# Stalled on the train tracks... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2016, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357 "2016-05-22T09:25:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/1 "2016-05-22T09:25:23Z")
Talking with my mother this morning, and she was telling me about the old town, and the people she knew as a teenager, and how they almost got wiped out by a train when the truck stalled on the railway tracks. 90yo, and she still hasn’t figured out that this is the kind of thing guys do when they are teenagers with a girl in the front seat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/2 "2016-05-22T13:35:20Z")
I’m sorry, Dr. Freud, but science has proven that not everything is about sex. My grandparents had a stick-shift for a while, which I drove (my grandpa was physically unable to drive, and my grandma didn’t like to), and my grandpa was paranoid to the Nth degree about stalling on train tracks. He absolutely INSISTED!!! that I NEVER shift gears on the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/3 "2016-05-22T16:26:05Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Talking with my mother this morning, and she was telling me about the old town, and the people she knew as a teenager, and how they almost got wiped out by a train when the truck stalled on the railway tracks. > > 90yo, and she still hasn’t figured out that this is the kind of thing guys do when they are teenagers with a girl in the front seat. 🙂 I have no idea what you are trying to say. Teenage guys will pretend to be stalled on the tracks in front of an oncoming train to impress a girl? If this is common where you are, you know some fucked up people. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/4 "2016-05-22T16:29:25Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I have no idea what you are trying to say. Teenage guys will pretend to be stalled on the tracks in front of an oncoming train to impress a girl? If this is common where you are, **you know some fucked up people.** Not for long. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/5 "2016-05-22T18:20:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Teenage guys will pretend to be stalled on the tracks in front of an oncoming train to impress a girl? who would even think this would be impressive? Your truck doesn’t work and/or you don’t know how to drive. Neither is a positive quality. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/6 "2016-05-22T19:56:25Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I have no idea what you are trying to say. Teenage guys will pretend to be stalled on the tracks in front of an oncoming train to impress a girl? If this is common where you are, **you know some fucked up people**. A speeding train will do that to you. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/7 "2016-05-22T21:14:49Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Teenage guys will pretend to be stalled on the tracks in front of an oncoming train to impress a girl? How exactly does this work? The girl runs screaming from the car, and you sweep her up in your big manly arms and carry her to safety, while your car is crushed beyond recognition? Are there guys who seriously do this? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/8 "2016-05-22T23:02:24Z")
The final scene of the classic Race To The Crossing act. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/9 "2016-05-22T23:09:47Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > who would even think this would be impressive? Your truck doesn’t work and/or you don’t know how to drive. Neither is a positive quality. It’s all about showing off your telekinetic ability. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/10 "2016-05-22T23:37:27Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Talking with my mother this morning, and she was telling me about the old town, and the people she knew as a teenager, and how they almost got wiped out by a train when the truck stalled on the railway tracks. > > 90yo, and she still hasn’t figured out that this is the kind of thing guys do when they are teenagers with a girl in the front seat. 🙂 As the proverbial girl in the front seat more times than I can count, I’m having a hard time fathoming what this little scenario is supposed to accomplish. Besides confirming that I probably already think the driver’s a dipshit, if the train doesn’t fuck him up, I will. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/11 "2016-05-23T04:52:06Z")
Since my mini van has a working door, I’m not worried about stalling on the train tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/12 "2016-05-23T05:44:57Z")
Speaking of stalling on the tracks… It seems to me IT WOULD BE BETTER if school buses and hazardous vehicles drove fast over the tracks instead of stopping! Seems to me they could start to cross the tracks, then stall and then be stuck. But if they have a “head of steam up”, then the vehicle could coast safely to the other side of the tracks if it stalled. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/13 "2016-05-23T14:10:23Z")
Now I’ve got an earworm – “stalled on the train tracks, two bits!” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/14 "2016-05-23T14:29:45Z")
If you were dating [this driver](http://abc7.com/news/car-gets-stuck-on-expo-line-tracks-after-crashing-through-fence/1351392/), would he or she at least get style points for not bothering with a normal track crossing? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/15 "2016-05-23T16:28:59Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Since my mini van has a working door, I’m not worried about stalling on the train tracks. You realize that trains can move very fast, right? Often, people don’t see or hear them until thry’re right on top of them. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/16 "2016-05-23T16:34:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You realize that trains can move very fast, right? Often, people don’t see or hear them until thry’re right on top of them. I’m just used to places that have the flashing lights and bars at the railroad crossing. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/17 "2016-05-23T19:42:37Z")
Yeah, if you’re stuck on the train tracks and the arms go down and signal goes on, feel free to exit the vehicle at this time. It seems to me that to stall your car on the train tracks would require pinpoint timing. It would be extremely difficult to do so on purpose, let alone by accident. If your car stalled before the tracks, why not step on the brake before you coast onto the track? Or conversely, let your car coast off the tracks? You’d have to drive onto the tracks, stop, and then deliberately stall your car, and then not be able to start it again. Don’t people know not to stop your car on the train tracks? I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/18 "2016-05-23T20:43:11Z")
It always worked for Superman ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/19 "2016-05-23T21:00:18Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > As the proverbial girl in the front seat more times than I can count, I’m having a hard time fathoming what this little scenario is supposed to accomplish. Besides confirming that I probably already think the driver’s a dipshit, if the train doesn’t fuck him up, I will. With the caveat that I have never done this, the theory is that if a girl is in danger and the manly man rescues her, the combination of adrenaline and damsel-in-distress-rescueing will get her all a flutter and thereby willing to drop her panties as a thank you to her rescuer. When no common source of danger is available (mainly due to lack of large predators or natural disasters), manufacturing a source of danger to get the appropriate adrenaline rush is the solution. Of course, this presumes the girl is dumb enough not to realize the guy put her in the situation in the first place. And that the only thing keeping her loins from his loins was the lack of hormones. Clearly, this is not a situation the wise ladies of the Dope will find themselves in. Also, hopefully not one any of the male members of the Dope have ever tried. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/20 "2016-05-23T21:01:38Z")
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