# Who needs urban legends when stuff like this happens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 29, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002 "2008-05-29T12:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/81 "2008-05-31T12:29:34Z")
Sorry to be a humourless tightarse, but you punsters might wish to watch this Youtube video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EZf-KpFurFI/hqdefault.jpg "XPT West 3: Bathurst to the Tumulla Bank") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZf-KpFurFI) There’s nothing gory in it - it’s a train driver who has given a cab ride to a rail enthusiast, and the driver is talking about a teenager he struck and killed a couple of years before, and what it did to the driver mentally. Unless you’re a rail enthusiast, go straight to the 2:47 mark. I can translate if his accent is too thick. Don’t mess with trains, chil’lun. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/82 "2008-05-31T13:49:24Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Sorry to be a humourless tightarse, but you punsters might wish to watch this Youtube video. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EZf-KpFurFI/hqdefault.jpg "XPT West 3: Bathurst to the Tumulla Bank") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZf-KpFurFI) [/QUOTE] They’re ripping on the survivor teens, at least, which is not entirely undeserved. I have full sympathy for the driver; the teens were being weapons-grade stupid. I’ve taken a train (full passenger diesel style, not subway/elevated electric) to work every day for years, and see stupid stuff frequently. Just yesterday I saw a businessman at my stop walk to the crossing in front of the stopped train and blatantly cross, with the engineer blaring the horn at him the entire way and the guy not even flinching. I know the guy crossing probably figured he was just being needlessly picky about the rules, but the engineer was almost certainly pissed about the number of times he’s seen passengers do stupid shit because they “knew” they’d be fine, and maybe they weren’t right about that. I remember seeing a show about train crashes and the like, which showed film of an accident at a stop I used to get on at. Someone had set up a camera waiting for a historic train to come through, and was filming when a commuter train was stopped. I think people were getting off, and I think a man and a woman approached the crossing. Gates were still down and the gate alarms were ringing. They looked the other direction, away from the train that was stopped there, and began to cross. Then the man looked around the stopped train as he got past the front end, and suddenly jerked back. The woman wasn’t looking that way and stepped forward, and the footage stopped there, as you saw a train running on the middle track passing around the parked train. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/83 "2008-05-31T13:56:31Z")
Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff on Youtube that is pretty sobering. I won’t link to it. There’s another I will link to though: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jSzo3Dxge04/hqdefault.jpg "ACA - Terror Express") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzo3Dxge04) It’s from an Australian _Fox_-style tabloid current affair magazine type show, so it’s a bit sensationalist, but it does get the message across - especially where the film crew in the cab of the locomotive gets the train driver to simulate a full emergency stop. It takes three quarters of a mile. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/84 "2008-05-31T14:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] It takes three quarters of a mile. [/QUOTE] Plus or minus a foot. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/85 "2008-05-31T15:28:02Z")
[QUOTE=Asimovian] _sigh_ 24 hours later, and I _just_ got that… [/QUOTE] I got that joke from Jake, the boy on 2 1/2 men. It made me laugh my butt off. I HOP-- 😃 ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/86 "2008-06-01T14:17:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] The article claims that there was no evidence of drug use on anyone’s part, but rumor has it that the sight and smell of [reefer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car) were noted at the scene. [/QUOTE] According to Nobel scientists, there was no evidence of drug use on anyone’s part, except for the ones who WERE SUNNING THEMSELVES ON A TRAIN TRACK, AND THEN FELL ASLEEP! ---
**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:** [June 1, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/87 "2008-06-01T16:32:55Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] I got that joke from Jake, the boy on 2 1/2 men. It made me laugh my butt off. I HOP-- 😃 [/QUOTE] That’s weird because I actually have a real-life half-assed connection to that kid. So what you’re _saying_ is that because they’re missing a _foot_, so then when they _walked_…and then…I _HOP_…OHHHHHH! :o 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/88 "2008-06-01T16:57:11Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] [Cite.](http://www.wsbtv.com/news/3690110/detail.html) [/QUOTE] > [@linked article](#): > > Neighbors expressed grief and shock that a night of drinking could lead to decapitation. Submitted _sans_ augmentation because that kinda stands on its own, don’t it? Unlike Destiny and Rachel… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/89 "2008-06-01T19:55:30Z")
I think it’s sad that you can’t learn life lessons like this in college, even though they charge an arm and a leg. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/90 "2008-06-01T19:56:18Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] How does a freight train “come up” on you when you are lying on the track?! [/QUOTE] Maybe the train was actually the Spanish Inquisition. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/91 "2008-06-01T21:46:26Z")
When it comes to black humor, we Dopers are no pussyfooters. Doesn’t mean we’re callous, though [she said, archly] – just that we don’t stand on ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rascal_s_Mom)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/92 "2008-06-01T23:39:59Z")
You guys are so sick. And so funny! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/93 "2008-06-02T05:06:06Z")
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal] I’d ask why the living hell anyone would lay down on train tracks to sunbathe … [/QUOTE] No doubt they’d heard this is how you get sleepers punched into your ears. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/94 "2008-06-03T02:56:05Z")
Were they blondes? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/95 "2008-06-03T03:19:06Z")
Poor girls… all they wanted was a little R&R. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/96 "2008-06-03T03:27:23Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] (snip) spray paint both your names and initials in heart-shaped graffiti under the tressel). [/QUOTE] Trestle. Unless you mean [this guy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Tressel) :smack: Damnit, I promised I’d stop doing that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002.md?page=4)