a scolding.
A note on the recent death in Southern California by a Metroink Train… Saw a brief piece today on that incident… Apparently, an acquaintance of the former Army Ranger Officer/Body Builder noted that Mr. Plitt( the deceased) thought he was standing on a parallel ‘inactive line’ and it was safe for him to film. [X-)]
A two year old boy was killed today walking his dog along tracks in Kentucky.
I wonder if perhaps an older family member that should’ve known better had taken him for a walk down the tracks before, leading him to believe that this was okay?
If she has no concern for her own personal safety or the feelings of those that would be affected by her loss if struck by a train (Family, friends, emergency responders, and the locomotive crew that will never forget the moment), maybe she should consider the message she might be sending to any youth that might see her practicing this dangerous habit.
[:-,] How about “Grandma Got Run Over By A Freight Train” instead ? Better rhythm/ cadence . . . [:-^]
More seriously: Would any of these people walk on or in an airport runway, an Interstate highway or racetrack, or the spillway of a dam ?!? [sigh]
The woman in tree68/ Larry’s Original Post clearly suffers from the disability of low intelligence (plus whatever else she meant when she mentioned that). And if she keeps walking the tracks like that, she may suddenly and unexpectedly acquire even more disabilities . . .
Maybe so, but she’s been doing that for 50 years and no incidents. And given her writing ability, your comment about her intelligence is totally false. She clearly understood Tree’s letter, as well.
I was all set to let her go with a lesser charge since I thought she said she doesn’t walk in the gauge, but reread and see that the original post says the picture shows her in the gauge, she actually had said “normally” she doesn’t go between the tracks. If there’s 20 feet clearance on either side, why does she ever need to be in the gauge? That’s another meaningless statistic along with the length of the trains, which as others have pointed out doesn’t have much bearing on how much the train will hurt you.
Its not just RRs. Atlanta just had section of I-285 closed due to a predestrian being hit. Happened at 0640 and at 0950 traffic finally allowed to move. Section is near Ga-400 4 lanes westbound.
No indication yet why person was on road. An object moving may be hard to see.
IMHO its not about intelligence but common sense. Two entirely different items.
The picture shows it all. She is an older woman, walking in snow, doesn’t want to walk along side the tracks since the footing wouldn’t be as level. Maybe she walks there in good weather, maybe not.
Now the bad thinking. She thinks she will hear the whistle of the train and/or the sound of the train approaching. Also, walking on railroad tracks is not tresspassing - it is something people have done since tracks were first laid.
Tresspassing is bad enough. What will get her is the silent train coming up behind her and the whistle (especially with her on the other side of a curve) will be too late. And I have no doubt she gave not one of these a 2nd or even a 1st thought.
She admited she had trespassed (“a criminal act”) ad apologized. She admitted it was dangerous, but say she is setting a “BAD” example to unnamed others. And then you inferred that, quite to the contrary of her explicit statement, she was bragging, not understanding the gravity of her act, offering an excuse, and that she "will always be able
