Riding the Trains
May. 7th, 2004 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ickaimpEvery so often, if you just shut up and listen, y'learn the most interesting things.
This is from a conversation with a gentleman who used to ride the trains back in the 70s. Obviously security is tighter now, and there's more to it than this, but the discussion was fascinating.
+++ Riding the Trains +++
The reason why the Amtrak trains are -always- late is because they must constantly pull over to let the freight trains pass them. Across most of the country there is only one rail line that trains going in both directions must share. Trains must also keep about a 15 mile distance between them.
Don't go for the flatbeds, you’re too visible and there's no protection from the winds. Those are Riderless trains.
Don't try to go for a train that's moving faster than you can run. That’s just asking for trouble.
Reach for the first ladder on a car, not the end one. That way if you loose your grip, the chances are you'll bounce off the side of the car and be flung away from the railroad tracks with minimal injuries. If you loose your grip on the last ladder on a car, the probability of you getting pulled under the train wheels on to the tracks is much higher, thus the chance of death / dismemberment / decapitation.
Never look like you have more than the next person riding the train, always make it look like you have less. People will mug you for $3. Which is why you never carry your money all in one place, hide it in a minimum of three places on your body.
Don't forget to bring food and water with you. And warm clothing.
Hope that the car you’re riding on has good wheels. If the train has had to do an emergency stop, the brakes are set so that all the wheels lock up, resulting in -all- the wheels in the train having one part that is not-so round from the friction against the rail. A car that has had this happen will not ride smoothly, so even if you have the materials to construct a wind-guard, it will just shake apart.
-A 100+/- car train at full speed will take about a mile to stop with an emergency brake.
The last engine on a train is the Cadillac of train rides if you can get it. Not only is it protected from the winds and thus warmer, there is also a small bathroom with water on board. The first engine on a train is the master, the rest of the engines hooked up as slaves. The engineer rides in the front, occasionally travelling back to the other engines to make sure that everything is running as it should. If you can avoid him (or appear harmless that they ignore you), you're golden.
Riding a train is like riding one of those giant Sand-worms in the Dune books. You cannot ask it to pause so you can get a snack or go to the bathroom. You have only two choices: When you get on, and when you get off.
Everything else is beyond your control.
This is from a conversation with a gentleman who used to ride the trains back in the 70s. Obviously security is tighter now, and there's more to it than this, but the discussion was fascinating.
+++ Riding the Trains +++
The reason why the Amtrak trains are -always- late is because they must constantly pull over to let the freight trains pass them. Across most of the country there is only one rail line that trains going in both directions must share. Trains must also keep about a 15 mile distance between them.
Don't go for the flatbeds, you’re too visible and there's no protection from the winds. Those are Riderless trains.
Don't try to go for a train that's moving faster than you can run. That’s just asking for trouble.
Reach for the first ladder on a car, not the end one. That way if you loose your grip, the chances are you'll bounce off the side of the car and be flung away from the railroad tracks with minimal injuries. If you loose your grip on the last ladder on a car, the probability of you getting pulled under the train wheels on to the tracks is much higher, thus the chance of death / dismemberment / decapitation.
Never look like you have more than the next person riding the train, always make it look like you have less. People will mug you for $3. Which is why you never carry your money all in one place, hide it in a minimum of three places on your body.
Don't forget to bring food and water with you. And warm clothing.
Hope that the car you’re riding on has good wheels. If the train has had to do an emergency stop, the brakes are set so that all the wheels lock up, resulting in -all- the wheels in the train having one part that is not-so round from the friction against the rail. A car that has had this happen will not ride smoothly, so even if you have the materials to construct a wind-guard, it will just shake apart.
-A 100+/- car train at full speed will take about a mile to stop with an emergency brake.
The last engine on a train is the Cadillac of train rides if you can get it. Not only is it protected from the winds and thus warmer, there is also a small bathroom with water on board. The first engine on a train is the master, the rest of the engines hooked up as slaves. The engineer rides in the front, occasionally travelling back to the other engines to make sure that everything is running as it should. If you can avoid him (or appear harmless that they ignore you), you're golden.
Riding a train is like riding one of those giant Sand-worms in the Dune books. You cannot ask it to pause so you can get a snack or go to the bathroom. You have only two choices: When you get on, and when you get off.
Everything else is beyond your control.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-07 06:31 pm (UTC)Dune
Date: 2004-05-08 03:27 pm (UTC)I wonder if you could attract a train with a thumper, like you can attract a worm...
Re: Dune
Date: 2004-05-08 05:39 pm (UTC)