Vacation idea: Ride the world's longest train.

[Croney]

My friend, a widow in her 50's, just did this. I would love to visit Morocco and Mauritania but I'm not going to sit on top of an iron ore car for 400 miles and camp out with camels; I'm too old now. This is very cool though.

https://againstthecompass.com/en/iron-ore-train-mauritania/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. This is a bad idea. Railroads are not playgrounds. NT

[Croney]

2. I can see being attracted by the novelty, but I'll bet that few people

want to do it more than once.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Selfie Tragedy Forever Impacts Those Left Behind

Fri Dec 9, 2016: Selfie Tragedy Forever Impacts Those Left Behind

This is from a Union Pacific Railroad press release.

Full disclosure: I own shares of Union Pacific. I am posting this because I am getting tired of reading about people putting themselves in such risky positions.

The @ sign in the photos' links means the original photos won't open at DU. You'll have to cut and paste to see them.

I ran the pictures through https://postimage.org/ to put them in a form that will show up here.

SAFETY 12•08•2016

Selfie Tragedy Forever Impacts Those Left Behind

http://www.up.com/cs/groups/public/@uprr/documents/digitalmedia/img_up_instrk-selfie-final_mr.jpg



Kelsea Webster, 15, Essa Ricker, 15, and Savannah Webster, 13, did not hear the horn blasting as the approaching train's headlights created a halo in their final selfie.

Essa Ricker and Kelsea Webster, both 15, and Kelsea’s little sister, Savannah, waved at a westbound train crew and squeezed in for a selfie as it rolled through Utah’s scenic Spanish Fork Canyon October 2011. ... "Standing right by a train ahaha this is awesome!!!!" posted Savannah on Facebook as the train's steel wheels banged along the track's steel rail.

The excitement in the trio's eyes matched their big smiles as the train fanned their blonde hair in the wind while they posed for the selfie—completely unaware of the approaching train coming from the other direction. The train's headlights were visible on the top right side of the photo. ... "They were in their own little world," recalled John Anderson, train conductor inside the eastbound Union Pacific train locomotive. Engineer Michael Anderson, no relation to John, blasted the train horn to get the girls' attention. No response. Not even a flinch.

Trains traveling at 55 mph can take more than a mile to come to a complete stop after the emergency brakes are applied. A rush of panic, confusion and fear filled the locomotive as the train raced toward the girls at approximately 39 miles mph.


“We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward.”
— Conductor John Anderson

"We watched in horror as we got closer," said John, recalling how both he and Michael yelled as if it might stop what they knew was about to happen. "We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward." ... John raced back when the train finally stopped about a quarter mile down the track. The first girl he saw had no pulse and it was clear a second girl was no longer alive. John heard 13-year-old Savannah near the railroad crossing. She was hurt and agitated, but alive. ... "I told her everything would be OK and she relaxed a little," said John, who held Savannah's hand until paramedics arrived. "I hoped she would make it and for some reason I really thought she would."
....

http://www.up.com/cs/groups/public/@uprr/documents/digitalmedia/img_up_selfiesafety_crew.jpg



Conductor John Anderson and Engineer Michael Anderson desperately tried to get Kelsea, Essa and Savannah’s attention. They were unable to stop the train before hitting the teenagers.

[Ocelot II]

11. I used to hear railroad accident stories a lot when I was a kid

because my dad worked for a railroad (management, not on a train crew). That was long before selfies, but he'd tell us about people trying to beat a train across a crossing area, or drive around the gate arm, or about snowmobilers driving along the side of a track. He lectured us about not getting even close to train tracks and warned about how you couldn't always hear them coming and that it could take a freight train as much as a mile to come to a full stop. I grew up knowing how dangerous trains are, and I just shake my head when I read about these stunts.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Taking photos on train tracks: 'A mistake you can't undo.'

Fri Oct 2, 2015: Taking photos on train tracks: ‘A mistake you can’t undo.’

Taking photos on train tracks: ‘A mistake you can’t undo.’

Local

By Dan Morse October 2 at 7:00 AM
@morsedan

Sarah and Natalie Crim had just taken 35 photographs on the train tracks. The 16-year-old twins stepped off and looked at the screen on Sarah’s 35mm camera. ... Behind the teenagers, less than a mile away, Amtrak’s Capitol Limited was heading toward them at 76 miles per hour.

What happened moments later — a train looming, startled people who had been taking photos — has become a deadly phenomenon nationwide. John, a well-liked high school junior in Maryland, became the fifth person this year killed while taking photos or videos on train tracks in the United States.

It’s not just kids taking photos. Professional photographers like to pose high school seniors on tracks to evoke moving on in life. Brides and grooms seek similar shots. Parents even take photos of their toddlers on the rails. ... “People always think they have time to get away. That’s a mistake you can’t undo,” says Marc Orton, director of visual communications for the Norfolk Southern Railway.

{snip}



Natalie Crim and John DeReggi, both 16, walking on train tracks in Boyds, Md., on Sept. 14, 2014, moments before an Amtrak came up behind them. John was struck and killed shortly after this photo was made. (Crim family photo)

{snip}

This month, Operation Lifesaver, a railroad group, will host a Web-based seminar with the Professional Photographers of America to discuss the dangers of track photography and explore safer alternatives. Operation Lifesaver regularly mails letters to professional photographers whose track pictures show up on the Internet. The group will roll out its own public service announcements this year.

This photographer's site was mentioned in the article:

Seniors: Makenzie
Posted in Portraits on September 29th, 2015

You can’t go wrong with classic Boise locations Kathryn Albertson Park and the Train Depot! Combine that with great light, the best smile, and a really cute shoe idea, and it’s a stellar Class of 2016 senior session!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. A Train, a Trestle and 60 Seconds to Escape: How 'Midnight Rider' Victim Sarah Jones Lost Her Life

Fri Oct 9, 2015: A Train, a Trestle and 60 Seconds to Escape: How 'Midnight Rider' Victim Sarah Jones Lost Her Life

A Train, a Narrow Trestle and 60 Seconds to Escape: How 'Midnight Rider' Victim Sarah Jones Lost Her Life

by Scott Johnson
3/4/2014 2:21pm PST

'Midnight Rider' Production Company Hit With OSHA Fines for Sarah Jones' Death

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Woman Arrested After Doing Yoga On Metro Tracks

Thu Oct 8, 2015: Woman Arrested After Doing Yoga On Metro Tracks

Woman Arrested After Doing Yoga On Metro Tracks

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Oct. 7, 2015 5:13 p.m.



Don't try this, kids (NBC Washington)

A woman has been arrested and charged with striking a yoga pose on Metrorail tracks late last year.

Metro Transit Police say they've nabbed the Virginia woman who was spotted on surveillance footage doing a handstand on Orange Line tracks at the West Falls Church Station last December. NBC Washington reports that the woman has been arrested and charged with trespassing. Her name hasn't been released, but she is scheduled to appear in court at the end of the month.

A man was also spotted in surveillance footage taking photos of her. This all went down December 12 at 11 a.m. Police didn't say how they managed to track down their suspect. Nor is there any word about the gentleman photographer. However, Yoga Dork did manage to track down a shot from Instagram that appears to have come from the illegal shoot in question:



Screenshot from Instagram via Yoga Dork

Sure, Metro stations can be very un-Zen places, on swampy days they can feel like a Bikram studio and train tracks are a great background for #authentic Instagram shots, but striking a pose near the third rail on live tracks is an excellent way to become a Darwin awards contender.

And now for the video:

Woman arrested for doing yoga on metro track

October 8, 2015 10:52 AM EDT - Video released by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority shows a Virginia woman performing yoga poses on Metro train tracks at the West Falls Church station in 2014. The woman, who remains unnamed, will head to court later this month on trespassing charges. Editor's note: This video contains no audio. (WMATA)

[Croney]

7. Have a good day, and thanks for giving me so much of your time this morning.

❤️

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Thank you. I consider it an obligation. NT

Last edited Sun Feb 12, 2023, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

[Croney]

9. And more.

[Croney]

10. This I would do! The Orient Express.

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/11/05/i-followed-in-the-footsteps-of-agatha-christie-on-the-orient-express-from-paris-to-istanbu