I hope they use the money to build a bridge.

Dufus, forget the tow truck. I want to see the boot they put on the wheel...

Living in a small town with a railroad crossing sucks.
What will really get your nuts twisted is when the train slowly pulls through town until it's almost clear of the crossing, stops and then starts backing up.....they then repeat this process...

Could the link BE any slower?

Bravo. They do this shiat all the time where I live too. I wish others would follow his lead.

How far did he have to walk to put the ticket under the windshield wiper?

One the other hand it would have been a sweet way to hop an easy ride down the line.

Railroads have a job to do. If you don't like it, build a bridge or underpass. The railroad owns the property.

The real victims here, folks, are those suicidal lasses tied to the tracks.

"Somebody saaavvv....wheres the frickin' train?!"

Hemlock

Nope. The railroad owns the tracks, and is granted an easement across public property for timely and proper use of the land under the tracks.

Here's the obligatory Casey Jones reference.

Once we have teleporters, there will be no need for railroads...

The railroads own 400 squarefoot parcels in kind of a checker board pattern on either side of the railroad... This is to ensure that you can cross the tracks without trespassing.

smokedietcrack

Once we have robots and holosuites, there will be no need for contact with another human, ever.

/I hate people

It's their own stupid fault for putting the ONLY crossing on a place where one train needs to pull over to let another go by. It isn't extremely difficult or time consuming to build another crossing a mile away.

I live in an area where one of the busiest train tracks in the world goes through (UP track by North Platte, NE), with at least a train a minute going by. They cut through lots of small towns, too. So you drive a mile or two or three down the line and try again.

He was just trying to nip it in the bud.

Litig8r The railroad is doing their job in the course of conducting interstate commerce. If the city finds it inconvenient that this business is blocking a road, let them dig a tunnel on their public property or build a bridge on their public property.

I, for one, welcome our railroad baron overlords!

/150 years too late

Grade separations can be a pain in the ass too.
Around here, it takes about 3 years to complete a project, in the meantime holding up traffic with lane restrictions and causing inconvenience to the customers of affected businesses.

Does really needs to take that long? I sometimes get the impression the contractors try to drag things out, as you see the sites with no work going on for days at a time.

Hemlock

The Commerce Clause (to which you allude) does not automatically permit interstate commerce to trump local interests. Rather, it allows the federal government to enact and enforce laws that touch on the interests of the several states because a nexus with interstate commerce.

Sir Topham Hatt unavailable for comment.

bigpete53
Could the link BE any slower?
--------------
Scalded Ape
It isn't extremely difficult or time consuming to build another crossing a mile away.
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Small town, small bandwidth, small brained architects.

Off Topic Warning

Why does FARK keep torturing me by replacing and then returning powderpuffgurl?

I'd say hero too! Farking trains....

$1000 for the first 25 minutes and $500 for every 5 minutes after that? What is this 1-900-TRAIN-PORN?

The deputy should have charged the train an extra million dollars for subjecting their town to crappy music.

I use to live in a town that had the same problem. They built a bridge over the tracks in the main area that caused the most traffic back-up. This town just needs to build a bridge.

Hemlock,
There are RULES! The railroad is not George Bush! If they can't follow sthe rules, they deserve the consequences.

The Timaeus

I grew up in Lincoln, NE and have been to North Platte many times...there are so many UP and BN trains going through that city that they need a frickin' bypass.

The town needs to get with the times and start using modern transportation to replace the train. What better way to get all this junk across the country then 3000 SUV's! We can even hire soccer moms and glue cell phones to their heads and provide them with plenty of makeup in which they can apply all while driving1!

But neither do local interests trump interstate commerce. There are certain inherent aspects of railroad operation that may cause the occasional blocking of a grade crossing. For example, stopping on a siding for an hour. This type of harassment is exactly what the commerce clause was attempting to prevent-- piece-meal law enforcement by each community the rr passes through, each of which may have a different standard (e.g. speed limits, standing time limits, use of horns, etc.).

If the crossing in question is really that important, undertake a grade separation.

Hemlock, if you were in the back of an ambulance waiting 67 minutes to cross, I think you would be singing a different tune, asshat. Trains do whatever they want to do, and no matter what, it does not take 67 minutes to wait on another train to pass...ever.

This isn't a case of local interests trumping interstate commerce...it's a case of interstate commerce putting people's lives in jeopardy.

I live right down the street from Big Rock. It's an extremely small town. There are a couple of crossings in that town but I believe all the crossings where blocked.

The point of the story was that emergency vehicles would have had to have gone at least 5 miles to the next crossing. That's life and death if there is an emergency.

Emperor of the North comes to mind..

/obscure?

Hemlock

Ah, yes, but the Federal government has not enacted a law (under the Commerce Clause or any other of which I know) that permits this sort of behavior by the railroad and to the detriment of local interests.

If the RR company doesnt want a ticket, they should build a bridge/tunnel over/under the road.

Mofo_Jones

I won't disagree.

uatuba quit wrenching your hands. If I was in a bambulance I'd blame the town for not building a bridge over the rr. Then Id ask them to pass the nitrous.

Tjos Weel: I think they s hould put the train on an air plane and fly it over the town in question.

HERO Tag. I understand the need for some lane blockage, but 60+ minutes is a case of just waiting for product to be loaded. Even though it would have cost money, they should have moved to a different place on the tracks to reduce traffic disruption.

Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!

2004-06-15 01:37:25 PM Farkin'A

You don't happen to live in Chadds Ford, PA do you?

/that shiat happens all the time there and the tracks cross a major road :(