Rick, I'm with you!, only way to fall asleep on a RR is to be intoxicated to the max!. I just don't believe the story.........

Bill,

The one place that used to scare me at times was when I lived near Fresno. Back then the road crossed what seemed to be 20 sets of tracks and there was always trains or switch engines going on some of the tracks. If you got out in the center of that mess and a train was coming you had to stop across another set of tracks. I haven't been there for a long time, but the last time I went down to Fresno when I was working I think they were getting ready to build an overpass or something so people didn't have to go through that. I don't remember ever seeing anyone get hit while crossing all those tracks but it was something to think about every time you started across.

Ron :o

Now that would be scary

I too question the completely sober and no drugs statement.

Why not
 

Perhaps they could use that saw-stop technology on train wheels to avoid this senseless slaughter of our most stupid citizens;)
http://www.sawstop.com/media/WMV/Hot_Dog_Demo.htm

Ron, our house was by Hole #1 at the golf course, right across from the train tressel. I spent a LOT of time on that tressel as a kid, on the 'cat walk' under it mostly. My brothers and I would gather 'squabs' (baby pigeons) from the tressel and raise them at our house. As a kid I made good money collecting golf balls at was then a driving range and later became an 8 hole golf course. Life was good under the tressel, my how frightening it was when a train went over while on the 'cat walk' below. We never ventured out ONTO the tracks above, were we idiots, but not totally stupid. :LOL:

:)

Ernie,

At least you had enough sense to use the cat walk. Now it is considered un-cool to not "Walk the tracks." I am not sure what they call it when the bodies are found in the river or wherever they wind up. I was always afraid to even use the catwalk and now it is a big fine if you even get caught one step out on it.

Ron :confused:

...

Bill is quite correct when he says you don't hear about most of the incidents on the rail. Even fairly good sized derailments sometimes only become known to me through the "grapevine" when I inquire as to why my next train assignment isn't arriving as expected. I sometimes think we get most of our true info via rumor. It's a closed community ...closed to the public, that is.

Our main line is 60 mph except through some cities like Bismarck, Jamestown and Fargo where the permanent speed is reduced to 35. Some towns are 45 mph and the rest 60.

The company has recently pressed us for more aggressive whistling at crossings and I had a previous tendency to blow very moderate blasts, especially with no traffic and/or late at night. In cases of accident, the aggressive whistling is more likely to be remembered by witnesses and, as a side benefit, many communities are considering "Quiet Zones".

A Quiet Zone is a marked no-whistle zone where special gates or traffic dividers are installed to protect the public from themselves. This includes walkways which would have likely saved the child on the bike. See ( http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1318 ).

The company benefits in that the Quiet Zones are also liability-free to the RR. The liability is absorbed by the community that requests the zone.


...

Wes,

The quiet zone sounds like it could be a good thing if they actually will assume the responsibility. What kind of special gates would it take to keep some of these people from going under, over, or around them?

Ron :)

Double gates per side have been discussed and may be in service in some areas.

A more economical solution has been to install lengthy islands in the roadway crossing approach to prevent autos from casually going around the standard one-gate-per-side barriers. The walkways have a similar single gate per side, I believe.

I haven't seen the Quiet Zone gates at Fargo, which are the only ones fully functional in my district right now. I've been working west into Montana instead of Minnesota for a couple years.

Determined Darwin candidates can still break through them. :rolleyes:

Another similar solution has been to install automatic horns at the crossings that operate like the common warning bells. These horns are directed only at the traffic and cut down on noise spread to some degree.

Steps to enhance protection for the public and equip locomotives are in full swing. Down the road, expect trains to operate crewless ...like giant conveyer belts ...operated remotely. I kidded a guy about this taking place from our Texas dispatching center, and lo and behold, "remote operating rights" are since claimed in our newest contract for just such, right behind dispatchers.

His reply? "Texas, hell ....New Delhi !! " Considering that armed Predator Drones reliably operate by satellite, why not?

And several cohorts feel safe that their American job can't go overseas... :eek:

Well, maybe not overseas, just south of the border a bit. ;)


...

:(

Wes,

More and more things are being ran by remote. Just look at all of the remote planes the military is now using.

What I am waiting for is the Virtual train where some person sitting at a computer just pulls up a picture of a train and then transfers it via the net to wherever it is to go. Then we can have virtual people suing because they got hit by the train. :LOL:

Ron :D

virtual lawsuit
 

and you thought its a joke....http://www.patentarcade.com/2008/01/...ual-goods.html

OK, a guy sued the manufacturer of a game because parts of that game were taken from his account? Get a life. someone really needs to take his computer. It is a game, you are playing, when it becomes more important than real life, it has gone too far. I am glad my wife would walk in and just unplug the computer before I ever got close to that point.

wow
 

yeah there were some others like a virtual sex toy being deleted or something
stupid or it was copied, but yes its true they do need a life....a real one
not virtual. i wonder if i can get the same jollies from a virtual cobra?
i wouldnt have to worry about fuel. then again i couldnt use the excuse
to my wife that the pipes are too loud i cant hear you.

Actually some people are making a LIVING from playing "Sim" type online games, it's big business. In the real world you can buy and sell virtual money, goods and services. You can RENT an Island from the owner, who created it, and you pay the rent in online dollars which can then be turned into real dollars.

In China some people are paid to do nothing more than collect or earn credits through simple mundane online process' that generate rewards in these Sim worlds.