Remins me of when my house got struck by lightning when I was a teenager.

Funny thing:
It hit a poplar tree in the backyard, and knocked the water right out of it (it died a week later). Travelled through a temporary fence that was stapled from the tree to the side of the house to keep the dog in the yard. Arced onto a telephone wire that was installed on the outside of the house, blew up everything that was electronic (TV, telephones, microwave oven, etc..). Jumped out of the telehone box in my sister's room (the reason why there was a telephone wire outside the house, installed by the local phone company) Travelled through a nail in the hardwood floor into a heating duct, up into another nail, and set my sister's bed on fire. I had awoke in mid-flight to land on the floor beside my bed. I was sleeping about twenty feet away from the poplar tree. When we all met in the hallway to see what had happened, my sister was slow to get up, after being indirectly struck by lightning. My father and I moved the mattress out onto the front lawn before it burst into flames. My sister would have died if she was not wrapped in her blanket.

Sounds like a far-fetched story, but it's true.

Does lightning affect any of the electronics in current railway electronic operations? Does CTC or other, more major components feel "the punch"?

almo