what was this guy thinking........

Roger H Jul 15, 2002

  1. Roger H

    Roger H TrainBoard Member

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    I was following the UPRR challenger loco from Clinton, Iowa to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I swear to god I seen a guy do this on a two lane highway. I seen a guy video tape the steamer while driving his car down the highway at 55 mph. then go sliding off the road with no warning to the car behind him, then jump out to snap some pictures. The video while driving was stupid anuff but I didn't know that this steam engine also made this guy's car a emergency vechile. after his stop he went arround a bunch of us about 80mph.were is the cops when there needed.
    I'm guessing that this is someone who doesn't railfan, I hope none of us act like this when chasing train, no picture is worth your life. So be careful when out there so all of us have a safe day.
    I'll post the pictures as soon as time permitts to my web page..

    Railroad Photography
    http://home.mchsi.com/~railroadphotography/
     
  2. friscobob

    friscobob Staff Member

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    Unfortunately, he COULD be a railfan- and not a very bright one at that! I'd like to think he wasn't, but these days it's hard to tell.....one thing for sure, his brain was in idle!
     
  3. 7600EM_1

    7600EM_1 Permanently dispatched

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    Their are some craaaazy people out their guys!!!! I tell ya... this ole world is getting weird anymore..... Sad... but true!!!!

    Just use your head, protect your life, and keep your mind on alert mode..... and stay level headed. You'll live alot longer, safer, and grow wiser, and stay ALIVE!!!!!
     
  4. NSBrakeman

    NSBrakeman E-Mail Bounces

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    When I took the MILW 261 to Galesburg, it was like that wherever the highway paralleled the BNSF...one guy was pacing us at track speed (60per I think) with his wife driving the pickup while he was standing on the bed filming us! One guy in a minivan was passing another car with one hand on the wheel, one on the camera, with probably both eyes on the train! It's crazy, no train is worth risking your life for. [​IMG] Just get one of your buddies that isnt into trains to drive so he can concentrate on the road, not watching the train. But I must admit that the plane pacing us was pretty cool...only about 100' off the cornfields and circling every few minutes for about an hour. Sometimes it looked like it was going to hit the engine when it flew right over us!! I wonder if it was some Pentrex people :confused: The open air car I rode in was pretty cool, but make sure to have goggles, cuz I could hear dem cinders hittin 'em! Ohhh boy did I have cinders everywhere...in places ya wouldnt imagine [​IMG] ! Now do we have this problem with diesels...??? ;)

    Later-
    Dave :D
     
  5. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    The guy in the first post was obviously a California railfan who got a little far off his usual freeway, all the way to Iowa. It's like that in CA whenever steam runs. :eek:
    Dave, did you have your videocamera running when the cinders were flying? Check it out. I ruined one riding behind the 765 about 9 years ago. :(

    [ 17. July 2002, 20:55: Message edited by: fitz ]
     
  6. NSBrakeman

    NSBrakeman E-Mail Bounces

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    Fitz-I didnt have a videocamera, but I had a regular 35mm still camera with me, filled up two rolls of film. since I was in the second car I couldnt really get a good view ahead, but I still got some good pix of the engine around turns. That whistle was really really loud! I think we broke all the whistle bans through the towns...I wonder what some some people thought when they got knocked out of bed by that bad boy!! And the crowds...I'd never think that many people would come out just to watch us go by, but it was fun waving and watching them all run up to the engine when we made stops. Ok I really got off the subject I'm gonna go now... :rolleyes:

    Dave
     
  7. Johnny Trains

    Johnny Trains Passed away April 29, 2004 In Memoriam

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    Years ago I chased the N&W 1218 out of Chillicothe, OH. to a spot just out of town where they would be doing runbys.

    I don't remember any wild car scenes but a farmer got just revenge on trespassers!
    Railfans started walking onto his property as he was plowing his field a few hundred feet away. He promptly drove over to the very edge of his property and about a hundred railfans got a shot of the 1218, and the backside of his tractor! A whole new subject was formed. LOL!
     
  8. ajy6b

    ajy6b TrainBoard Member

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    I remember hearing stories of the NS Steam Excursion Days of fans doing like the original poster said. One of the worst offenders was a guy in a jeep.

    Face it, we got a lot of idiot raifans out there, we didn't earn the reputation of foamers, FRN's etc., for being nice and polite.

    I would say they majority of railfans are very sensible, but I think we all have run into a few that are just downright stupid and even dangerous.
     
  9. MEC563

    MEC563 TrainBoard Member

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    Well rest easy, it was not this rail fan in his Jeep :D No picture to me is worth painting a bad image on our hobby. Tread lightly! Both by Jeep and Railfan [​IMG]
     

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