Idiots who put our hobby at risk

Warton GR4 · 05-14-2010, 06:42 PM

Hi all,
I'm not suggesting anyone here would be daft enough to get themselves into this position, but it's always good to look out for others with less common sense who could potentially spoil our hobby by putting themselves in danger:
The best view isn't worth risking life or limb for!
Station staff are going to be far less tolerant if people put themselves at risk like this! If you see people in danger do the sensible thing and tell someone. I'm sure I'm talking to the sensible ones on here anyway but a video like that brings homes the potential dangers of letting your judgement slip.
Best regards,
Mark

troy12n · 05-14-2010, 09:39 PM

Wow, I didnt think it was that bad until the second train came behind the guy... wow.

Doug Wolfe · 05-14-2010, 10:56 PM

I think people forget trains are wider than the tracks. He acted like he never heard that one sneak up behind him.

Freericks · 05-14-2010, 11:16 PM

I'm more curious about the folks who were looking that way...

AND DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO WARN HIM.

trainmaster_1 · 05-14-2010, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warton GR4

Hi all,
I'm not suggesting anyone here would be daft enough to get themselves into this position, but it's always good to look out for others with less common sense who could potentially spoil our hobby by putting themselves in danger:
The best view isn't worth risking life or limb for!
Station staff are going to be far less tolerant if people put themselves at risk like this! If you see people in danger do the sensible thing and tell someone. I'm sure I'm talking to the sensible ones on here anyway but a video like that brings homes the potential dangers of letting your judgement slip.
Best regards,
Mark

As a railway employee that made me sick to my stomach witnessing something like that, he's just lucky he didn't step another foot or so onto the tracks or he would have been 6 ft under, people like him need a good swift kick in the ass !

troy12n · 05-14-2010, 11:29 PM

At least he wasnt sleeping on the tracks like a fine specimen here did on Thursday

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publics...t-city/1094675

Quote:

It appeared the man had his head on the track, witnesses said, and was beheaded.

"He was using the track as a pillow," said Jerome Kinght, 49, who lives nearby.

This isnt some rarely used branch line either, it's a CTC CSX mainline.

Chase55671 · 05-15-2010, 12:43 AM

Is that his head in the foreground at 10 seconds into the video?

Chase

Diamond D · 05-15-2010, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freericks

I'm more curious about the folks who were looking that way...

AND DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO WARN HIM.

yup.

And I couldn't believe it, but this clip was on the CBS Evening News tonight!

Heymon · 05-15-2010, 03:51 AM

That was a very close call. In a defense of the person taking the video, I think they did try to say something, but I doubt anyone would hear a warning with all the train noise. The guy taking the video was probably looking at the steamer through his camera, and didn't notice the express train coming (there was steam obscuring it, too).

I think the person to blame was the guy who almost got hit. He should not have been standing there. I'm sure if people realized what was coming they all would have warned each other, but people have to realize that with more than one set of tracks there can be more than one train at a time.

Andre

Joe the Photog · 05-15-2010, 04:02 AM

You would think they wouldn't need to say anything, but could warn him with terror stricken faces or be motioning him out of the way. Of course, maybe they were and he didn't realize it. I'm not up in arms over this as much as some, just glad he didn't get hit.

Freericks · 05-15-2010, 04:08 AM

Oh, don't get me wrong... the guy who almost got hit is 100% at fault. I am not trying to excuse him at all. I was just surprised no one else there warned him.

Of course I was not there... maybe there was not enough time to react.

Just felt like someone should have yanked at him.

stlgevo51 · 05-15-2010, 04:13 AM

I thought that that weird sound that the cameraman made at :24 was the warning!

KevinM · 05-15-2010, 04:27 AM

As I grow older, I discover that "Common Sense" isn't as common as I once thought.

When I was out at Nevada Northern in February, I elected to chase vs. ride the wreck train out to Keystone on Sunday afternoon.

PhotoID: 321356
Photograph © Kevin Madore

At a grade crossing in Lane City, I stopped to shoot the approaching train, when I became aware that another one of the photo shoot participants had taken a position 30 feet or so to my right.....standing squarely in the gauge. When I realized what was happening, I began yelling to him, thinking he was so focused on his damned video camera that he didn't realize he was in harm's way. All he did was get very angry with me for yelling, but he just kept right on shooting video from between the rails. The dude wouldn't move until the Engineer basically stopped the train about 100 ft. short of his position. Fortunately, NN trains don't go very fast, and this run was uphill. The hell of it was that the guy was wearing some sort of uniform that led me to believe that he was a crewmember from another steam tourist railroad.

Takes all kinds, I guess....

JimThias · 05-15-2010, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freericks

I'm more curious about the folks who were looking that way...

AND DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO WARN HIM.

Didn't you hear the "yooooooo!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diamond D

yup.

And I couldn't believe it, but this clip was on the CBS Evening News tonight!

Why? Do they show people nearly getting hit by cars and trucks, too?

ROn_J · 05-15-2010, 03:15 PM

This clip has been doing the rounds of the UK railfan forums for a week and a bit now, and has only just made it into the newspapers. I can't believe it's made it onto the TV news on the other side of the Atlantic too...

JRMDC · 05-15-2010, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROn_J

I can't believe it's made it onto the TV news on the other side of the Atlantic too...

News these days is more about entertainment than about a view of the important issues of the day, it seems. A pet peeve is that, with the global spread of information, there is something bad or gory or ridiculous happening somewhere every day, which is captured on video, and becomes "news" when it has little if any relevance to our lives. Soapbox off!

Christopher Muller · 05-15-2010, 07:17 PM

While he should be thankful to be alive and was way, WAY to close... imagine walking around now and being asked by everyone, "are you the one that was nearly smoked by the train?"

Freericks · 05-15-2010, 08:49 PM

And of course, anyone who has ever fanned the Northeast Corridor at a station on a curve would be lying if they said that they have not been surprised by a train going one way when they were shooting one that was going the other way.

Of course, where one is standing is the difference in that surprise being a "Woop" or a poop.

MichaelJ · 05-16-2010, 02:18 AM

Unfortunately, you will find morons no matter where you go.

Three metres from the track centre or behind the yellow safety line is the policy here in Queensland under Zero Harm.

I'll see example of this type of behaviour tomorrow when QR runs their Suburban Steam Train again this month for three days. They had staff galore at Shorncliffe ensuring people stood behind the yellow safety line and did not put their arms or cameras out of the train window. It would have cost them a fortune in wages!

lock4244 · 05-18-2010, 04:59 AM

OK, I've gotten pretty damned drunk at times in my life... mostly late teens and early 20's (when we seem to be at our dim-wittedest), but I can't ever remember finding a steel rail to be a good sub for a pillow. A shrub, yes, but a rail? Probably a suicide and fell asleep waiting for the train...

Quote:

Originally Posted by troy12n

At least he wasnt sleeping on the tracks like a fine specimen here did on Thursday

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publics...t-city/1094675

This isnt some rarely used branch line either, it's a CTC CSX mainline.

Paolo Roffo · 05-19-2010, 05:23 AM

The clip made tonight's edition of The Tonight Show, though Leno refrained from any name calling.

willig · 05-19-2010, 09:04 AM

This just shows the power of YouTube. Unfortunately, the guy who originally made the clip won't be getting anything from it.

I wonder how much he could have made if he'd used an agency to sell it for him.

MichaelJ · 05-28-2010, 12:22 PM

Here's a different type of idiot from south-east Queensland who gives us all a poor name. He believes it is his right to attend an invite-only media conference for the official release of the new QR logo ...

Take a read ...
http://www.railpage.com.au/f-p1387501.htm#1387501

Noone can get it through to him.

D.Massey · 05-28-2010, 06:38 PM

Maybe I’m missing something (Maybe he deleted a post)but I’m not seeing where he feels it’s his right, he just asking questions in regards to you posting about a QR media event. I guess if you’re worried about gate crashers you should keep any information about the media event to yourself until after it’s over. Just my two cents!!!

Doyle Massey

MichaelJ · 05-28-2010, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.Massey

Maybe I’m missing something (Maybe he deleted a post)but I’m not seeing where he feels it’s his right, he just asking questions in regards to you posting about a QR media event. I guess if you’re worried about gate crashers you should keep any information about the media event to yourself until after it’s over. Just my two cents!!!

Doyle Massey

It's a tone of thread that's come through over many replies. I've spoken to quite a few people in person and they got the same vibe. The one reply that put the icing on the cake was one person suggesting gunzels were well-behaved at the Metro Trains Melbourne event and Stephen saying, "Exactly. I want in."

I shouldn't have said anything about the event, but in the past it's never been a problem. Most people just say, "Awesome, I look forward to seeing your shots."