Well good‼ B'cause that was the point of this thread.
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How was your day...
- Thread starter Whitespider
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Too damn funny‼now that i have read other posts. you might have been able to stop with BIAS ply tires.
And it really too bad some of the new(er) guys ain't in on the joke‼
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Glad you made out fine Ws , even gladder that you took the time to share , lots wouldn't .
The mil lost a station wagon that quit on the tracks at a rural crossing 35+ years ago while taking my bils to hockey , **** happens .
The mil lost a station wagon that quit on the tracks at a rural crossing 35+ years ago while taking my bils to hockey , **** happens .
I hope many will take the point made to heart. The life you might save could be mine. You cant work for a railroad as long as I have without seeing some of the carnage that these type of collisions creates. Some things you just want to forget and some you never will.
You know I thought of this same wisecrack yesterday but didn't want to say it too soon.
This may be a dumb question, but how reliable are the warning lights and bars at railroad crossings. We cross one twice a week going to church, the speed limit is 55. I used to slow down and look, but that's pretty pointless unless you slow down to about 10 mph, you would never stop in time. Also its a busy road and nobody slows down, so I would probably get rear ended if I did.
Glad you are still with us. Wouldn't be the same around here without you.
Some years back we had a truck drivers truck stall on a set of tracks. It was just when Allison was starting to use the push button selectors in the cab. He eventually got it going but the train coming set him in a panic and he was hitting the throttle while pushing "D" on the pad. Engineers thought it a better idea to protect the transmission rather than have the transmission do what the operator was telling it. They wont go into gear above 1200 rpm IIRC. Train ended up smoking the truck and ruining his life. Hes on permanent disability.
I always slow down, and depending on what Im driving Ill stop, at all RR crossings.
Some years back we had a truck drivers truck stall on a set of tracks. It was just when Allison was starting to use the push button selectors in the cab. He eventually got it going but the train coming set him in a panic and he was hitting the throttle while pushing "D" on the pad. Engineers thought it a better idea to protect the transmission rather than have the transmission do what the operator was telling it. They wont go into gear above 1200 rpm IIRC. Train ended up smoking the truck and ruining his life. Hes on permanent disability.
I always slow down, and depending on what Im driving Ill stop, at all RR crossings.
Anything man made can fail, but with that said, there are several different type of train detection systems. If you are around a high speed mainline with Amtrak trains, the approach for the crossing can be over 1 mile from the actual crossing. Sensors detect train speed and activate the gates so that they lower about 15sec before the train arrives. On track equipment other than trains can also activate the gates and lights but cant travel at the same speed as a amtrak train. This can cause the gates to time out and raise before the equipment even gets to the crossing. On track equipment is short and if you have two pieces of equipment tramming the track, the lead machine can activate the gates before entering the crossing and then jump the gates back up right in front of the trailing piece of equipment. Auto drivers usually only look at the gates or lights and as soon as they go up they take off without even looking to see the second piece of equipment coming down on them. For trains the gates are pretty reliable, but if you see track equipment at a crossing, the gates can and very often do jump back up before all the equipment has passed, so look before taking off. My piece of equipment weights 64000lbs and it wont stop on a dime.
Whitespider, I also am glad you're OK and appreciate you posting this for the rest of us to learn (or relearn something we already should have known) from it.
Shagbark
ArboristSite Guru
You need to use earpro when running muffmodded saws so you can hear the train horn that they should blow twice before all RR crossings.
Glad today was not your last.
Glad today was not your last.
Same here. Very, very few crossings without at least flashing lights also.
Yeah that track is camouflaged pretty good. Good to see it was not worse. Sucks, but it happens.
Monday I was hauling a load a scrap, just as I am 1/2 mile from home, approaching gravel intersection and was only going about 25, looked to my right then left then seen a small dust trail to the right. Truck coming, was blocked from me on post between windshield and passenger door. Good thing I slowed down, I go thru that intersection 3-4 times a day. Got stopped in time but still scares the crap out of you.
Most train tracks in the area are pretty wide open from corn/bean fields on both sides.
Gotta say too there aren't many tracks that have "Yield" signs with the Crossbucks. Betting you were not the first to have an accident there....
theTE="muddstopper, post: 5809966, member: 73717"]I know some might not know this, but trains have black boxes too. The engines also have a camera mounted on the sides that videos whats up ahead. I can guarantee that the train that Spidey hit had the tapes pulled before it left the scene. The tapes will show Spidey driving into the crossing and will also tell if the engineer was blowing his horn and also how fast the train was running. My bet is he was and Spidey was distracted, which is often the case with train/vehicle collisions. Like someone else said, I think Spidey should go buy a lottery ticket because he was very lucky this time.[/QUOTE]
I'm just going to get down to business.
I think we may have a case here. You bring up a good point. It's all helps but the brush is key. I have personally slashed and fell timber for clearance specs between rural section crossings. It was 600 ft each side of the crossing by 50 ft center's. or to the fence (50 ft allowance) the rest was 25 ft center's with more on the inside corners.
We will get a ladder and tape and measure the height and allowance vs the impedment. Now we just have to keep WS of the Internet for a while.........
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.......yeah OK plan B. We will get him to say bizarre crazy things then on the internet and....WHAT? he's been doing that for years? *scratchers head, kinda takes the wind out of our sails* how is his relationship with his employer/ Brother again?...lol
*WS
Glad you are well
Going to bed but quickly;
Did you feel a certain exceptance just before impact? Was it in slow motion?
I'm just going to get down to business.
I think we may have a case here. You bring up a good point. It's all helps but the brush is key. I have personally slashed and fell timber for clearance specs between rural section crossings. It was 600 ft each side of the crossing by 50 ft center's. or to the fence (50 ft allowance) the rest was 25 ft center's with more on the inside corners.
We will get a ladder and tape and measure the height and allowance vs the impedment. Now we just have to keep WS of the Internet for a while.........
..........
.......yeah OK plan B. We will get him to say bizarre crazy things then on the internet and....WHAT? he's been doing that for years? *scratchers head, kinda takes the wind out of our sails* how is his relationship with his employer/ Brother again?...lol
*WS
Glad you are well
Going to bed but quickly;
Did you feel a certain exceptance just before impact? Was it in slow motion?
There wasn't any time for that... there wasn't any time for anything.
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Most of the "more traveled" gravel road/RR crossings are cut back better than that... but none (that I'm aware of) have lights or gates in Iowa. This particular road is a dead end at two farm lots, one on each side of the road. I was coming from the dead end side, and as you can see its more of a wagon path than a real road... barely more than 1½ lanes wide. Still, there are those railroad tracks to cross... and the only thing that rolls on railroad tracks are trains... I wouldn't try to use the brush as an excuse, but it does sort'a make it easier to be a dumbazz I guess.
I saw the Sheriff's Report yesterday, appears I may possibly be getting a citation in the mail for "Failure to Properly Stop at a Railroad Crossing"... (shrug) could be worse, a lot worse. We had to call and get the report FAXed to us for the insurance...
The Sheriff said he would have given me a copy at the scene except he wasn't sure how to write it up... he'd never been at a train/car accident scene where the driver of the passenger vehicle was still walking and talking
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You must still have a greater purpose here than getting mushed! Glad you are ok!No... no... no... the train hit me‼
It hit me on the left front, just ahead of the wheel, about ½ second after I came to a complete stop.
If I'd have been driving just a couple MHP slower, and got stopped just a couple feet sooner, I could have called it a "close call."
Something tells me they didn't write the train a citation for failure to stop though
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alleyyooper
Addicted to ArboristSite
Like teaching a little kid to cross a street/road STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN before crossing. Same applies to our many back country rail road crossings, STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN before crossing. Most of those types of crossings in my area are so ruff they will rattle the teeth out of your head if you cross to fast too.
Al
Al
