.......on the A and E Messege Board about train safety: http://www.aande.com/perl/wwwthreads/wwwthreads.pl?action=list&Board=railsafety
Looks to me like us 'pre-meditated murdering' engineers better get our act together and approach every crossing prepared to stop. That ought to slow things down to the point where we won't even need signals anymore. Think of the money everybody will save. Seriously, if that discussion is even vaguely representative of the general public's opinion, then we have a lot of work to do. When even OL gets blasted as a conspiracy, there's not much hope of saving some people from themselves. When I get back from my tour in a couple of days, I'll be checking back in to see what everyone else thinks. More to follow.
I'm not going to join A&E again just to voice my opinion of a pin headed pino or his ilk, so my reply will have to go here. Whatever is in his milk should be banned! Its typical pin headed education that causes such an assinine remark to be voiced at all. If he ever gets to the third grade he will find out that 14,000 tons has enough momentum to mash his poor little pointed head if he doesn't provide his own safety around a railroad! Stay the off the TRACKS! Pino obviously doesn't know that there is no engineer that "plans ahead" to kill him at the next crossing, simply because he happens to be on the right of way. He is so ignorant that he doesn't know that no engineer, conductor, brakemen, or even his mommie could stop a train from 45 miles an hour to a dead whoah before splattering his worthless guts all over the inside of his mommie's car, when the car pulls out in front of an on-coming train! How stupid can you get? Pre-meditated my foot! The railroad can only cut brush on railroad right-of-way property. It is the responsibility of the property owner to cut brush on his own property. HE is the one the pino heado should be piffed at, if he had enough intelligence to think that far. How would pino feel if I was coming around the curve, and went to full emergency and piled about 10,000 tons of coal on his head? Well, he wanted the nasty old train to stop just because he got caught where he wasn't allowed to be at that time! No, I'm not going to ruin a whole set of perfectly good wheels, and have to risk derailing a whole train and maybe break one of my fingernails, just because he decided to take a squat on the track! I can't plan ahead, he didn't give me time to. Its pino heado's like this that have given me the attitude I have regarding some suicide that dares to scratch up my nice clean engine! Today, I would lay on the whistle of course, but I would only feel sorry for the kiddies the suicide driver is killing. As for the dope driving, I would probably have to grin watching him kiss his butt goodbye since that is really all I could do anyway! I will freely admit I have absolutely NO symbathy for the driver, but it is his passengers I do feel sorry for, yet what good does that do? They ARE going to DIE, because they were riding with a KILLER, not because I planned to hit them!
Watash - I had to deal with people like that when I was with the FRA so I put a little sign on my desk lamp. "Never argue with a fool as people might not notice the difference!"
I agree with Watash!. That little pino or should it be pinhead, must have his head where it doesn't get enough sunshine. The general public is generally stupid when it comes to trains. I remember a couple of years ago, Conrail had a couple of there brand new SD80macs availble for the general public to go through. (It was part of a train days celebration.) I remember hearing a lady ask, one of the Conrail people, where is the steering wheel? Some people think that it is one big conspiracy out there to knock off the little guy? Oh well what can I say.
Amen to that, brother! Anyone who is that "uneducated" concerning railroading would be oblivious to that fact that they can call the railroad to report malfunctioning signals. Having worked for a railroad for eight years and knowing two retired signal maintainers personally, I do not hesitate to report any unusual situation to the railroad. Most people probably think that each signal has a sensor that will tell the railroad when a signal malfunctions. NOT TRUE! In most cases. the only way for the railroad to learn of a signal failure is when a caller reports it to the railroad. I've reported at least three signal failures to the railroads in our areas. All of them received immediate attention and most were reported through the information posted at the crossings. The last one was on the NS at Jersey Pike in Chattanooga. Since our crewmen usually have NS local telephone numbers, it was more effective for us to driectly contact the local operator. Another factor was that the crossing is on the main line and traffic was heavy that night. This case was one of the signals operating but not shutting off once the crossing was clear. Something could have happened that night, but since my partner and I reported the malfunction and remained watching the crossing until the NS man arrived, things turned out all right.
Roger on not joining A&E just to reply to that thread Watash. The more I think about it though, the madder I get. Why don't they allow highway crossings on airport runways? Because nobody expects big, heavy, fast moving airplanes to be able to stop. Yet Joe Public expects me to come to a standstill in 50 feet with 10,000 rolling tons whenever they feel the urge to break the law and ignore the gates, race the train etc., etc. I know they don't teach much RR safety in school or driver ed. but you would think that elementary physics would cover it.
Wayne, I agree with everything except not joining A&E to voice your opinion. I actually think that everyone here should join up and deluge their servers with replies that actually make sense on the planet earth. I have a feeling that many of the folk there do not know where that planet is! Russ
Hee hee I have been having fun at their expenses over there. Here is a copy of my latest post to the pino-head: ==================================== I am sorry, but that is the last straw. I no longer have any pity for you, or kindness to offer. You are spreading malicious lies, and I do not have sympathy for liars, and I do not suffer fools. I guess I was more right than I knew at the time when I suggested that people supporting your ideas should go back home and put on their tinfoil hats. Anyone who thinks that a driver can just drive how they want, where they want, and that accidents are all "premeditated murder" by the "other guy" is in need of serious psychiatric help. Before I leave you, know this. YOU are part of the problem, not the solution, and every person that dies at a crossing, you are partly to blame, because you did nothing but have a pissing contest with OLS. Now I will let you get back to your fool's errands, which no doubt also include a ban on SUVs, McDonald's French Fries, and a requirement that all Starbuck coffee is grown organically and served only with soy milk. ================================ That felt really good to write.
