Being a railfan, Yay!
So would you count a five-unit well car as one, or five?
Typically enjoy, unless happen to be in a hurry. Especially fun if paralleling the tracks and headed in the same direction.
But the last one, in an area unfamiliar to me, was headed west and it stopped dead after ten minutes.
Waited another ten (with others, so didn’t feel too dumb), finally gave up and rerouted several miles east to the nearest overpass.
It extended all the way to that overpass and was still stopped when we went over.
I’m not sure I can remember this ever actually happening. Maybe once or twice when I was a kid? There aren’t any street level crossings where I am now, but what I really loved when I was younger was having to wait for a drawbridge to go up. I thought that was just the coolest thing! Especially if we were the first car in front.
I like trains but we dont get many that aren’t Metrolink trains these days but they come every 90 minutes like clockwork … the neat thing is they have an engine and driver on each side so they don’t have to turn around …
Count me in the “Yay!” camp. I love trains. My Dad used to work on them, and we had a track pass by close to our summer home. When a train passed by, as indicated by its early whistle, we’d run out so we could wave at it. Freight or passenger, we always got friendly waves back.
I don’t mind waiting at a level crossing. I’ve been late for a few appointments, but as we have a few level crossings on major thoroughfares here, “I was held up by the train” is accepted as a valid excuse for being late in my city.
Combination of annoyance at the delay and worry that it might stop/break down and we’re all stuck for a much longer time (this has happened to me).
I always think, “Yay! I get to enjoy some cool, creative graffiti art.” Seriously.
I’m like “a normal person” with one addendum. If I’m at the front near the tracks, I always think about how I am SOOOOO dead if the darn thing decides to derail at that crossing. 
It’s a very rare event around here - there are no rail lines in my county or one adjacent. There’s a single line thru the other county and I’m pretty sure it’s only used for delivering coal to the power plant on the Potomac. We’ve lived here almost 18 years and I think I was delayed by a train once, and that was some years ago.
Wow, I literally can’t even remember the last time I had to wait at a train crossing. Probably 30+ years ago, before I left the town where I grew up, unless it happened on a road trip that I forgot about.
First I wonder if it’s going to be a commuter rail or freight train. If it’s a freight train, I definitely get annoyed because I’ve waited up to 20 minutes for one to pass. In that case, I just might turn around and get onto the highway to avoid it.
Something Else voter here: The town I live in has the main roads with elevated crossings, but some are grade crossings. If I’m stopped at one of those I roll down the window to listen and look for interesting graffiti on the freight cars. It’s a freight only line so no passengers to wave at.
We have street-level crossings here but being stuck at a crossing only happens once a year or less for me. I also enjoy it more if I am the first car in front. Otherwise I am farther away from the action and seeing the throng of cars reminds me I am in traffic.
For the people who vote “oh boy, oh boy!”, how often do you have to wait for a train? Is this a rare treat, or something that might happen any day as you drive to the shoe store?
I suppose my reaction would be “something else,” that something being a sort of resigned acceptance. I’m not exactly thrilled about it–sorry, railfans, but trains are inherently boring–but there’s not much I can do about it, and there’s no point in raising my blood pressure by getting angry.
That’s assuming the train actually keeps moving. There is one train crossing in my city where trains often just stop dead, not moving at all, sometimes for up to 15 minutes. Maybe more. This isn’t some out of the way country lane, either. It’s a major street, right in the middle of town. It causes major delays, and if you get caught by it, it’s incredibly aggravating.
The rumor is that local police routinely issue citations to the railroad companies for obstructing traffic. And that the railroad companies routinely ignore those citations. And that the courts always side with the railroads whenever the issue comes before them, on the basis that interstate commerce is more important than local traffic issues. I have no way of knowing if that’s true, but the fact that it’s an active rumor should give you some idea of how common these delays are, and how frustrating people find them.
There are train tracks running through a little town we live near. I’m stopped by a train on average twice a week. I get out my phone and catch up on things.
I’ve always lived near train tracks for some reason. I’ve always hated trains because of this.
I actively avoid any crossings. I intentionally choose routes that do not intersect with train tracks, even if that means driving several miles out of my way to get to a bridge that passes over the them.
Usually I’m not too bothered and only get irritated if it’s a large train, and the schedulers did something annoying like sent the train through a major metro area during rush-hour, thereby snarling traffic worse than usual.
If I’m back enough and I notice the signals come on, I’ll slow down so I can see the train.
I watch train webcams. I made a pilgrimage to Flagstaff to wave at the web cam.
I’ve gone down to Maricopa just to watch the trains go by.
I love to watch youtubes of trains hitting semis at crossings. OK, maybe I shouldn’t have said that…
HOWEVER, I’ve been stuck downtown Phoenix when a very long train was switching, and you can get stuck 20 minutes. The fun goes away there. But that’s rare.
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!)
Where I am the trains are mostly commuter jobs. The real PITA is when the crossing is near a station. The gates go down, the train stops at the station, and you wait for the train to load/unload then start up again and finally pass the crossing. You are waiting for stopped train, you can SEE the stopped train, but you can’t cross.