I’m a rookie here but used to be a modeler a while back. Question: Is it possible to get sucked under a moving train? If so, how close do you have to be and at what speed does the train have to be moving for that to happen? I remember watching a RR documentary (Salad Bowl Express) that mentioned if you were between two moving trains - parallel moving, that you should just lay down. Is that rule actually written anywhere? i.e, when you’re hired to a RR? Thanks.
Mythbusters busted the rumor.
Mark
I think the reason to lay down if caught in the position between two moving train, in particulare if there is more than just a crawl in the speed is to avoid being hit and injured by something that might be projecting out of a car or car door… loose dunage boards in a boxcar, chains or straps hanging off a flat car or any other kind of car… A heavy gauge piece of strapping can be pretty mean te human flesh at any point.
Do not know about the RuleBook, one of the railroader forum members can advise better on that.
Does anyone remember about the two teenagers that stood between the mains near Galesburg a couple of years ago? They wanted a rush. They were tossed about like leaves when opposing trains went by. Luckily they only suffered broken limbs.
One of the biggest hazards if stuck between two moving trains is disorientation, especially if they are moving in opposite directions. Going to the ground means you have the ground to which to orient yourself. Dodging dangling packing material is a bonus.
I’ve been caught off guard when a train next to mine (tourist line) started moving - couldn’t tell if it was us or them, and we weren’t supposed to be moving.
Well in our rule book over here, it specificly states that you lie down if your caught in the “6 foot” (the area between 2 tracks) or in a tunnel with no fefuge.
I dont know about being sucked under, ive stood prety close to trains at track level traveling at 125mph in the past and it just tends to try and move you around abit but ive never had a feeling of being drawn into or under the thing! Urban myth i reckon. However, unless you know exactly what to expect, i dont recomend you try it!
I grew up near a railroad track. I would drop everything I was doing and highball to the tracks everytime I’d hear the horns blowwwww-wwwww-w-wwwwwwwwwwww!!! Sorry. Any way my dad always told me stay a safe distance becouse I would get sucked under. This sounded scary yet fascinating to me as a little kid until I was about 12 or 13. Thats when I busted dads myth I built up enough courage helped my self to a short but free ride on a long coal train. Now these trains were puling 90 - 100 loaded hoppers upgrade. The results of my adventure seeking might have been tragic if I grew up near a commuter line.
i think the CSX rule says not to get caught between trains
I hadn’t heard of that one. However, about five years ago in Normal, IL, while waiting for an Amtrak, the backup quarterback for the Illinois State football team was busy tossing rocks at a grain train passing. He bent down to pick up some more rocks from the road bed and got bonked on the head by the ladder on the grain hopper. The blow to the head spun him around and his leg was ran over by the train. He lost his leg just above the knee. I realize that he wasn’t ‘sucked under’, but his football career was ended. The real danger from being too close to a train is something hanging. Or just being stupid.