As if the shocking train - truck collision near Kerang wasn’t bad enough, a schoolboy was nearly taken out by a train just a short time afterwards here in Perth. Check out:
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21870602-2761,00.html
and click the link to the video footage. Apparently the lads thought the train was an all-stops local, when in fact it was an express not stopping at that station.
This link is unlikely to be up for very long.
Let’s just hope that those kids were smart enough to learn a lesson. Otherwise stupidity will eventually thin out the gene pool.
Eek!
Those bells, lights and gates are there for a purpose.
Watched two younger kids do that just a couple weeks ago on bikes. You only loose that race once, not worth the risk!
Warren Mumpower said:Warren,
Let's just hope that those kids were smart enough to learn a lesson. Otherwise stupidity will eventually thin out the gene pool.
If they didn’t, they will try the same stunt on an unprotected rural crossing.
Think of it as evolution in action…
Phil Creer said:Or devolution. I seem to remember a little vignette in Inherit the Wind (Scopes trial movie) with someone carrying a sign saying man is indeed [u]descended[/u] from the apes ;)
Think of it as evolution in action....
“Man descended, the ornry cus,
Man descended, but not from us!”
General Pickett, discussing the concept put forward by Mr. Darwin, around a campfire with fellow Southern Gentlemen, just before that Battle of Gettysburg…
“Gentlemen, y’all may be able to convince me that YOU are descended from an ape, but I seriously doubt that you will ever convince General Lee that HE is descended form an ape.”
:lol:
Steve Featherkile said:
General Pickett, discussing the concept put forward by Mr. Darwin, around a campfire with fellow Southern Gentlemen, just before that Battle of Gettysburg...“Gentlemen, y’all may be able to convince me that YOU are descended from an ape, but I seriously doubt that you will ever convince General Lee that HE is descended form an ape.”
:lol:
…runnin’ for cover in SoCal - Incoming !!! 
The tell us that God made man
But he used a monkey to do it
Apes in the plan
Cause we’re all here to prove it
And I can walk like an ape, talk like an ape
I can do what a monkey can do
God made man, but a monkey applied the glue
Are we not men? We are Devo
DEVO
To bring this around and on topic, it was the railroads that sunk the South, not the abilities of any of it’s command. The South had failed to standardize railroads prior to the war and that prevented a smooth flow of supplies to the troops. Trains could go only so far before all supplies had to be transfered to another train of a different gauge and standards. This slowed supplies and made them sitting ducks at transfer points. They couldn’t get what they needed when they needed it.
True to a point, Shermans “March To The Sea” also had a little something to due with breaking the souths ability to fight… Along the same lines, Union troops had standing orders to pull up any rail lines they came across, so they would pull up the rail lay them over a stack of ties and burn them so the rails would bend, well the Confederates would simply bend the rail back and spike them back down again, so the Union troops took to a new strategy, they would heat the rails then with a team of horses or mules take the hot rails and twist them spirally or wrap them around trees or fenceposts, making them useless, they called them “Shermans Neckties” As the north moved further into the confederacy they rebuilt the railroads as they went, to northern "standard’ gauge and during reconstruction reguaged southern mainlines to standard gauge so they could run trains direct thru from the north, in doing so effectivley brought the south in line with to rest of the country.
It was nearly 100 years later that common sense took hold and a standard gauge rail connection was made between the two most populous capital cities in Australia. We all learn from history, some simply take longer than others to digest the lessons that history teaches.
Vic,
I was just pointing out General Pickett’s reticence to tell General Lee that he was descended from an ape…or chimp as the science now suggests.
Can you imagine that grand old gentleman’s reaction?
Generally, people in the military are not what you could call “liberal,” at least in the sense that you suggest.
madwolf
Steve Featherkile said:
Vic, Generally, people in the military are not what you could call “liberal,” at least in the sense that you suggest. madwolf
As a great southener Foghorn Legghorn would say: “Its a joke, son!..Your your head is moving but ya aint laughing…”
“Boys ‘bout a sharp as a bowlin’ ball”
Victor Smith said:
Steve Featherkile said:
Vic, Generally, people in the military are not what you could call “liberal,” at least in the sense that you suggest. madwolfAs a great southener Foghorn Legghorn would say: “Its a joke, son!..Your your head is moving but ya aint laughing…”
“Boys ‘bout a sharp as a bowlin’ ball”
Indeed, Vic. Why do you have such trouble recognizing them when they head your way? :lol: Not the sharpest knife in the drawer?
Steve Featherkile said:
Victor Smith said:
Steve Featherkile said:
Vic, Generally, people in the military are not what you could call “liberal,” at least in the sense that you suggest. madwolfAs a great southener Foghorn Legghorn would say: “Its a joke, son!..Your your head is moving but ya aint laughing…”
“Boys ‘bout a sharp as a bowlin’ ball”
Indeed, Vic. Why do you have such trouble recognizing them when they head your way? :lol: Not the sharpest knife in the drawer?
I could use a little sharpening from time to time, but that grinding wheel hurts! 
D
Victor Smith said:Vic,
I could use a little sharpening from time to time, but that grinding wheel hurts! :O:D
Don’t worry, all you need is a small touch up with an oil stone - for that really keen razor edge. Plenty sharp enough! 
The lads received a juvenile caution after the police interviewed them and their parents. They weren’t skylarking, just in a hurry to get home. Appears the train missed the second lad by about a foot. Doubt he’ll forget the experience in a hurry.
I can remember, as I will bet most of you can, doing more than a few REALLY STUPID THINGS in my teen-age years. I’m only here typing this because a couple of adults had their eyes open, looking, while I was being an idiot. Hopefully, my (and my wife’s) subsequent contributions to the global gene pool will exhibit better judgment . . . tho’ sometimes I wonder!
Our son-in-law’s father was driving a passenger train when some teenage passengers decided to start messing around. One of the boys fell between the carriages and was killed instantly. Even though our son-in-law’s father had no way of knowing what was going on, he felt the tragedy deeply. He switched to goods trains, and never drove another passenger train. That was over 25 years ago.
I am grateful the engineer on this particular Perth express was spared that experience.
I’ve posted here from time to time about walking from the Coca Cola plant to the swimming pool through the freight yard in Wenatchee while growing up. The GN guys always seemed to look out for us.
Once, having noticed the brakemen riding on the grab irons of a boxcar, thinking that I could do the same, I gave it a try… I was 9 years old at the time.
That earned me one of the best @$$ chewings that I have ever received. As I said, the GN guys were looking out for us.
madwolf