Got to ride in a 'maintenance' truck 'on-the-rails' twice. I'll not disclose the line or location, but you'll understand the 'situation!'
There was a local coal mine that had its miners on strike. My RR friend was to go out and put on a 'derailer' so that no disgruntled person could cut lose a coal car and cause a 'situation' on the main line. Just as he had finished the installation a group of strikers spotted us from a bridge a short way down from the siding where we were stopped. With all of the yelling and screaming, we QUICKLY jumped back into the truck and got out of there REAL FAST!
The second time was when my friend got a call that some signals were down and he had to put the truck 'on-track' so that we could look for a possible downed wire or something shorting out the track. It was night and he put the search light on and was following the wires as we rode the rails. All of a sudden he stopped and with the light we could see the wire moving from one pole to the next, as if it was alive and leaving the job. And, it was! But it was attached to the back of some vehicle that was pulling down the copper wire to steal it!
My friend stopped, put the truck in reverse, and back we went to the 'put-on' point where we had started. While we were 'backing up' he put a call in to 'dispatch' and advised them of the 'theft-in-progress.' I asked why he didn't just try to find them. He said, "That's why they have railroad cops - you just don't know how 'prepared' these guys may be!"
For me - it was fun - just didn't understand how 'risky' my rides had been!
