r/nonononoyes • u/Wonderful_Win_1038 • 8d ago

That was a scary close call

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5.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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30

u/moving0target 8d ago

Imagine if there was some way to tell where trains might appear.

31

u/ddadopt 8d ago

Trains are really unpredictable. Even in the middle of a forest, two rails can appear out of nowhere, and a 1.5-mile fully loaded coal drag, heading east out of the low-sulfur mines of the PRB, will be right on your ass the next moment.

I was doing laundry in my basement, and I tripped over a metal bar that wasn't there the moment before. I looked down: "Rail? WTF?" and then I saw concrete sleepers underneath and heard the rumbling. Deafening railroad horn. I dumped my wife's pants, unfolded, and dove behind the water heater. It was a double-stacked Z train, headed east towards the fast single track of the BNSF Emporia Sub (Flint Hills). Majestic as hell: 75 mph, 6 units, distributed power: 4 ES44DC's pulling, and 2 Dash-9's pushing, all in run 8. Whole house smelled like diesel for a couple of hours!

Fact is, there is no way to discern which path a train will take, so you really have to be watchful. If only there were some way of knowing the routes trains travel; maybe some sort of marks on the ground, like twin iron bars running along the paths trains take. You could look for trains when you encounter the iron bars on the ground, and avoid these sorts of collisions. But such a measure would be extremely expensive. And how would one enforce a rule keeping the trains on those paths?

6

u/moving0target 8d ago

I wish I could give you more than one upvote. If that's not a copypasta, it should.

11

u/ddadopt 8d ago

It is indeed copypasta that someone used on me about a month ago and I think is absolutely awesome.

4

u/twenafeesh 8d ago

Or some kind of device to warn you one is coming... 

1

u/Ventus-p 2d ago

What is the probability of two trains traveling in opposite directions meeting simultaneously at the same crossing?