Didn't know animals liked walking along tops of rails, too...

I have watched a large unknown number of Oklahoma possums meet their doom on top of 110 lb. rail between Oklahoma City and Tulsa...they just seem to love it.

I seem to recall 1954 Billy Boy the goat liked to eat the rails....."Hey , whatta ya'll know, old Billy's back! Billy, Billy, Billy......"

WITZ 41 posted:

I seem to recall 1954 Billy Boy the goat liked to eat the rails....."Hey , whatta ya'll know, old Billy's back! Billy, Billy, Billy......"

I love that cartoon......

Some animals like the high rail view.

p51 posted:

A couple of evenings ago, I decided to go get some train photos at a location I'd never shot trains from before.

 

So, as the light was fading, I managed to get this shot of the Cascades, before calling it a night.

Absolutely beautiful picture!

Tom

Turkey Vultures will sit on the rails.

Smooth, flat, and often cool on the feet, beats the rocks, or striding ties.

I hated shoes .

Near Adelaide Australia, seasonal caterpillars were a recurring problem for the railway. Caterpillars were so abundant on the rails that trains would stall on the grade up the Mt Lofty Range. The locos were fixed up with air nozzles to blow them off. (Story may be from decades ago).

I saw caterpillars in Western Australia that travel in "trains", single file. One guy told me he would get them going in circles (when he was a kid).

Tom Densel posted:

Absolutely beautiful picture!

Thanks! I was surprised I got anything from the evening as the light was going as I got there...

P51, I'm curious why there is noticeable smoke haze behind that train, kind of like brake shoe smoke. But maybe not from the railroad? I also notice Amtrak is running on the left main. Wondering if you see frequent bi-directional running through there.

This 1978 photo is from Vader on your NW corridor, also running the left main and coincidentally, also a smoky haze ... ?  Rather a long time ago with the un-enclosed auto rack car.

And yet another miscellaneous story from the NW corridor in your parts ... in 2002 I was driving from Seattle back to Oregon with my first digital camera, a new Canon A10. And I found a cool RR photo op with a bridge. Didn't have to wait long, an Amtrak Cascades came along, which was a novelty train to me at the time. But my camera wouldn't take the photo! I learned that it couldn't quickly focus on a scene with a rapidly moving object. So here is the scene after the train. I forget where it is but you maybe recognize it.

Sorry to digress from your original topic but it's all the same NW corridor. Good place for train action.

Smooth and easy is learn behavior.  Most animals like the easy road.  Including grizzly bears, elk, buffalo, mice, rats, etc.  Point of reference for those out there hiking those trails or rails. In some cases with grain trains, the rails would also bring a food source as over-spill falls off the top of covered hoppers.   We were cautioned at Glacier National park about bear activity near the railroad.

Really great photos. Raccoons are smart enough to get off if they sense/hear a train. Just wonder how 'possums have made it through the ages.

When I was running the local park railroad (24" Gauge), we always had squirrels and chipmunks run along the rails right in front of us. Sometimes they'd just sit there and play chicken. It seemed that they liked doing this the most in the middle of the trestle. We always stopped if we had to/could (granted these trains didn't stop on a dime either with the air brakes set at 10mph).....most of the time! 

We got sick of screwing up our schedule somewhat regularly for the things. I think once we took out a chipmunk or two, the rest of their friends got the message! 

I found the usual Black Rat Snakes (big suckers but totally harmless) also liked to sun themselves on the rails. Once we were in the vicinity, the vibrations woke 'em up and they slithered off the rails in time. 

Ace posted:

P51, I'm curious why there is noticeable smoke haze behind that train, kind of like brake shoe smoke. But maybe not from the railroad?

That's the bridge across the Cowlitz river. Gone by that plenty of times over the years.

The signals at Vader don't look like that anymore, as the targets have all been yanked down and replaced by hood three-position block signals.

As for the 'smoke', that was just dust and whatnot being sucked up by the passing of the train going around 70MPH or so. There are multiple high speed crossovers along the route, so you just never know which track you'll see a train coming on until it's right there.

Wow. That's a beautiful old railroad truss bridge.

Mike CT posted:

Smooth and easy is learn behavior.  Most animals like the easy road.  Including grizzly bears, elk, buffalo, mice, rats, etc.  Point of reference for those out there hiking those trails or rails. In some cases with grain trains, the rails would also bring a food source as over-spill falls off the top of covered hoppers.   We were cautioned at Glacier National park about bear activity near the railroad. 

Alaska Railroad used to have a major problem with moose along the plowed right-of-way. When the snow was deep they didn't/wouldn't leave the tracks and trains couldn't always stop for them. Wonder if that's an ongoing problem?

Yeah, grain spillage is quite noticeable along some railroads. Free lunch for birds and animals in a danger zone.

He out pretty early.  He might be a rabid railfan.

RichO posted:

He out pretty early.  He might be a rabid railfan.

And, hence the expression "foamer" ... :-)

But seriously, that is a GREAT photo of the Amtrak train.

TRRR

I would also guess the animal might like a smooth rail under the pads on his feet rather than sharp rocks.