Railroaders' Nostalgia > Lunatics Abound

Last year, I was working a local in the city. One afternoon, as we we approached a street crossing, I saw a man waiting on the sidewalk, apparently, waiting for us to pass but, at the last minute, he stuck his fingers in his ears, put his head down and marched right in front of us! We were only going ten miles an hour. If he'd wanted to get across, he could, easily, have made it. No, this was intentional. But that's not the weird part of the story. As usual, there was wave after wave of fire trucks, ambulance, city police, county sherriff, railroad police, and claims adjusters. By the time that was all over, we'd had a major street blocked for two hours but the police had diverted traffic around us.

Eventually, everyone left and there was just the three of us standing out there, waiting for a relief crew and a ride home. That's when a woman approached us, from across the road. She said, "Tell me something. I know you're not supposed to talk to me but what's REALLY going on here? I know, I know, they told me you ran over someone but I've been watching and I never saw a body or a stretcher. Does it it have something to do with the secret underground pipeline? 'Cause I heard a "thump" in the ground, right before you guys got here." Without missing a beat, my conductor looked over each shoulder and then leaned in close to her and said, "Listen lady, they don't tell us everything. All I know is we were told to come up here and block the street for a while." She said, "I knew it!', whirled around and stormed off across the street!

good answer

I so WISH I could think that fast on my feet. Oh, well...

Fritz in MD

She was probably on the phone with George Norwy that night.

I worked with a Metrolink conductor who told me about a "critical incident" at Rialto.  The train was coming in for a station stop and the woman jumped out in front of it when it was only doing about fifteen miles an hour.  The lead truck of the cab car was the only thing that ran over her.  He said when he got out and investigated the scene, it looked like that scene from "The Wizard of Oz" where the tornado caused the house to land on the Wicked Witch of the West.  Another co-worker, upon hearing the story, said, "Man, that must have hurt." 

Yeah.  If you're going to do yourself in, maybe 90 MPH territory is the preferred place.     

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
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> I worked with a Metrolink conductor who told me
> about a "critical incident" at Rialto.  The train
> was coming in for a station stop and the woman
> jumped out in front of it when it was only doing
> about fifteen miles an hour. 

Just before my stolen locomotive incident https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2350325,2350337#msg-2350337 Date: 12/25/10 22:50 Runaway - part 8 Author: TAW there was a guy who used No 11 to commit suicide at Auburn. Well....he tried. As No 11 approached, he took off all of his clothes and stacked them neatly next to the track. Then he lay down between the rails - parallel to them. The engineer plugged the train but the whole train passed over him anyway. The result - his backside was skinned up by a traction motor. That's it. Not even a substantial blood loss. Had he not worried about getting his clothes dirty, the attempt would have been successful.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
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> Had he not worried about getting his clothes dirty, the attempt would have been successful.

At that point in his life, I wonder why he was worried about getting his clothes dirty?  If it had been a sucessful venture, his mother or wife wouldn't have been able to nag him over it!  
 

That's crazy, I for one just feel bad for people who do this, it sucks!

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
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> TAW Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Had he not worried about getting his clothes
> dirty, the attempt would have been successful.
>
> At that point in his life, I wonder why he was
> worried about getting his clothes dirty? 


OCD or some other aspect of mental illness.

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TAW Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Had he not worried about getting his clothes
> dirty, the attempt would have been successful.
>
> At that point in his life, I wonder why he was
> worried about getting his clothes dirty?  If it
> had been a sucessful venture, his mother or wife
> wouldn't have been able to nag him over it!  
>  

Probably wanted something nice to be buried in.