Well, not really, but it could have happened which is the main reason for my posting this story! (Hehe, I got you in here to read it, victory is mine!)
I was on my way to work a few days ago, driving through a tiny little spot of a town. Pretty much the embodiment of a "one-horse" town. Literally... they used to have one horse that was allowed to wander. Anyway...
There's a set of double train tracks that run right through the middle, complete with crossing gates and everything of course. After about two or three weeks of driving through this town in particular so far, I hadn't ever seen the gate down to block what little traffic there was. This time, it was! Wonderful...
So, as I drive up, there's a white pickup waiting on the other side, and a -propane- truck on our side already waiting (take notes, that's important later). I stop decently behind the propane truck, peer at the butt end of the train that's sitting about 10 feet from the gate, thinking to myself that it's weird it's just sitting there.. but probably just stopped briefly and will get started again soon. Also was wondering how long it was going to take!
A few minutes sitting there, another truck pulls up behind me, driver gets out to tell me my gas cap is off... which it wasn't, just the cover was open, since the dratted gas pump had distracted me by refusing to give me a receipt. But I digress. I thank him and he gets back in his truck. I fix the cover and get back in mine.
Another minute or two, I'm glaring at the still stationary train. An 18-wheeler pulls up on the other side behind the white pickup truck and pauses. Said truck is pulling some sort of gas or oil tank, something flammable, by the "hazard" markings, as normal. Then proceeds to pull around the pickup, around the gates and flashing lights, and over the train tracks to the other side!!
I'm sitting there gaping at the audacity of the driver, just absolutely blank and aghast, when about thirty seconds later another train goes -blasting- by at probably around 80-100 mph!!
Of course, after this point I really wished I had thought to grab information from the truck to report him to the company, because if he had paused any longer before crossing he would have been hit and blown himself, the propane truck, the train, and everyone else within half a mile to charred bits.
It still makes me whimper to think about it...
I was on my way to work a few days ago, driving through a tiny little spot of a town. Pretty much the embodiment of a "one-horse" town. Literally... they used to have one horse that was allowed to wander. Anyway...
There's a set of double train tracks that run right through the middle, complete with crossing gates and everything of course. After about two or three weeks of driving through this town in particular so far, I hadn't ever seen the gate down to block what little traffic there was. This time, it was! Wonderful...
So, as I drive up, there's a white pickup waiting on the other side, and a -propane- truck on our side already waiting (take notes, that's important later). I stop decently behind the propane truck, peer at the butt end of the train that's sitting about 10 feet from the gate, thinking to myself that it's weird it's just sitting there.. but probably just stopped briefly and will get started again soon. Also was wondering how long it was going to take!
A few minutes sitting there, another truck pulls up behind me, driver gets out to tell me my gas cap is off... which it wasn't, just the cover was open, since the dratted gas pump had distracted me by refusing to give me a receipt. But I digress. I thank him and he gets back in his truck. I fix the cover and get back in mine.
Another minute or two, I'm glaring at the still stationary train. An 18-wheeler pulls up on the other side behind the white pickup truck and pauses. Said truck is pulling some sort of gas or oil tank, something flammable, by the "hazard" markings, as normal. Then proceeds to pull around the pickup, around the gates and flashing lights, and over the train tracks to the other side!!
I'm sitting there gaping at the audacity of the driver, just absolutely blank and aghast, when about thirty seconds later another train goes -blasting- by at probably around 80-100 mph!!
Of course, after this point I really wished I had thought to grab information from the truck to report him to the company, because if he had paused any longer before crossing he would have been hit and blown himself, the propane truck, the train, and everyone else within half a mile to charred bits.
It still makes me whimper to think about it...
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