bigwilliec

As the piloting was in "Airplane."

negative. fun fact: a lot of railroaders do.. they're known colloquially as "foamers." this is largely due to the rabies style foam they seem to get when being near/seeing a train. they are best ignored.

hobos or transients never bothered me. if i walked by one i'd say hi, make sure he was okay and politely asked him not to get run over. not much you can do. we're not responsible for opening or closing cars. they get sealed up at their respective points of origin. other conductors might act differently. here's my hobo friendly guide:

1. Stay out of large yards. They have a cop on duty. Stay in the suburbs. 1 or 2 tracks max. Start seeing 3, 4, 5, 6+ tracks? Bail. There's also a good chance you're going to be stationary for a long time IF you don't get bounced by the fuzz.

2. Avoid inter-modal traffic. These. They're uncomfy and very expensive. If one gets broken into and you're around...jail. They are however priority usually, and the best way to get somewhere fast. the ones with reefers (a refrigeration system [you'd see it to know it] mean it's probably perishable and has a priority to get somewhere.)

3. Vandalism. Don't? Why? Find a wall? We remove most spray paint anyway. It's like an easy make-work-project. BUT if you HAVE to...avoid the car marks. By that I mean the 4 letters and the 4-6 digit number of the car. best way to have your graffiti last. a decent example.

i have several, but i do believe you'd get your ass kicked for wearing something like that. it was -35 2 weeks ago. a toque (beanie) is recommened. :)

"Officially" there are certain whistle signals that mean certain things. Most common of which is "Long, Long, Short, Long" which you'll hear at any rail crossing. Apart from that we'll blow the whistle at pretty much anything.

There's a lot of deer and other miscellaneous wildlife out here, so we go bananas on the horn to try to get them to move. but usually, at 1/4 of a mile from a crossing, there's a sign with a "W" on it, and that's when you being your "Long Long Short Long" until you're occupying said crossing.