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Really dumb things we did as kids
Author: Carol L. Voss
Date: 09-07-2011 - 09:38
Well I'll be... Wrote:
> > family.
>
> Holy crap, someone on a RR board FINALLY has
> compassion and speaks common sense (and common
> decency) about a tragedy. You bet your a*s I'm
> using a fake name to post this. EVERY TIME someone
> is hurt, disfigured, or killed, I have to read
> "Darwin" comments, lawyer comments, or "I'm a
> superior railfan, therefore, I know it all and
> would never do something so dumb" comments. Here's
> the truth: Any of us who are in our 40's (some
> younger, most who are older) played around RR
> tracks and trains when we were kids. That is, IF
> trains were in our neighborhood. If not, then as
> kids we did STUPID things---and we lived to tell
> about it, luckily. But not all of us are so lucky,
> and this person did something dumb but she is NOT
> a "Darwin candidate". I can't even begin to
> imagine what her parents, siblings, grandparents,
> relatives, and classmates are feeling right now. I
> wish these asinine holier-than-thou comments would
> stop----but they won't. We'll keep reading the
> Darwin comments, because a lot of railfans are
> idiots. Not all, but many are. I hope this knocks
> some sense into those who like to mock others who
> are hurting and grieving.
Yep, we sure did some stupid things. Any of you who have ever been to Capitola CA know that there is a big tall trestle crossing part of the town. We used to spend a few weeks there every summer and several of us kids, pre-teen age, would climb up the hill to the beginning of the trestle and get out on a catwalk that ran under the tracks and when a train came, steam in those days, we'd lie down on the catwalk and hug the boards while it passed over us dripping hot water, rocks, etc. etc. I don't have to tell you that our parents absolutely FORBADE us from doing this which of course made it all the more "fun" to do. Everytime I look at that trestle and recall those days, my stomach turns over a bit. In the same and possibly worse category, when our railfan son was at Cal Poly he and a few of his frat brothers would injest legal and illegal substances and wait to hear the northbound trains heading up Cuesta, race up there on backroads and go into the tunnels and stand in the niches while the freights roared past them at arm's length. Is that stupid or what? Fortunately, he survived.
C.
> > family.
>
> Holy crap, someone on a RR board FINALLY has
> compassion and speaks common sense (and common
> decency) about a tragedy. You bet your a*s I'm
> using a fake name to post this. EVERY TIME someone
> is hurt, disfigured, or killed, I have to read
> "Darwin" comments, lawyer comments, or "I'm a
> superior railfan, therefore, I know it all and
> would never do something so dumb" comments. Here's
> the truth: Any of us who are in our 40's (some
> younger, most who are older) played around RR
> tracks and trains when we were kids. That is, IF
> trains were in our neighborhood. If not, then as
> kids we did STUPID things---and we lived to tell
> about it, luckily. But not all of us are so lucky,
> and this person did something dumb but she is NOT
> a "Darwin candidate". I can't even begin to
> imagine what her parents, siblings, grandparents,
> relatives, and classmates are feeling right now. I
> wish these asinine holier-than-thou comments would
> stop----but they won't. We'll keep reading the
> Darwin comments, because a lot of railfans are
> idiots. Not all, but many are. I hope this knocks
> some sense into those who like to mock others who
> are hurting and grieving.
Yep, we sure did some stupid things. Any of you who have ever been to Capitola CA know that there is a big tall trestle crossing part of the town. We used to spend a few weeks there every summer and several of us kids, pre-teen age, would climb up the hill to the beginning of the trestle and get out on a catwalk that ran under the tracks and when a train came, steam in those days, we'd lie down on the catwalk and hug the boards while it passed over us dripping hot water, rocks, etc. etc. I don't have to tell you that our parents absolutely FORBADE us from doing this which of course made it all the more "fun" to do. Everytime I look at that trestle and recall those days, my stomach turns over a bit. In the same and possibly worse category, when our railfan son was at Cal Poly he and a few of his frat brothers would injest legal and illegal substances and wait to hear the northbound trains heading up Cuesta, race up there on backroads and go into the tunnels and stand in the niches while the freights roared past them at arm's length. Is that stupid or what? Fortunately, he survived.
C.
