# Your Reaction to Having to Wait for a Train at the Crossing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589 "2022-03-23T23:55:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/61 "2022-03-25T10:27:16Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Just don’t make the mistake of crossing anyway and then finding out there was _another_ train that wasn’t stopped. Indeed! It’s not uncommon around here for the commuter train to go by, the gates start to go up, then go right back down again as a train approaches from the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/62 "2022-03-25T16:14:19Z")
Another entertaining sight (I imagine) is where the train runs immediately parallel to surface roads. I’ve never been in a car driving what seems like 2 feet away from a train - but I’ve been on the train. I’d expect this would be a little nerve-wracking being in the car (and I also imagine the distance between car and train is greater than it seemed from the train). > [@gkster](#): > > My “something else” answer is “I’m fine with waiting”. My father was an aggressive, sometimes reckless driver who would try to “beat” the gates while my mom and sisters and I would yell “No! Stop!” My in-laws live in Florida, and there are some at-grade crossings there. Once, FIL was driving us somewhere and due to traffic, he got over the train tracks, and was stopped by traffic ahead. MIL had tried telling him “stop behind the tracks!” but he ignored her. It was (fortunately briefly) terrifying - as, if a train had come along, we’d have had no place to go. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/63 "2022-03-25T16:34:31Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > It was (fortunately briefly) terrifying - as, if a train had come along, we’d have had no place to go. Run. Leave the car. And do not ignore MIL when she happens to be right. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/64 "2022-03-25T17:03:24Z")
Another “Yay”. Hell, if I see a train coming, I’ll drive deliberately slow in approaching the crossing in the hopes the flashers/gates lower so that I have to stop. Hopefully first in line\* \*If there is traffic behind me, I won’t go deliberately slow to the point where I could have made it across but didn’t, so as not to delay any behind me. ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/65 "2022-03-27T14:38:47Z")
I count the cars ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/66 "2022-03-27T17:00:12Z")
For me its a rare treat. If I’m the first in line when the lights start flashing I’m almost giddy with excitement – trains bring out the little kid in me like no other thing. Although thanks to @Jasmine now I’m probably going to be wondering if _this_ is the day, time, and place that train will derail. Usually if I’m several cars back the excitement is somewhat diminished. Unfortunately I rarely see trains let alone get stopped by them. My commute to work each day doesn’t take me over a level crossing and the times where I do have to cross tracks I don’t usually encounter trains. My SIL/BIL bought a piece of property a few years ago that is adjacent to the main track that runs through our county. Unfortunately I’ve not visited when a train has came through. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/67 "2022-03-27T17:12:19Z")
That makes sense. The one time i had to stop for a drawbridge i found it fascinating and enjoyable. But i suspect it would get old if i had to do it often. There are two places where i somewhat routinely need to stop for trains. One is driving to the next town, which has a grade crossing for the commuter rail in the center of town. So i often get stuck waiting for the commuter rail to go by when i want to buy shoes, or hardware, or garden supplies, or visit Trader Joe’s. I take an identical commuter rail (different line, same cars) regularly, and it’s just not very exciting. At least it’s fairly short, though. The other is near a parking lot i often use at night when i go into the nearby city. Every so often, when I’m tired and just want to go home, i need to wait for a freight train to go by. That’s a drag. One exception: back when Barnum and Bailey still had animals in the circus, i waited while the circus train went by. Okay, that was pretty neat. Spoiler: i had been told when it would be there, and arranged to see it. I was actually in the parking lot, not on the street behind the gates, at the time. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/68 "2022-03-27T20:06:55Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > > > It was (fortunately briefly) terrifying - as, if a train had come along, we’d have had no place to go. > > Run. Leave the car. I have tracks near my house. One evening when crossing them I noticed headlights appearing to be ON the tracks pointing at me at the next crossing over. I figured it was one of those vehicles with train track adapters but went to investigate anyway. Turned out an elderly woman had mistaken the tracks for a street and turned onto them. My son jumped in her car and got it off the tracks. On the way to her house a couple blocks away a train came through. She insisted on giving my son a dollar, which he wouldn’t take, and I finally said “Just take it”, so we can go. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/69 "2022-03-27T20:12:36Z")
Between her driving on the tracks and her offering a dollar for saving her life (if one is going to offer such a reward, that’s clearly an absurd amount): that woman was in need of serious assistance. Whether it was a treatable or an unfixable medical issue, something was really wrong. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/70 "2022-03-27T21:59:29Z")
I briefly chatted with her neighbor who said she should not be allowed to drive. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/71 "2022-03-28T02:48:05Z")
Sure sounds like it. Just wow. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/72 "2022-03-28T02:52:40Z")
It’s hard to know how to react when a life is saved, though. My son’s second grade teacher saved his life. He cooked on a piece of apple, and the girl next to him noticed and told the teacher, and the teacher did the heimlich maneuver, which worked. The apple them lodged in his esophagus, but was too large to pass into his stomach, so then they sent him to the emergency room for an endoscopy… Exciting day. Anyway, i wanted to thank the teacher, but…i mean really, there’s nothing adequate to say “thank you” for your child’s life. I bought her a large bouquet of colorful roses and wrote a note. But… Yeah, roses, woo hoo. A dollar is really weird, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/73 "2022-03-28T11:18:55Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Although thanks to @Jasmine now I’m probably going to be wondering if _this_ is the day, time, and place that train will derail. No thanks necessary; I live to serve. 😈 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/74 "2022-03-29T16:06:10Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > A dollar is really weird, though. From a little old lady who drove on railroad tracks, and did not make the connection that the BUMPITYBUMPITYBUMPITY was not a normal road surface? Not at all. A dollar was probably quite generous in her youth. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/75 "2022-04-07T04:36:12Z")
There are trains around here in the DC area but all the level crossings in my area were ripped out at least 50 years ago. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I suspect you all might not want to live here: (yes the main line runs through the center of downtown, just like some model railroad. No, it doesn’t go through at 60 mph, thank goodness!) Try Tokyo: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Bl5nYnCbSJc/maxresdefault.jpg "【2022/04/07 8:05〜20:05 archive】西武線ライブカメラ　西武池袋線保谷駅付近の踏切ライブ配信　アーカイブ") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl5nYnCbSJc) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589/76 "2023-04-27T05:44:54Z")
It’s one thing to have to wait a few minutes, but how about when trains block crossings for hours? Especially when children need to cross to get to school? > **[Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under Trains to Get to School](https://www.propublica.org/article/trains-crossing-blocked-kids-norfolk-southern)** > > When crossings are blocked for hours, kids risk their lives to get to school by crawling through trains that could start at any moment. Ambulances and fire trucks can’t get through. The problem has existed for decades. But it’s getting worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-having-to-wait-for-a-train-at-the-crossing/961589.md?page=3)