big trouble in little ontario

[the_siobhan]

My train yesterday had to use the emergency brakes because somebody drove their pickup truck onto the tracks just as we were approaching the crossing.

So that was a first.

No damage done, but apparently they take about 15 minutes of work to unlock.

Comments

[ysilme]

What an experience! And yes, that unlocking takes time - my father-in-law was a signaller at the railway and my father is a model railroader; both have fed me with more details about railwais than I ever cared to know *g*. But as long as nobody is hurt and no damage is done all's good, I suppose.

I once watched an emergency braking of a tram in the city, which looked and sounded quite spectacular: those old-fashioned tram types had no brakes but released a lot of sand onto the rails for emergency stops, but they also weren't going very fast; I'm guessing 20 kmh/13 mph at the site where it happened. For a similar reason, too: some hippie guy was about to cross the rails with their very old and battered VW van when both axled broke down at once. I also learned about the alarm sounds of that tram: a very atonal chime of bells rung over and over again - for the sake of the poor tram driver I hope they didn't need to use that often!