When you are driving around (or just a passenger) in a car or truck and you approach a railroad grade crossing just as the lights, bell, gates, etc. activate, what is your reaction?
Like a normal person, you think something like "Oh f**k, a darned train is coming and now I have to wait.
Like Ynnad, you shout something like, “Oh boy, oh boy, a train is coming. Yay!”
They don’t have trains where I’m at.
You don’t react at all (other than avoiding getting hit by a train).
I selected “Something else (explain)” so here’s the explanation, although it’s kind of close to the second option. I find it calming. I sit there, counting the the cars on the train as they go by.
Near my current neighborhood, though, it can get pretty interesting. I saw what I’m pretty sure is Kim Jong Un’s train twice, once going west and then once going east.
Assuming the train is moving briskly and I’m in no hurry, I’ll be in my car clapping my hands in childish glee and will likely have the window rolled down to hear the sound. I, like everybody, love a train. If it’s moving slow (looking at YOU, short SE Division!) and starts backing up I can get a little bit testy.
I used to get excited, at least if I saw the start of it and so I could count cars. Now, though, I live right smack next to train tracks, so it’s lost its luster.
I’m a train nerd, so I generally like seeing them, especially if there’s an interesting locomotive. OTOH, if I’m in a hurry, it’s frustrating to get delayed by one.
(Also, I have two busy crossings within a mile of my house, on streets I have to travel often, so I see quite a few trains blocking my way.)
I don’t mind waiting a few minutes, but I do end up gritting my teeth because there’s no way of knowing how fucking long the damn thing’s going to be. And now that I think about it, it occurs to me that that might be the premise for a short existential novel.
The nearest at-grade railroad crossing is quite some distance away, so I chose “they don’t have them” but the times I have encountered such, my reaction is “oh boy!!”.
The town my daughter lives in has some freight lines running through town - including one that actually cuts through the corner of the property where our usual hotel is located. I often hear them going through, but somehow my room is never on the side where I could actually look out the window and see the choo-choo. I did get stuck once, when trying to exit the parking lot, as the train was passing by and blocking the road. Made my day!
My suburb has one of the major east-west routes in the U.S. running through it, so it’s quite normal to have 100+ car freight trains rumble through grade crossings at about 12 mph several times a day. That’s quite frustrating.
OTOH, when Amtrak trains (which are usually two cars long on this route) come through, it’s over quickly and I get to seen the faces of the passengers in the windows. Then I feel like @Ynnad.
Last summer I had to take all three dogs to get heartworm tested and on the way back I detoured to hit a nice beach park on the Columbia River in Vancouver. Turns out the park is on the other side of a grade crossing, a major high speed freight line that goes along the Columbia on the north side–there’s an equivalent line on the south shore. Anyway, as I was putt putting down to the park the arms came down, the bells went off and I was in absolute train nerd heaven as a major freight train barrelled by about 20 feet from the hood of my car, going probably 60mph. To make it even better, my youngest dog had never seen a train up close and was mightily impressed by it–also kinda wanted to chase it, he’s one of those kind of dogs. Herding dogs, so impetuous. Train took maybe three minutes to barrel past and it was quite a treat for us all. Then the dogs went swimming. Don’t think an early summer day gets any better than that.
I think of all the PSAs I have heard in the past that you should never go around the crossing guards when they are down and there is no train present.
If we are not suppose to go around the guards, why are they made so that we can?
Trains in my town are big Pain in the Ass. They are numerous, about 60 per day, they go very slowly and they are very long. Seems like they have gotten longer since the trucker shortage. And they like to park on the crossings. What if I am in the back of an ambulance needing emergency care?
If you get to the crossing as the guards are crossing, you are most likely going to wait at least 10 minutes. Ugh. So generally I go to the only underpass, about a 3 mile round trip extra.
There’s a railway that goes through the major traffic mess in the middle of my town. In theory, the trains aren’t supposed to run during peak traffic times, yet one went through at 8:30 am the other day. Fuck the trains.
They used to be going north to bring coal to the power plant and bringing salt back to whoever needed the salt. The power plant is shut down, so it’s only salt. That can wait.
And the train crossing prevents the majority of the town from access to the hospital.
Pre-covid I often commuted on foot, bike or bus through an industrial park that is adjacent to a railyard and is surrounded by level crossings. So if I’m on a bus, in a worst-case situation I can call my office and let them know, because the traffic is literally encircled by a bloody long train. If I’m on foot or a bike, depending on how long I think I’ll have to wait I’ll either wait or head to an alternate crossing.
The challenge is that the trains are mostly very, very long freight trains passing through an area with very short sight-lines, so it’s really hard to determine the train’s length. There’s a ton of graffiti on the trains, of varying levels of talent (some artists are obviously really talented) so graffiti-watching can be quite entertaining.
There are a couple of train tracks i regularly need to cross. I also take the commuter train regularly, or did, before the pandemic. No, it’s not a treat to see a train. It’s just annoying to wait for it to pass. At least the commuter train only takes a couple of minutes. Sometimes a freight train just goes on and on. Yawn.
However there is one particular railroad crossing in the Chicago area that I detest. It crosses the best way from my inlaws’ place to O’Hare airport. Several times I’ve been stuck at the crossing while a huge freight train goes by, taking forever, while I’m trying to catch a flight.
I get mildly – not highly – excited over trains. Sometimes I try to count the cars, but I invariably lose count. I roll down the windows to listen.
I fantasize about jumping on a boxcar and seeing where it takes me.
About a 5 hour drive from here is the world-famous Tehachapi Loop. On occasion when I’ve passed by that way, I’ve stopped for a look. According to some pics I’ve seen, it appears that there is now a viewing platform for all the train-spotting tourists, which I think must be fairly new.
