To paraphrase this old saying…If you have to ask, your to close! [xx(] Just think of that poor engineer.
There are lots of things to consider here. Physics and probabilities seem to be teh best for this anaylsis. If the train is derailing then 100 ft is still too close. More like 1/8 or a mile would seem to protect you from the main wreckage but truck springs might be launched for 1/4 mile or more. So like most of life you have to play the percentages. What is the probability there will be a derailment at speed at the location you occupy at any given time. Pretty darn small, if not insignificant based upon past history. Likely not at high as being struck by lightening in your front yard. Yes, lightening strikes at home and train wrecks at grade crossings do happen but have you ever known anyone who sufferred from either?
Now dragging banding straps, chains, loose lading and such can happen as well. These you can protect yourself from by staying back at the row fence. Containers falling from the top spot on a well car? That again is an extremely improbable event but if it happens you want to be far away. Cars at grade crossings? The metal of the vehicle will provide some protection from dragging straps but somewhat less from chains and lading. Stay in your cofort zone unless that puts you in danger. Yes, I am more comfortable than most people would be when around moving trains. Then I have 28 years of experience with trains moving in yards, riding on moving cars and getting on and off moving cars. Roll bys of trains at 60 mph from inside the fence line still raise my alertness level but I am not as uncomfortable being there as I once was. Is that safe? Reasonably so I suppose but that is what I get paid to do. Sometimes we use the train we are on for protection, usually we try to leave an exit should something happen. The truth is, a train with on derailed wheel is more likely to derail at the first switch it encounters than anywhere else. If you are at that switch when that happens to a train doing 25-60 mph you cannot run fast enough to find a safe spot. That is the reality of th
The answer is; 3 FEET BACK, and no furthe back then 10 feet … sometimes.
Good question, and what if you are standing on an island platform at a comuter station waiting for your passenger train. Freight trains go through theswe stations at 50 to 60 mph while people are witig and boarding on the oppasite track. Platforms are only 10 to 20 feet wide.
I do have business being close to the track because my train is due now but is delayed by a freight train running ahead, and most passengers are not aware of this, so people stand back of the yellow line wich is 3 feet back, and no further than 10 feet back because then you get too close to the next track over.
A brake disc once fell off a moving passenger car because it had been over tightened at the bolts and damaged the threads. I have also seen the loose banding dragging from empty freight cars, so…
Personally speaking; I like to stay well enough from the track because I can take a good picture with my nose to the rollingstock. If there was a derailment, I have decide that the best way to avoid getting injured is running toward the derailment but aways from it on an angle; forexample, if the train derailed heading east on the north track, I would head north-west as the debris and cars would be flying east, north-east and south-east depending on how it derailed. Best way of course to ensure my theory has a chance God for bid is to stay at least 30 feet from the tracks.
Maybe I would revise my estimate of 1000 feet to 10,000 feet when those stack cars start jacknifing in to each other at 80 mph and and pushing each car a little further car length out in the cornfield, now mix a few leaking propane cars and you will wish you were in the next county. Trains are big, noisy, fast hunks of machinery, if you want thrills go to the junk yard and stand as close as you want to the car crusher.
Looks kinda like two real answers, doesn’t it? And it really is. In general, kindly stay on the public side of the right of way line/fence/what have you. You’ll make the engineers and the security folks a lot happier. That, however, is a happy kind of thing, but should also take care of most situations of loose lading, strapping, flying ballast, and sundry other hazards (not guaranteed!).
On the other hand, if something starts going wrong (like a major derailment!) ‘far enough’ is a matter of sheer luck. There are times when you can have an ungodly mess, but confined entirely to the right of way. Good photo ops. On the other hand, if something goes seriously wrong with a hazmat car, as someone said, ‘Feet don’t fail me now!’
Incidentally, unless you work for a railroad and are supposed to be there, and everybody knows you are there, and you are used to it, do NOT get yourself into a situation where you are between two moving trains (except a designated passenger platform). I can almost guarantee you will get vertigo and fall into one of them, which is designed to ruin your whole day.
Someone once told me, that if I ever happen to be between two moving trains, then my best bet is to lay down, parallel to the track…
OK. In my line of work, I often need to get close to moving trains. The best way to do this is to climb up the signal tower. This lets me see the entire train as it passes. Is it safe? No. Is there a safe distance? Yes. Something someone old and wise taught me. Hold your hand out, palm side down about a foot from your face. When the locomotive fits in the span of your hand, thats your safe distance.
dh
Now that post is going to start quite a conversation. No, doghouse man does not meas stand a foot away from the locomotive. Think triangle here. From the top view your face is the point of the triangle, the locomotive is the base. When the length of your hand viewed from 1 ft in front of your face appears equal to the length of the unit it is a safe distance. I will have to see what that looks like out in the real world. It does mean you can stand closer to a GP9 than an SD90Mac.
I’ve heard of that stuff before but thanks.
Well, if any cars had derailed on any trains I was watching, then I’d be dead by now. I must have real faith in CN’s safety if I stand 8-10 feet back (sometimes less). Maybe I’m just stupid.
I’m reading a lot of sage advice here, hear! God bless long lenses because trains can be right dangerous. Another one to remember is that if you are sharing space near a traveled way, i. e. cars and trucks is that they also have the right of way. Look both ways before crossing the road. I forgot this rule once and thankfully didn’t get hit, just a real close call as I went to get that going away shot on an overpass.
Wow…
I still don’t get it…
What part of the concept that moving trains are inherently dangerous do folks not get?
Like another poster, I work in a yard, and my job requires me to stand next to, ride on, and switch out railcars…you develop a good swivel in your neck, and a good set of “radar” about some cars…
There is way too many things that fall off, hang off and just flat try and whack you in the head for anyone not working for a railroad to be anywhere near this stuff.
Safe distance?
Take a 50’ covered hopper, turn it sideways, place one end on the tracks…
Where the other end is the minimum distance you should ever get to the tracks.
If you want to get closer than that, make sure your insurance policy is paid up…
because you will get whacked…I have a nice 8" scar from a piece of wire, invisible in the night, that poked a hole in my shoulder, from 4’ away…
Better yet, buy a telephoto lens, or get a camera with a zoom lens.
Because there is no “safe” close distance when you are talking about moving trains…
Ed
Ouch!..What car did that? Was it from a scrap gondola or one of those flats carrying wire?
Sorta like the “rule of thumb” for hazmat - hold your arm straight out with your hand in a “thumbs up” kind of position. Close one eye. If your thumb covers the entire incident, you might be far enough away…
Well this seems to be a inheraent problem with the idea of RAILS WITH TRAILS…that is putting a rail line were there formaly 2 main line tracks but now are only 1. How close can you put a bike trail next to the tracks even with a short fence between them?
This one is a nightmare scenario – I don’t even want to think about it as a concept, and I hope I never see one somewhere.
And Ed – your point is exactly the point I was trying to make. There is no truly ‘safe’ distance. Unless you belong on the railroad property, you (and that includes me, now that I don’t work for them any more) DON’T belong there. For fans, a long lens is a much better solution…
Gentlemen,Excuse me for one moment.Is there any book or pamphlet that tells all these safty rules that should be followed?2 weeks ago I was sitting at the Glendale
train station watching trains.Metrolink also has trains that come by.There is 3 tracks
One usually has a parked freight train sitting there.Now the passengers for the inbound
train to LA stand on a short platform and pretty close to the track.Now a Metrolink comes speeding by about 50 mph,2 guys bent over to get their hats because they were close
and the wind blew them off from the passing Metrolink.There are 2 stopping areas, One for Metrolink and another for Amtrak about 500 feet apart.Some Metrolinks do not stop
so there is a risk while standing at the Amtrak stop.Isn’t there any inspectors that inspect these stops?Thank You…Dave Br…Glendale
That’s why they make cameras with a “zoom” feature.
Dave – There are fairly complex rules for railway employees, supplemented by extensive safety training.
For the rest of us? I don’t know of a book or pamphlet, because the rules are pretty simple: if you are at a station (such as your example), whether it is main line rail or a subway or other transit system, there will be a yellow line on the platform. Stand behind it at all times, unless you are actually boarding or leaving a train. Your two guys with their hats are candidates for a Darwin award! ‘Stand behind’ also includes your arms, legs, head…
The other rule is that if you are NOT at a station, stay behind the railroad’s right of way line. The only exception to that is at a place where a road crosses (and have we had talks about that!). There, if there is no train coming, you can CROSS the tracks. That does NOT mean walk out onto the crossing and stand there… keep in mind that in multiple track crossings, you might be standing on one track, watching a train on another – while the train you didn’t see comes up behind you…[xx(]