JonJacob

usually line 4 has a really long string of gondola cars, and none of the gondolas have crosswalks, each one does usually have a ladder on one end though.

I have a question... Here is a picture of a spot I know track 1 __________________________________________________ track 2 _________________________________________ track 3 /_________________________________________ track 4 /__x_______________________________________________ tracks 2 and 3 are sidings off of track 4, and the x is me. All tracks are empty except 4. Tracks 2 and 3 are about a half mile long, and I only go there at night. Occasionally engines come down track one, and you can see their headlight when they are about a mile away. When I see one coming I cross over tracks 3,2, and one and hide in the woods until the engine passes by and is out of sight. The problem is that when I look both ways before crossing the tracks, the headlight shines right in my eye. I'm worried that the headlight shining in my eye would make it hard to see anything else coming towards me down one of the other tracks from the same direction, perhaps backing up. I think that if something was backing up towards me down one of the other tracks it would block my view of the headlight and be backlit by it therefore making it visible. Does anyone have any input on this situation? Painting the other side of track 4 is not an option and neither is crossing over the cars on track 4 because they usually don't have crosswalks.

cracked said "Basically, if you are between lines and one line starts to move, and you don't have a deathwish, you must stop whatever you're doing and either get out or at least pay close attention to what's going on. Move to the nearest end of the car you're next to of the stopped line, climb the ladder and either cross over and wait, or stand on the back walkway with a FIRM handgrip (in case that line also moves suddenly). " On cars that don't have a crosswalk, but do have a ladder on the back and front of the car (like some gondolas) is it just as safe to hold onto this ladder as it would be to stand on the crosswalk and hold on? I'm not talking about the ladders on the sides.

Cracked- So all you can do is make sure to look around alot while your painting to see if anything is coming down the track next to the line your painting? Anything else? This topic is the best ever, a couple years ago I was looking around trying to find safety info, it would have been great if I had found this back then.

Ramblers I've never seen humping or a rambler, I guess cuz I only go to small spots...but after reading about ramblers on this thread, I got the shiznitch scared out of me. Cracked, you said... "This raises several safety issues: One, a train that is backing up, or cars that have been humped off, can run you down without you ever hearing an engine." Did you mean that you can hear them (ramblers), they are just nowhere as loud as an engine, or are they completely silent?

InBetweenCars a)What safety precautions should be taken when painting in between two lines that are right next to eachother? c)Should you avoid touching still cars? If one suddenly started moving would it rip off what ever was touching it? B)I've always though that painting in between two lines is safer than painting a line next to an empty track. When you are between two lines there is something occupying the track behind you, so nothing can really sneak up on you. I always figured too that if the line behind me was about to move, I would hear the slack being taken up way down the line before the car behind me actually started to move. comments?