I’ve read about snakes on trains, mainly pets on public transit (perhaps a local version of ‘open carry’). Here in SoCal we get our share of them warming themselves on the rails, usually resulting in their demise.
Across the globe on the Shinkansen, an unexpected visitor was discovered:
On some U.S. trains snakes might be useful for rodent patrol, but unfortunately too many folks have a pathological fear of them. Amtrak allows some kinds of pets now, but probably not ‘free roaming’.
They like switch stands from time to time - I’ve encountered them there. I know that most of them will skedaddle when you show up, but there are those folks who would consider the only cure for a garter snake as both barrels of a twelve gauge…
Copperheads and rattlesnakes like to hide inside joint bars. I’ve heard of welders getting serious bites on the inside of their legs after sitting on a rail to weld up a battered joint . . .
From the union that represented them, Switchmen’s Union of North America. Their emblem resembled a snake. SUNA was one of the unions that merged to form the United Transportation Union in the late 1960s.
Until its closure in 1965, Lehigh Valley operators had a problem with timber rattlers (Crotaulus Horridus) occasionally turning up in the basement of its interlocking tower at Penn Haven Junction, PA. This was a point where the LV’s network of branches to and beyond Hazleton diverged from its main line, and crossed parallel Jersey Central in the process. At one time the village of Penn Haven actually had permanent residents, but was never served by a highway; the last of the locals moved on sometime in the Forties. But at any rate rattlers still are seen occasionally in the Lehigh Gorge, which has been developed into a state park. Apparently, the foundation of the tower cracked, and occasionally, one of the reptiles made its way from an unknown den to the basement – probably drawn by heat from the furnace. After a couple of ops got an unpleasant surprise (no actual bites I’ve been told about), the LV installed a new heating system in the above-ground portion of the tower and left the basement to the venomous critters.
Any one notice the efficiency of the Japanese in handling the removal of the snake. A ONE MINUTE stop, and the train was ON TIME at its destination. WOW.
Why I’m not at all amused with RW talk radio ‘humor’. Two digit IQ west Texas ranchers are exterminating ‘vocal’ rattlers and biasing the descendants toward quiet rattlers, to their livestocks peril. Duh.
Seriously, volunteer at your local humane society and learn the difference between endangered, beneficial snakes and invasive pythons.
My comment was actually intended to be tongue in cheek, particularly after the reactions a friend got recently after posting a picture of a garter snake in their yard. Garter snakes are actually beneficial - they help keep the number of little critters down in one’s yard.
A driver recently went off the road after a spider dropped down from their rearview mirror…
