Eastern Railroad Discussion > High Hoods, Camp Cars & Close Calls

MofW season is in full swing here in Ky this month. Crews have been laying new rail, surfacing, and all other sorts of things on both the CNO&TP and Louisville District. A Rail gang set up camp in Lawrenceburg, KY for over a week (with daytime curfews) to install new CWR. They had almost the entire yard at Lawrenceburg filled up with camp cars and support equipment.

On Saturday evening (March 14th) the entire gang was packed up and moved out, and I took advantage of that to get a few shots of the camp cars. NS is about the only Class 1 RR left to house system track gangs in this rather archaic form of lodging, and I have never had the chance to shoot a lot of that stuff. I figured it would be worth a few frames. It was also nice to see the NS 5134 tied up in the house track there, being used for the local T19.

Earlier that day on the way back from a CNO&TP outing, I stopped in Harrodsburg, KY to shoot a 375 which I lucked into. I set up just West of the US 127 crossing to shoot the train coming down the street, but got more than I bargained for. Even with Horns, Lights and Bells, several drivers decided to cheat death and dash out in front of the train....and sadly, at about the same time i was shooting this stuff, the horrific crossing incident was taking place in Louisville...just 50 miles to the West on the same line.

The entire set can be found here >>>> http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsls15

#1 NS GP38-2 # 5134, power for local T19 at Lawrenceburg, KY

#2 & 3 944 pulls out of the West leg of the wye at Lawrenceburg with a cut of Camp Cars.

E.M. Bell , KD4JSL
Salvisa, KY
Jreb.org NS group

---

---

---

# 4 Earlier in the day, Westbound 375 winds through the streets of Harrodsburg, KY

#5 15mph train misses a truck by less than 50 feet. This guy went around the stopped traffic, and never even glanced at the train

#6 and a car follows him right across...the train even closer..

E.M. Bell , KD4JSL
Salvisa, KY
Jreb.org NS group

---

---

---

I really like photo #4 B/w
Thanks for sharing.
Robert

Great shots of dumb drivers...

Great shots EM! Perhaps the window tint was too dark on that sedan for the driver to realize there was a train with feet of their vehicle?
Dan

Posted from iPhone

dschlegel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great shots EM! Perhaps the window tint was too
> dark on that sedan for the driver to realize there
> was a train with feet of their vehicle?
> Dan
>
> Posted from iPhone


Yeah, right! What a pair of idiots...

Must be unannounced Darwin Award tryouts near by... 
It's spring after all, and the dare devils are restless.

;-)

John.

EL-SD45-3632 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dschlegel Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great shots EM! Perhaps the window tint was too
> > dark on that sedan for the driver to realize
> there
> > was a train with feet of their vehicle?
> > Dan
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
>
> Yeah, right! What a pair of idiots...


They were running late for their upcoming filming of new workout videos.

Please everyone, remember one thing when photographing trains at road crossings.  If the train strikes a vehicle, that vehicle can become a missile and take you out as well.

The photos of the truck and car crossing in front of the train look like they were taken with a long telephoto lens (I call them "rhino chaser" lenses because they are useful for photographing large, ill-tempered beasts at a safe distance), so in this case the photographer was probably out of range of low-flying auto parts.

Hopefully.  I have unfortunately seen an accident where the vehicle was thrown 150 feet from the crossing, and off at a 45 degree angle.  Something to be mindful of when shooting on that side of the crossing.  A couple railroader co-workers schooled me many years ago about where to stand relative to a crossing and an approaching train.  That was the voice of experience.

In #3, to bad the car window was not down to get a look at the expression on the drivers (passengers) face, either shock or total obliviousness. That is damn close.

I am pretty sure the photographer was far enough away if the train had hit the car. There would have have been plenty of time to get out of the way.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

These photos could be used by Operation Lifesaver .

I'm sorry, but the lens really distorts how close the cars are to the train. Take a look at the engine crew they don't seem to have any sense of impending danger on their faces which lead me to believe that while the cars shouldn't have crossed a head of the train it's not as close as it appears.

Dave

Boh drivers probably had to replace their seat covers.

Good thing those crossing runners hid the view of those rail joints in the crossing.  Seeing those would be a butt tightner!
Tommy