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Comment: A group of boys living near a railroad liked to go play on the tracks, putting coins on the rails for a train to run over and smash. When one boy confessed a fear of going near the tracks, the other boys teased him and dared him to put his tongue on the track to prove he wasn't a coward. The boy did, but because the day was cold, his tongue froze to the rail. This seemed incredibly funny until the afternoon train came by. The panic-stricken boy couldn't get away from the rail as the train roared by, cutting of the end of his tongue. The boy survived, but hopefully learned a valuable lesson.
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-------------------- On my old guitar sell tickets, so someone can finally pick it. Posts: 799 | From: Dublin, Ireland | Registered: Mar 2006
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I would think that a train conductor could spot sombody whose head was on the tracks long enough to slow down, but even so, that wouldn't stop the kid from pulling the tongue off forcefully like people have been doping to free stuck tongues from metal poles for years. Its painful, but cutting is not necessary. This would have to happen in winter for somebody to be really stuck too, but they can free themselves in a matter of minutes from getting stuck. I knew that since I was a kid.
-------------------- W.W.F.S.M.D? But this image of Bush as some sort of Snidely Whiplash tying the fair maiden to the railroad tracks is beyond the pale. - Joe Bentley Posts: 2311 | From: Minnnesota | Registered: Mar 2004
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How long could that kid's tongue be? I'd think his whole head would be smashed.
-------------------- Me: "He's 19? Uh oh, I bought him a beer." A: "You contributed to the deliquency of a minor in drag!" "Sweet spell check: keeping drunks off the radar since 1995."- IND GodRe-AnimateGreenPorkBush Posts: 3986 | From: Illinois, jealous? | Registered: Nov 2005
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Exactly what I thought, Candy. In fact, it seems as though he would have been decapitated.
-------------------- "This air we're breathing. Oxygen, isn't it?"~I’mNotDedalus, impersonating Vincent D’Onofrio.|"Sometimes trying to communicate can be like walking through a minefield."~wanderwoman "Give people a break. It's not easy doing a life."~Joshua Halberstam Posts: 4020 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by diddy: I would think that a train conductor could spot sombody whose head was on the tracks long enough to slow down...
It's hard to stop a train. Usually from the time the brakes are applied to the time it comes to a full stop, the train has continued to travel up to one mile. That's how so many cars and people do get hit; even though they are seen, there is no way to stop the train in time.
But I think you are right; if I saw a train coming at me I'd be out of there, tongue be damned. Because there is no way you can attach your tongue to the rail unless your head is above the rail, which means you are going to be not only tongueless, but lifeless.
This reminds me of a morbid story from my childhood. I was walking on the tracks by my house, when I saw a groundhog that had be decapitated by the train. The head had been separated from the body at the shoulders so cleanly that you would have thought a surgeon had done it. There wasn't even any blood, since everything had been instantly cauterized by the heat of the wheels.
Posts: 1651 | From: Columbus, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Horse Chestnut: It's hard to stop a train. Usually from the time the brakes are applied to the time it comes to a full stop, the train has continued to travel up to one mile.
Thank you for that link. I teach a course on school bus/railroad crossing safety and Operation Lifesaver is one of the videos I like to show (before I get to more specific and graphic videos). I was about to add some information on trains but you got there ahead of me. While it can take a train a mile or more to stop, clear visibility for the conductor is about a half mile. Not good odds for being able to stop a train in time. While the entire train does not ride level with the tracks, a train does overhang the tracks by about three feet on either side. Anything on, or near the tracks, unless it could get out the way in time, would stand very little chance of surviving an encounter with a train.
-------------------- "20 years of boredom" Posts: 242 | From: Niagara Falls, Ontario | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Horse Chestnut: It's hard to stop a train. Usually from the time the brakes are applied to the time it comes to a full stop, the train has continued to travel up to one mile.
Thank you for that link. I teach a course on school bus/railroad crossing safety and Operation Lifesaver is one of the videos I like to show (before I get to more specific and graphic videos). I was about to add some information on trains but you got there ahead of me. While it can take a train a mile or more to stop, clear visibility for the conductor is about a half mile. Not good odds for being able to stop a train in time. While the entire train does not ride level with the tracks, a train does overhang the tracks by about three feet on either side. Anything on, or near the tracks, unless it could get out the way in time, would stand very little chance of surviving an encounter with a train.
Oh well, there goes my first argument.
-------------------- W.W.F.S.M.D? But this image of Bush as some sort of Snidely Whiplash tying the fair maiden to the railroad tracks is beyond the pale. - Joe Bentley Posts: 2311 | From: Minnnesota | Registered: Mar 2004
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Pilchik, that is so great you work for the Operation Lifesaver program! It's a great thing. My Husband works for the CN in Niagara Falls, I fear the day he comes home to tell me he hit someone. It's good to know that there is something out there to help prevent it. Keep up the great work!
-------------------- "Of course I'm a duck! I have all the duck bits! The bill. The webbed feet. The cute tail. The sailor hat." -Quack, from Peep and the great big world Posts: 59 | From: Niagara Falls, Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Marzi: Pilchik, that is so great you work for the Operation Lifesaver program! It's a great thing. My Husband works for the CN in Niagara Falls, I fear the day he comes home to tell me he hit someone. It's good to know that there is something out there to help prevent it. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Marzi, but I don't work for Operation Lifesaver. I am a school bus driver instructor. Laws and procedures for crossing tracks are part of the course I teach. I like to use their tape first to aquaint trainees with the law and give them a conductor's view of what is happening. I then proceed to other training material which covers procedures and show some footage of train/bus collisions and the tragic results. I have actually lost some trainees who viewed the material and felt the responsibility would be too much for them to handle. Kind of helps me weed out the nervous types right at the start of the course.
-------------------- "20 years of boredom" Posts: 242 | From: Niagara Falls, Ontario | Registered: May 2005
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I know I've heard this story before. I've either read it or saw a movie about it as a kid. For some reason, Ray Bradbury comes to mind, but I could be way off on that.
-------------------- I would prefer not to. My blog Posts: 4789 | From: Rhode Island | Registered: Feb 2004
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