There were protests in the late 1960s, sit-ins on the R/W against the troop trains which the Santa Fe ran through Berkeley to Emeryville. The "solution" was to open the front steam conduit and spray steam all around.

In the mid 1970s I once worked with an engineer in the Cal-P who related an incident in Davis similar to that described above. He said he was ordered by some officials not to slow down. When he came around the corner, the tracks were wall to wall people. As he blew the whistle, he said it was like Moses parting the waters.