Link to a thoughtful article in The Washington Post following the death of a 16 year-old on CSX tracks in Maryland. The story includes a photo of the young man who died, taken just before the accident.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/taking-photos-on-train-tracks-a-mistake-you-cant-undo/2015/10/02/99769f94-6218-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html

Wesley

Several of my non-railroad Facebook friends have been posting stupid track photos lately and I've made sure to chew them out. One photo showed a friend sitting between the tracks, showing his shoes. Why you would want to sit between the tracks, and why you would think anyone wants to see your hipster shoes is beyond me.

This is where Darwin kicks in. As long as there isn't any litigation against the railroads, as these people get hit by trains, hopefully in time, there won't be any people foolish enough to take stupid track photos left in the gene pool...

Heh... NOT taking stupid track photos becomes an evolutionary survival strategy. Natural selection will smile upon those humans smart enough to not get hit by trains, just like those humans millions of years ago that managed to avoid getting eaten by Cheetahs. Hopefully in time, that trait will be passed on through successive generations...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzMOUvtsoiw This guy clearly isn't the sharpest pencil in the box, but he didn't make it as close a call as some people I've seen. Once this Summer in Pottstown I sat in the parking lot across from the station on the night of a car show. A unit freight of tank cars was trundling Eastbound out of the yard and then Albert Einstein makes an appearance by standing in the middle of the crossing (and the road before the gates went) flipping the driver the single finger salute and just standing there until he just about hits this guy, and the man full of wits calmly walks away. But it doesn't end here. Little did Mr. Einstein know a Westbound manifest was barreling through about the same time as the last car of the oil train was slowly going over the crossing. In another burst of wisdom he walks across the crossing without letting the gates go up like he's the world's biggest bad***, nearly walks into the last car of the unit freight, and goes unknowingly into the path of the manifest. It took him a fraction of a second for him to hear the engineer's frantic horn and get blinded by the headlight until he took a nose dive out out of the way missing being hit by inches. THIS DOES HAPPEN PEOPLE.

One thing I've always been curious about is, have there been any documented cases of people who are standing off to the the SIDE of the tracks, being killed by parts flying off trains? We see brake shoes, brake hoses, knuckles, etc. littering the tracks all the time.

I saw a guy standing very close to the track very nearly get hit by a piece of loose steel strapping on a carload of lumber. He might have been seriously injured if another bystander hadn't seen the strapping and yelled to him. I've also seen folks get a "golden shower" while standing too close when a steam passenger train went by at speed.

I was disgusted with the purple prose the reporter depicted said teen with, like this part:

The three walked toward the tracks, stopping for photos just before they got to them. John, as usual, was enjoying the moment. He seemed like someone, Natalie always thought, who woke up happy and spent the rest of his day that way.

Aw man, break out the violin why don't you? These kids had no right to be there, school project or no, an issue the reporter tip toed around as if it were a live mine.

How many people will have to die before people get the message railways are no place to play? I swear to God, I will yell at anyone I see who is taking selfies or posing for pictures on the tracks while I am out chasing Milwaukee Road 261 this weekend. I would not be saving just their dumb necks but the Friends of the 261 as well. A tragic accident involving a dumb idiot taking pictures on the tracks would be catastrophic for that organization insurance-wise. Indeed, as the YouTube video shared in this thread graphically demonstrates, stupid idiots do stupid things around steam trains as well as diesel powered ones.

May I throw another point in here? I said this over on Trainorders, but it may bear repeating:

Steam excursions attract a lot of railfans, some of whom have autism. Some of those guys are severe enough to go into hyperfocus when they see a steam engine; in other words, they no longer notice their surroundings because they're so focused on the locomotive, and they may run into people or step into a dangerous position. In a perfect world, they would always have a friend or relative along to remind them of the safety rules. This is not a perfect world.

If you know someone who is likely to do that, or you see someone at an event who seems to be a little too intent, keep an eye on them and be ready to react. Unlike the teens in the story above, people with autism can't always judge what's most important to look at and how to be safe, but it would all look the same way to the news. Watch out for yourselves, yes, but keep an eye out for people who can't or won't.

The importance of paying attention to surroundings--in other words, the closest miss I've ever seen, at least in the US (There is one harrowing near miss video, from a security camera, where a track worker is nearly hit by two high speed trains in China.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd6maEpbzDg

I thought the article was well done, especially since it avoided the usual headline "Train hits..." as if the accident was the fault of the railroad. The quotes from various railroad reps were also well placed. The article appeared above the fold in the local news section as a feature story.

Wesley

But my favorite:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1091064/Selfie-boy-kicked-head-train-conductor.html

The $6,000,000 question is do we allow this to happen at our orginazations in a safe controlled enviroment (thus adding to the craze) or not have any part and haveing them posabely take there shoot to an active main line railroad.

You may be disgusted, and it seemed overwrought and heavy-handed to me, but this is the pablum to which an awfully large portion of the population responds positively. Think of it as "good cop/bad cop" or "stern daddy/benevolent mommy" tactics.

How many of us have eyes that will roll upwards or glaze over at yet the next Draconian safety lecture, spouting dry statistics or showing mutilated body parts belonging to someone that didn't abide? Contrast with this tone of demeanor in the article--"He never thought it could happen to him, until he suddenly had the best day of his life ended permanently......"

Consider also the "new and improved" safety lectures many airlines are using before plane take-offs, with humor and levity injected into an otherwise robotic drone. Consider Melbourne Metro's catchy "Dumb Ways To Die" viral safety video, with over 112 MILLION views on YouTube at this point.

Just tonight my wife got a Facebook posting of one of her friends postings, with the entire family posed not only on the tracks, but out on a local through truss bridge with the 'no trespassing' sign visible in the shot.

Yikes. This is true, it's becoming fashionable and trendy. And they are all educated and older.

I sent them the story.

One thing I have discovered in our area is that photographers play stupid. We have been keeping track of the ones that we have to talk to, and more often than not the same ones will continually say they did not know it was trespassing. They must all forget quick.

Just Friday night I was doing repairs on our sw9. When I pulled out of the engine house to run some tests, there was a photographer and her victim on the tracks. They quickly moved, then as soon as I passed, jumped right back on the tracks behind me. As I switched out onto our main, they moved over to a caboose parked on the opposite side of the main from the engine house, backs to me, and began taking photos. Keep in mind that they were standing between 5 or so parked cars and our mainline., with a building on the opposite side. No where to go if they did not see me in time, or I did not know they were there. You should have seen them run. She was a local photographer that had been talked to multiple times, yet when approached friday, had no clue that she was in the wrong.

One thing I should add is that our organization is very photographer friendly, IF AND ONLY IF, they get permission to be there. We are glad to let people stand on or in equipment, on the tracks, with their hand on the throttle, etc. As long as they ask, are safe and not sneeking around and playing stupid. Who knows, on the right day someone might get to blow the horn, or even pull the throttle for a hundred yards. No chance of any of that if your on the RR'S bad side.