Another Photo Shoot on Railroad Tracks Goes Wrong

That is tragic, yet these same people would never have stood in the middle of a highway for a similar photo shoot.

 

Where did this fad come from? How do ties and rails flatter a model?

 

I dunno, people just don't think so much about risk these days. A year ago I happened upon a woman and her two little kids putting pennies on the rail. The site was a curved passing siding in a cut in dense pines, so visibility, sound travel and lighting were poor. The kids kept returning trackside to rearrange their coins. I knew that a train was due, so politely cautioned her to leave the coins be and retreat.

Thankfully, she was pleased to receive my advice and called her kids back. Within five minutes, the train swept through. All ended well.

I had no business being there myself, but to have said nothing would have been a poor choice.

 

I don't have sympathy for anyone involved with that situation other than the train crew. You would think there would be a way to charge the photographer not only with trespassing, but complicity to commit manslaughter.

What's really sad? No one learns from these events.

 

The epitome of this sort of event was in eastern GA along CSX in 2014 when a film crew was shooting a movie about rocker Gregg Allman. A woman was killed and several were seriously injured. They set up to shoot a scene featuring a bed on a trestle and you can imagine the rest at 55 mph.

CSX had denied the filmmaker’s application twice, but the filmmakers set up anyway. Headline lawsuits were pressed against CSX by victim’s families and the movie producers, but to no avail. The Director eventually plead guilty, along with others to various elements of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing.

Rick's summation is well stated.