Silly me

[cyberdigger]

Just go back and try again, Ken.. bring a longer stick next time.. []

 

[surfaceone]

with a cross reference... [8D]

 

[suzanne]

Another thing about abandoned power poles is sometimes they have copper wire. Sometimes it's copper coated steel though. If it's magnetic it's got steel in it. If not you could have some tumbling copper for free.

 

[suzanne]

[][][][] That's awesome-ly funny Mr. Plumbata. I can just bet you got away with more than the average bear. You might make a good criminal, that is, if you don't stand out too much physically. Standing out physically has been my problem, not that I'm a 10 or anything - actually I would have to say I'm more like a pervert magnet.

I was crossing the road with my bucket of tools and saw cops everywhere pulling people over and stuff. Instead of making myself gone like anyone with a lick of sense I abandoned my tool bucket and went closer to see what was going on. Turns out they were looking for me! Oops. . . They spotted the bucket in the distance and wanted to know did I know anything about that bucket. I thought about how it would be spending the night in jail and how exasperated my family would be but finally admitted it was mine. They said someone had called in a person carrying a suspicious bucket. Maybe they thought I had a de-capitated head because there's so much murder here.

 

[rockbot]

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

Just go back and try again, Ken.. bring a longer stick next time.. []

or a rusty chain saw![]

 

[BillinMo]

I'm sure the cop was just looking for trespassers on railroad property. Can't really blame him -- you don't have to look through too many newspapers before you find some story about an idiot who walked in front of a moving train and the family (or the idiot, if he or she is lucky enough to survive) is suing the railroad for a ridiculous amount of money.

 

[kwalker]

ORIGINAL: BillinMo

I'm sure the cop was just looking for trespassers on railroad property.  Can't really blame him -- you don't have to look through too many newspapers before you find some story about an idiot who walked in front of a moving train and the family (or the idiot, if he or she is lucky enough to survive) is suing the railroad for a ridiculous amount of money. 

Point taken. Especially because I think CSX owns the tracks. The lake near there I kayak sometimes in and you hear that train coming from a mile away...It's going at least 40 MPH which is pretty good for a mile long freight train. There's been plenty of stories around here about people doing stuff like that especially near Philadelphia with more miles of track within its limits than I can count...

 

[cyberdigger]

There's also the possibility that you were sabotaging the tracks, terrorist-style.. we're all supposed to watch for stuff like that nowadays, aren't we? Be a good American and report anyone you see outdoors..[8|]

 

[suzanne]

When the train wheels make contact with the track they complete an electrical circuit that goes to the signal.. A railroad worker told me that. I thought they used motion detectors or something. So that's why you see wires attached to the tracks here and there.

 

[cyberdigger]

When I was a young and naive rapscallion, I tried all sorts of mischief on the tracks.. yes you can activate the lights and gates at a RR crossing by bridging the tracks with a conductor. I tried it, it worked, I undid it, and I went on my way.. luckily, it didn't cause any harm.. just a few head scratches by baffled drivers as they waited for a train that never came.
I loved squashing coins under the trains.. even though it was always such a bich trying to find them afterwards..
One source of exhilarating fun I exploited many times was to climb down into the undercarriage of railroad bridges and let the train rumble by just a few feet above, it's monsterousness clearly visible and blasting violently and noisily through the atmosphere.. better than Six Flags I tell ya..
..I'm glad I was a kid before the country became so sissy and paranoid.. [&:]