Please slow down .

[hogheadCTD]

I can see how the temptation happens.

Where I grew up in NW Ohio with lots of rails going into and out of Toledo, the freight trains would block crossings on county roads out in the middle of nowhere. I think there was supposed to be a time limit, else they should break the train and clear the crossing for traffic. Well, that never happened. They would move the train another 100' down the rails and start the clock over.


There was nothing worse than stopping for a train and then watch it slow down for.....ever....., and then finally stop. And then wonder if you should drive 10 miles around it or wait. Driving around down crossing gates and past warning lights was pretty common.

My best advice would be to turn around and find another route. A lot of times when a train is stopped it is either staging for trains ahead or is working on picking up or setting cars out. Due to train length we often have little choice but to block lesser traveled crossings in order to keep high traffic crossings open.

When a train is moving slow, its for a reason. Some people get all upset, yell, swear, flip us the bird. Ill make this analogy, when you fly on an airplane and are in the process of taking off or landing. Do you cuss, scream and holler at the pilot to "HURRY UP I HAVE PLACES TO GO NOW!" ? It the same thing for train crews, yarding a train or departing a yard is kind of like trying to thread a needle, take your time and it can be done safely.

This post is not pointed directly at you dave1949, Im just stating my :2cents: in general. :thumbsup:

 

[dave1949]

My best advice would be to turn around and find another route. A lot of times when a train is stopped it is either staging for trains ahead or is working on picking up or setting cars out. Due to train length we often have little choice but to block lesser traveled crossings in order to keep high traffic crossings open.

When a train is moving slow, its for a reason. Some people get all upset, yell, swear, flip us the bird. Ill make this analogy, when you fly on an airplane and are in the process of taking off or landing. Do you cuss, scream and holler at the pilot to "HURRY UP I HAVE PLACES TO GO NOW!" ? It the same thing for train crews, yarding a train or departing a yard is kind of like trying to thread a needle, take your time and it can be done safely.

This post is not pointed directly at you dave1949, Im just stating my :2cents: in general. :thumbsup:

I didn't take it personal at all.

The difference between the plane and train is, you know the plane is going to land--and maybe even get to a gate. :laughing: The captain usually informs passengers about any unusual waits. The slowing/sitting train however has no way of telling motorists when it intends to move, or not. It is the lack of knowing that was frustrating.

I don't blame the folks operating the train, the RR either built sufficient yarding capacity, or they didn't. It was no doubt cheaper to pay the occasional fine than to build and staff yards.

Bring back cabooses! Trains just don't look right with no caboose on the back end. And, you would usually get a friendly wave from the caboose guy.

 

[Mace Canute]

...........Bring back cabooses! Trains just don't look right with no caboose on the back end. And, you would usually get a friendly wave from the caboose guy.

Yep! FRED never waves at all!

 

[dave1949]

Yep! FRED never waves at all!

I'm sure that is humorous, but I don't have any idea who or what FRED is ???

 

[DT86]

I'm sure that is humorous, but I don't have any idea who or what FRED is ???

Flashing Rear End Device, aka "a little box with a flashing light on the last car".

 

[dave1949]

Flashing Rear End Device, aka "a little box with a flashing light on the last car".

Aha! Thx.

 

[Whatswrong]

Companies have a responsibility to the safty of public no doubt, but this thread is about being careefull at crossings and unless I'm very wrong everytime we cross the track we are tresspassing railways own thousands of miles of right of ways and the highways are allowed to cross.

 

[hogheadCTD]

^^^^ Yes sir, sorry to hijack your thread :thumbsup:

 

[dave1949]

Stop, Look and Listen. What we were taught in grade school.

 

[TCJatko]

This brings to mind an incident that happened over 20 years ago while I was stationed at Travis AFB, CA. A kid was late for work, and drove around a long line of traffic held up by crossing gates actuated by a stopped train very close to the grade crossing. He used the oncoming (wrong) lane and darted around the crossing gates. Unfortunately for him, the train was stopped on a parallel siding and masked the Amtrak barreling down the main line. He crossed the main line tracks just as the train arrived, with predictable results.A sad case of haste making waste.

 

[sandman2234]

Im not touching Sandmans post with a 10 foot pole. :laughing: It would just ignite a p!ssing match 20 pages long. I see fault on both sides but I wasnt there so I wont speculate.:2cents:

There is no doubt the driver learned a valuable lesson, and lived to remember it. What he should have done was what the conductor did, which was fake an injury. *Ok, 99% sure it was fake, give him 1% of a chance) but faking an injury isn't the right way, so no law suit grounds to counter sue with against the r/r employee's suit.
There is no doubt that mistakes were made on both sides, and this accident is where my signature line comes from. The driver learned from his mistakes, and learned a lot from the accident as far as just how far some people are willing to go with greed. Despite all of the mistakes on both sides, the drivers contributing factors were considerable less toward the overall picture, and in the end the courts agreed. However, the civil suits were beyond my control and the companies settled out of court for more money than I would have ever guessed them to. They just paid the guy what it would have cost them to take it to court and that kept them from chances of getting a jury verdict against them.
As far as being there to get your side of the story, it wouldn't have mattered because the first impression you would have gotten would probably been the same one everybody else who was there, or learned of the accident. Driver got hit on the tracks...Driver is at fault. Not until the actual rulebook of the railroad came up, did anyone ever believe the driver might not have been in the wrong.
David from jax

 

[Cub 7274]

You have no idea how many times when trying to flag a crossing I was nearly wiped out by someone not paying attention that was with a fusee and lamp etc
Also the rule stated "until fully occupied" not until the entire train cleared the crossing but it also states that crossings are not to be occupied for more than 5 minutes unless moving but that does not include "switching" many times while doing so we would have to clear a crossing or you could be ticketed by the police
However a 10000 ft train going through a 10 mph slow order could take much longer and there would be no violation

 

[Whatswrong]

^^^^ Yes sir, sorry to hijack your thread :thumbsup:

Thanks ,I wasn't trying to be a dxxk just trying to force the issue of caution ,our province only has a million people and I am sure there are at least 1 dozen a year killed at level crossings and many controled.

 

[lostcause]

i know i shouldn't even bother to post anything in the safety forum, but for whatever reason i'm still compelled to do so. i hate to sound uncaring or callous, but if we have to plead with people to not try and outrun a multiple thousand ton mass of metal being preceded by flashing lights, bells, and whistles, then we're doing nothing more than wasting valuable oxygen when saying it. we need an age of enlightenment and personal responsibility in the world, and we need it right now. if you can't figure out that it's a bad idea to attempt it, then please don't expect the rest of the world to have to remind you of it. it's a tragedy that their families and friends have to experience the loss, but rather than telling the next person to please not do this, i'm going to say: look at what person "x" did - don't be the next one to make a bad decision.

 

[Mace Canute]

lostcause, agreed 100 %! It's a waste of time trying to advise some people to stop and wait; they will risk their lives and whomever else is riding with them regardless of what logical argument you make to convince them to just wait a few minutes.

However, I don't think it ever hurts to remind everyone to be attentive when crossing train tracks and sometimes that reminder sticks a little better with evidence of what happened to others who didn't exercise due diligence!

 

[MF 1532]

There are a few tracks in our area that are within a block of a traffic light . It amazes me how many stop on the tracks . :confused2:

 

[rd_macgregor]

The difference between the plane and train is, you know the plane is going to land--and maybe even get to a gate. :laughing: The captain usually informs passengers about any unusual waits. The slowing/sitting train however has no way of telling motorists when it intends to move, or not. It is the lack of knowing that was frustrating.

FWIW, I think there are a couple of even more critical differences in the airplane analogy, namely, airplanes don't block your car and you are a passenger. That is, the train is just a hindrance to you, so you tend to resent it more and more the longer it gets in the way of your path. As a plane passenger, you may not be happy for delays, but at least it is part of you going about your business, rather than somebody else's business interfering in your life! The psychology of the situation is greatly different.

 

[hogheadCTD]

The point I was trying to make with the airplane analogy was "when you hurry, thats when accidents happen and it could injury anybody in the area."

If you think you can get the train moving faster while getting the work done, by all means climb on up! :thumbsup:

 

[Cub 7274]

the old saying you can do 4 hrs work in 8 or 8 hrs work in 4 or "hurry up and wait" the RR will never change

 

[dmccarty]

There are a few tracks in our area that are within a block of a traffic light . It amazes me how many stop on the tracks . :confused2:

The route I used to drive to work would take me over a RR track. This track went through a town and next to a major state road that was well over its design capacity. The traffic would back up at the state road intersection every morning. The road and RR track where with in feet of each other. There were three intersections that would cross that RR track and allow access to the major road. Years ago the track ran far above the roads and a semi truck from a major moving company got stuck on the tracks and a train hit him. Nobody was killed but given the amount of traffic at the intersection I am surprised someone in another vehicle was not hurt. Eventually the road bed and train track height was fixed at numerous intersections along 4-5 miles of track.

A couple of the crossing did not have guards just signs. What always amazed me was how many people would stop on the tracks in spite of the signs and what should be common sense. Both freight and Amtrac ran down that track during this drive time. The drivers KNEW that trains would be passing through at some point yet they would still park on the tracks. How cars did not get hit still amazes me. I would always leave space for people to back up when they parked on the tracks. Most of the time the stopped cars could not move forward and if the car behind them did not leave space would be no way for the car to move off the tracks if a train was on the way.

Later,
Dan