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 Posted - March 06 2009 : 11:11:26 PM
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An incident occurred a few years back and I think this might be the place to tell about it. Actually, it was an almost incident. I was driving down a 2 lane road along an industrial area with railroad tracks on both sides. On the left side of the road was a large factory. Out of this factory, came 3 SD-40-2's heading in the opposite direction. WOW! I want to watch this. So I did a U-turn in the middle of the road. That put me behind a:
fairly large John-Deere tractor, mini-van, and an SUV. So now the 4 vehicles, me included, are heading the same directions as the diesels, the tracks are paralleling the road. About 200 yards ahead the tracks veer left and cross the highway. The vehicles are going about 25 mph, because of the tractor in the lead. Well, the SUV is tired of that and passes the 2 ahead and speeds down the road across the tracks. The engineer gives his first horn blast. The mini-van is tired of poking along and is probably not looking forward to waiting for this train. Mind you, it's just 3 locomotives, NO ROLLING STOCK. So the minivan, pulls out and speeds down the road.
Now the train is close to crossing the road, he starts blasting the horn.
Nothing to frightening for our minivan driver, he continues to cross in front of the train. Well , guess what? The J-D tractor driver decides he doesn't want to wait for the train. (How long could it take for 3 SD's to clear a crossing going 30 or so MPH??) The tractor driver guns the engine and the tractor hits it's top speed of about 35 mph. Black smoke chugging out the stack. They are going to hit , I think to myself. The train is just about to cross the road, just when the tractor reaches the rails. The engineer hits the brakes!! Lets the tractor pass in front. He gives a blast on the horn! At that point it couldn't have been a warning, I think it was the air horn version of a cuss word. I stopped my car, about 100 feet from the crossing. The engineer looked at me incredulously. I put my hands up, trying to convey the idea, "hey, I'm not going anywhere, you guys proceed ahead". The train accelerated ahead, and I'd say within 10 seconds, cleared the intersection. What were those people thinking?
Unspoken expectations are premeditated failures.
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Posted - March 07 2009 : 12:41:13 AM
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That is some story NC shortlines.. It's crazy how everyone is in a hurry to outrun trains. Usually, these people are in a big hurry, to go no where!! Watch this Youtube clip of a Mom with kids trying hard to out run a train. I posted a link. If it doesn't work, the youtube title is;
Mini van Vs. train (train wins)
This is a ridiculous attempt that ends in tragity..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ynhobRmOQ&feature=related
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Posted - March 07 2009 : 12:42:22 AM
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O.O hey ALWAYS stop look & listen for a train jeez the X means YIELD the right-of-way if its a tie YOU LOSE!
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Posted - March 07 2009 : 08:27:44 AM
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I saw the video. I think that woman's comment at the end is ridiculous.
It's obvious the van driver was trying to outrun the train. she made a wide turn to make the crossing and never slowed down. IF gates had been there, my guess is that she would have just drove around it. Very tragic. One thing that is really mind boggling is the timing of the accident. Those two trains met right at the crossing a exactly the right(wrong) moment for that accident to occur. I think to purposely plan that event (for a movie, for example) would have taken a great deal of effort. IF the westbound train was 5 to 10 seconds sooner , I think women would have had to stop, so as not to slam into the side of the train. 5 to 10 seconds later, and I think she would have made it across, maybe. But, back to that woman's comment. There is a pervasive attitude in this country that the world should be made safe for any kind of person's behavior or action. That it's other people's responsibility to make the world safe.
Preposterous.
Unspoken expectations are premeditated failures.
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Posted - March 07 2009 : 7:10:45 PM
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| Gates would not have prevented this. The lady was determined to beat that train. I have seen trucks go through gates trying to beat trains. This woman, should she survive, should be tried on manslaughter charges. Those poor children had no say in her behavior. God rest their souls.
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Posted - March 08 2009 : 01:25:41 AM
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I agree , I see this kind of behavior everyday and it sickens me. As for the lady that made the comment about the gates , she is probably one of the people who do this on a regular basis and therfor knows no better. Its the kids I feel sorry for the most in this situation. Now 2 children are going to grow up without a mother because of her imature actions.
A lone amature built the ark! A large group of professionals built the titanic!
Edited by - ILUVBUDWSR on March 08 2009 01:26:19 AM
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Posted - March 16 2009 : 3:24:18 PM
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The crossing grade near me is like that. People seem to think it's some kind of game to outrun the Hawk. It always had signals and in all the time I've crossed there they haven't malfunctioned. They put single-lane crossing gates on it after about the sixth or seventh car/train accident. Then the fools started racing around the gates and they had to resort to a full length gate spanning both lanes of the road. Then the idiots tried to race around the gates using the road berm which finally prompted them to sink a vertical cement column about chest high in the middle of the berm.
And every time someone was on the TV news wailing about how this "bad crossing" (which has an unobstructed view both ways for over a mile) killed their moronic relative that every one loved, yadda yadda yadda. Did anyone think that maybe this is nature's way of Natural Selection among dummy drivers?
I like caffeine and a chainsaw ...
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Posted - September 28 2011 : 7:24:34 PM
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I Saw a Highrailer At Old Fort Beep At A Gas 18 wheeler.
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