Chasing trains makes my blood pressure rise...

MotoLinz · February 09, 2013, 03:45:08 PM

I told the boys I'd take them to look for a train after lunch, so about 1PM, we struck out for Anchor Park in Farragut. The west side of the signal was red, but sometimes that means nothing, so we ran up to the next set of signals to check them out. Also red. I turned around to head back to Anchor Park. We were about halfway between the two when the train passed us. Crap. I figured we could catch it between Farragut and Lenoir City, so I swung a u-turn, and away we went.

...only to get stuck behind a guy doing his best Lance Armstrong impression and completely holding up the works. (Sidebar: Folks of the male gender - Spandex is never the right choice. Never.) Finally got around him and managed to get sight of the train again. We were off.

...until a man in a Fiat 500 pulled out right in front of us and proceeded to do the artificially low and totally infuriating speed limit. (Sidebar: Folks of the male gender - a Fiat 500 is a girl car. That's something Daddy buys his sorority girl daughter when she makes Homecoming court. Just don't go there. Ever.) Hallelujah, praise Jesus, glory be to God, he turned, we were going straight, and I put my foot to the firewall. We were going to catch this train.

...until we caught the lights through Lenoir City. But, once we got past those, we caught sight of the train again, and, by God, we were gonna catch it going over the trestle in Loudon.

...until a horrible, horrible woman in a Tacoma pulled RIGHT out in front of us at the justice center intersection between Lenoir City and Loudon, and then proceeded to do 30 mph all the way into Loudon. It took every ounce of self control I could muster to not lay a string of expletives that would make sailors blush and run to their mommies. We saw the very last car on the trestle in Loudon. Okay, things open up past Loudon. We can catch this train. We were on our way out of Loudon when a guy in a Malibu just about sucked the paint off of our car when he passed us. I am A-OK with people passing me at high rates of speed, because I welcome anyone who wants to play rabbit and catch the cops before they catch me.

...until the guy threw trash out of his window on the south end of Loudon. Then I was pissed. I lump litterers with murderers, rapists, and people who abuse children, old people, and animals as folks who should be eligible for the death penalty. Anyone who can nonchalantly chuck a Big Gulp and a McDonald's bag out the window of a moving vehicle clearly has issues that cannot be corrected and should be stricken from the oxygen-using population. I made a note of his plate and location and will fill out Tennessee's litter report as soon as I finish this rant. They'll send him a nastygram in the mail, and it will probably make absolutely no difference, but I'll feel slightly better. So, Jackass Litterer was off at lightspeed to pull out the cops ahead of us, and we were comfortably booking down Highway 11 at performance-award-deserving speeds. We were gonna catch this train.

Just south of Philadelphia, we finally got ahead of it. Pulled into downtown Sweetwater, and I'd just managed to open the sunroof for my kindergartener when we heard the horn. (Sweetwater is 26 miles from Anchor Park and 32 from our house. That's going to be some expensive parenting if I get to ditch the Volvo for the big diesel truck I want.) I was annoyed, frustrated, infuriated, and I had to pee.

...but, it was worth it.

billworsham · February 09, 2013, 04:08:39 PM

Sounds like a typical day of railfanning! My blood pressure rose just reading about your day!!

csx6900 · February 09, 2013, 04:39:37 PM

Definitely typical! If you haven't had an experience like this (or worse) before, then you're in for a world of hurt and expletive strings! An essential aspect of the railfan hobby is becoming intimately acquainted with every moron that owns a car (or truck, or bicycle, or moped, or motorcycle, or semi, or Abrams tank, etc...) and lives within 50 miles of the tracks. Also, the rarer the train is, the more people that decide it's time to take a relaxing drive paralleling the tracks.

You should have seen my mother and I trying to rip down US-11 in pursuit of Southern 630 back in November 2011... It was your story on steroids... with a far greater price to pay for missing the train. So, basically, welcome to the railfan hobby! Consider this your official initiation!

-Evan

E.M. Bell · February 09, 2013, 04:59:15 PM

I have heard similar rants before (WITH expletives) about a million times, and it is always from my own mouth.

Butch has his now famous line that you may want to remeber and recite in times like this, to calm yourself and regain your inner peace... "And a good time was had by all"..

Yea, never works for me either

MotoLinz · February 09, 2013, 05:16:40 PM

With all of the motorcycle miles I have under my belt, I thought I knew bad driving. I mean, I commute to UT three times a week on a glorified dirt bike. Do you know how many texting undergrads I encounter?

But, noooooo. I didn't know nuffin'.

My kindergartener was in the backseat yelling, "Mommy! Honk at these people!"

ThoroughBreed · February 09, 2013, 05:43:29 PM

Quote from: MotoLinz on February 09, 2013, 05:16:40 PM
My kindergartener was in the backseat yelling, "Mommy! Honk at these people!"

Rofl,, sounds like my grandson, whom rides with my daughter quite often, when in traffic says "let's go folks, I ain't got alll day" from his booster seat. I see a road-rager in training there.

MotoLinz · February 09, 2013, 05:54:51 PM

I braked hard to avoid an accident one day, and my three year old yelled, "JACKASS!"

Matt L · February 09, 2013, 06:49:16 PM

Reading this thread, I don't know whether to laugh, cry or scream. Lord knows I've had my fair share of slow and/or stupid drivers here in NY. They've cost me some shots... and made my throat hoarse. Bad drivers are one reason why I like to park and let the action come to me.

ThoroughBreed · February 09, 2013, 06:58:52 PM

My 3 yr old grandson, same mother as above one, yelled "damnit you idiot, can't you drive?" one day when a guy cut in front of me and I blew my horn....

MotoLinz · February 09, 2013, 08:56:43 PM

You've got to start them young. Only nine more years until I can teach the oldest to brake check relentless tailgaters.

thpbears · February 10, 2013, 07:57:30 AM

My little nine year old co-pilot says "Pass em Daddy." Then several days later while the Boss ( wife) is on the same road in that same location sitting beside me the co-pilot says from the back seat " Mommy this is where we were going fast to see that train." Yep then the look starts.

MotoLinz · February 10, 2013, 08:45:45 AM

I just realized my kid looks like the rail fan Hitler Youth in the picture I posted. Super. "Heil hopper cars!"

Ptrainman · February 10, 2013, 10:18:13 AM

Yep, had several incidents myself. Im sure there will be quite a few next month when 630 shows up.

Paul

chipallen16 · February 10, 2013, 10:34:46 AM

We were doing 95 up the interstate for 630 and could hear the whistle the whole time... I'm glad they got a restricting before Lula. That helped a ton. As for other experiences, let's just say that the car got a workout chasing 630 down to Summerville. Backing onto a 4-lane highway and flooring it out of there is fun, at times.

-Chip

butch · February 10, 2013, 02:47:27 PM

"And a good time was had by all"...not to be confused with another favorite, "have a good day everyday regardless of who it annoys."

Any trip that has a story that good is worth it.

PGupton · February 10, 2013, 04:03:14 PM

I was among the few chasing 630 to Chattanooga last summer when it left knoxville, and I have never hit more red lights than we did in Lenoir city. Though some will of God we caught up with it and caught it 3 times between Sweetwater Valley Farms and Sweetwater proper. It was a fun experience to say the least

but made a little more abnormal as I had to come straight from cross country practice in oak ridge and tracked the departure until we got to Farragut and started our day there.

Here's my video from that chase:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yvoU6uOJjp0

MotoLinz · February 10, 2013, 07:39:22 PM

Quote from: PGupton on February 10, 2013, 04:03:14 PM
I was among the few chasing 630 to Chattanooga last summer when it left knoxville, and I have never hit more red lights than we did in Lenoir city. Though some will of God we caught up with it and caught it 3 times between Sweetwater Valley Farms and Sweetwater proper. It was a fun experience to say the least but made a little more abnormal as I had to come straight from cross country practice in oak ridge and tracked the departure until we got to Farragut and started our day there.

Here's my video from that chase:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yvoU6uOJjp0

Was that the trip when it kept breaking down? That was the only way I was remotely productive in following it from Anchor Park to Niota. That was the first time I'd ever attempted to really chase a train, and, at the time, both of my kids were still in five-point harness car seats. So, all you fellas trying to get back in your cars and get on the road as quickly as possible, have pity on the mom trying to get two wiggly kids into the car, into their car seats, and then back on the road!

PGupton · February 10, 2013, 07:56:26 PM

Quote from: MotoLinz on February 10, 2013, 07:39:22 PM
Quote from: PGupton on February 10, 2013, 04:03:14 PM
I was among the few chasing 630 to Chattanooga last summer when it left knoxville, and I have never hit more red lights than we did in Lenoir city. Though some will of God we caught up with it and caught it 3 times between Sweetwater Valley Farms and Sweetwater proper. It was a fun experience to say the least but made a little more abnormal as I had to come straight from cross country practice in oak ridge and tracked the departure until we got to Farragut and started our day there.

Here's my video from that chase:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yvoU6uOJjp0
Was that the trip when it kept breaking down? That was the only way I was remotely productive in following it from Anchor Park to Niota. That was the first time I'd ever attempted to really chase a train, and, at the time, both of my kids were still in five-point harness car seats. So, all you fellas trying to get back in your cars and get on the road as quickly as possible, have pity on the mom trying to get two wiggly kids into the car, into their car seats, and then back on the road!

No, this was last summer after the employee trips in Knoxville. Just moving back to Chattanooga after the summer tour. There was almost no one out that day, which surprised me!

dschlegel · February 10, 2013, 08:34:24 PM

I've given up chasing here on the Reading line for anything east of Mertztown, there's been so much development both of residential neighborhoods and gigantic warehouses that traffic is impossible. Back in the day though, I could photograph a train multiple times between Reading and Allentown, I knew all the side roads off the side of the side roads and had options for beating trains, sadly no longer.

Now my chase involves throwing my daughter on my shoulders when we here one blowing for the next town in either direction and hustling the block to the tracks.

AFT2101 · February 14, 2013, 05:31:32 AM

Quote from: MotoLinz on February 09, 2013, 03:45:08 PM
I told the boys I'd take them to look for a train after lunch, so about 1PM, we struck out for Anchor Park in Farragut. The west side of the signal was red, but sometimes that means nothing, so we ran up to the next set of signals to check them out. Also red. I turned around to head back to Anchor Park. We were about halfway between the two when the train passed us. Crap. I figured we could catch it between Farragut and Lenoir City, so I swung a u-turn, and away we went.

...only to get stuck behind a guy doing his best Lance Armstrong impression and completely holding up the works. (Sidebar: Folks of the male gender - Spandex is never the right choice. Never.) Finally got around him and managed to get sight of the train again. We were off.

...until a man in a Fiat 500 pulled out right in front of us and proceeded to do the artificially low and totally infuriating speed limit. (Sidebar: Folks of the male gender - a Fiat 500 is a girl car. That's something Daddy buys his sorority girl daughter when she makes Homecoming court. Just don't go there. Ever.) Hallelujah, praise Jesus, glory be to God, he turned, we were going straight, and I put my foot to the firewall. We were going to catch this train.

...until we caught the lights through Lenoir City. But, once we got past those, we caught sight of the train again, and, by God, we were gonna catch it going over the trestle in Loudon.

...until a horrible, horrible woman in a Tacoma pulled RIGHT out in front of us at the justice center intersection between Lenoir City and Loudon, and then proceeded to do 30 mph all the way into Loudon. It took every ounce of self control I could muster to not lay a string of expletives that would make sailors blush and run to their mommies. We saw the very last car on the trestle in Loudon. Okay, things open up past Loudon. We can catch this train. We were on our way out of Loudon when a guy in a Malibu just about sucked the paint off of our car when he passed us. I am A-OK with people passing me at high rates of speed, because I welcome anyone who wants to play rabbit and catch the cops before they catch me.

...until the guy threw trash out of his window on the south end of Loudon. Then I was pissed. I lump litterers with murderers, rapists, and people who abuse children, old people, and animals as folks who should be eligible for the death penalty. Anyone who can nonchalantly chuck a Big Gulp and a McDonald's bag out the window of a moving vehicle clearly has issues that cannot be corrected and should be stricken from the oxygen-using population. I made a note of his plate and location and will fill out Tennessee's litter report as soon as I finish this rant. They'll send him a nastygram in the mail, and it will probably make absolutely no difference, but I'll feel slightly better. So, Jackass Litterer was off at lightspeed to pull out the cops ahead of us, and we were comfortably booking down Highway 11 at performance-award-deserving speeds. We were gonna catch this train.

Just south of Philadelphia, we finally got ahead of it. Pulled into downtown Sweetwater, and I'd just managed to open the sunroof for my kindergartener when we heard the horn. (Sweetwater is 26 miles from Anchor Park and 32 from our house. That's going to be some expensive parenting if I get to ditch the Volvo for the big diesel truck I want.) I was annoyed, frustrated, infuriated, and I had to pee.

...but, it was worth it.

Oh do I know what you mean Lindsay. You have to love those Lance Armstrong posers that frequent our area.

MotoLinz · February 14, 2013, 09:13:56 AM

Quote from: AFT2101 on February 14, 2013, 05:31:32 AM
Oh do I know what you mean Lindsay. You have to love those Lance Armstrong posers that frequent our area.

I may or may not have yelled, "Share the road, jackass!" on one or more occasions. They seem to pick the worst possible roads at the worst possible times. At least they dress like parrots, so they're always super visible.

AFT2101 · February 14, 2013, 05:50:28 PM

Quote from: MotoLinz on February 09, 2013, 05:16:40 PM
With all of the motorcycle miles I have under my belt, I thought I knew bad driving. I mean, I commute to UT three times a week on a glorified dirt bike. Do you know how many texting undergrads I encounter?

But, noooooo. I didn't know nuffin'.

My kindergartener was in the backseat yelling, "Mommy! Honk at these people!"
What kind of glorified dirt bike do you ride?

MotoLinz · February 14, 2013, 08:11:03 PM

It's a 250cc Kawasaki. I can pull 71 mph out of it, pinned, if I tuck, but it gets 80 mpg. I'm shopping around for a 400, though. Need something with a bit more giddy up to more easily escape distracted college students.

...although, I pick on the texting sorority girls a lot, and the two folks who have come closest to killing me were middle aged males. One guy got my right foot in the driver's door of his Silverado when he came right over on me while looking at buildings on campus rather than the road. I'm still not sure he knew what was going on. He probably drives Martel at 30 mph, too.

AFT2101 · February 15, 2013, 05:01:38 AM

I know what you mean. I ride a Honda XR650, and a BMW R1200GS and have had my share of close calls and mishaps. Kingston Pike has to be one of the worse roads in my opinion.

MotoLinz · February 15, 2013, 06:31:53 AM

Two bikes with which I am quite familiar. For years, I wished for BMW to make something between the F650GS and the 1150. Now that I have kids and don't roam the world anymore, they make an 800. Figures.

Are you on ADV?