# A little RR Humor



## sky12065 (Mar 30, 2009)

In reading another thread I recalled an incident that occurred about 29 years ago.

My wife, my 4 year old son and I were on our way to Florida and we stopped for the evening at a motel in West Virginia. The motel was adjacent to a set of rail road tracks. The room we were in was one of those that had a front and back door.

Suddenly we could hear a train approaching, getting closer, closer, then really close when suddenly by impulse I called to my 4 year old son "Quick Mike, go open the front door and I'll open the back door so the train can pass right through our room! :lol:

Funny? I thought so but my son didn't! He burst out in tears, screaming, traumatized (yes, there's that word again) and it took quite a bit of comforting and reassurance to calm him down and realize that it was just a joke. Had I realized how a 4 year old mind would react to that humor, I would have never been so cruel to him!

*WARNING: NEVER DO THIS TO ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 7... AT LEAST!*
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## PetalumaLoco (Mar 30, 2009)

You're durn tootin' don't scare the young'uns.

When I was 3, we lived about 50 yds from an SP main line. I can still remember the dream I had about hearing a freight thundering closer and closer, and opening the back door to see tracks leading up to the door and a mile-a-minute behemoth about to mow down the house. 

I closed the door. Problem solved.


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## sky12065 (Mar 30, 2009)

PetalumaLoco said:


> You're durn tootin' don't scare the young'uns.
> When I was 3, we lived about 50 yds from an SP main line. I can still remember the dream I had about hearing a freight thundering closer and closer, and opening the back door to see tracks leading up to the door and a mile-a-minute behemoth about to mow down the house.
> 
> I closed the door. Problem solved.


OMG, I remember having a dream that a 3 year old opened a door and saw a steaming highballer on tracks heading towards their door! Isn't that one heck of a coincidence that I was dreaming about your dream! Maybe we should rename you ChugalumaLoco!!! 

Just kidding of course, but I apologize for having opened up old nightmares! :lol:


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## jackal (Mar 30, 2009)

I lived about the same distance from an SP mainline on the Central Coast, and while I loved to watch the trains pass, I too had one frightening dream I still remember to this day which the train featured prominently in!


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## PetalumaLoco (Mar 30, 2009)

When I saw this Spielburg Amazing Stories TV episode I wanted to sue him for stealing my dream.

Ghost Train.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Mar 31, 2009)

While I don't think I ever had that kind of a dream while I was traveling with my dad on the CZ he told me I had a deathly fear of the locomotive until I was about 6. P42 are loud! Forklifts I had a huge fear of those to! used to cry when I heard them coming in stores like the Home Depot.

idk y i felt the need to share that bu there u go


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## sky12065 (Mar 31, 2009)

Long Train Runnin said:


> While I don't think I ever had that kind of a dream while I was traveling with my dad on the CZ he told me I had a deathly fear of the locomotive until I was about 6. P42 are loud! Forklifts I had a huge fear of those to! used to cry when I heard them coming in stores like the Home Depot.
> idk y i felt the need to share that bu there u go


So are you over the fear of forklifts yet? :unsure: :lol:


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## Long Train Runnin' (Mar 31, 2009)

sky12065 said:


> So are you over the fear of forklifts yet? :unsure: :lol:



:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Just barely... :lol: :lol: No yeah I am okay now!


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## DET63 (May 9, 2009)

OK, so let's pull up the couch and discuss our childhood fears. Mine, for a year or two, was ceiling fans. There was a store in my hometown that had one door. Above it was a ceiling fan. Whether on or off, I refused to go in. I guess I was afraid it fall down on me.

Now I live in a house with several, including my bedroom. Go figure.

I was a bit afraid of trains when I was a kid, though not at all since riding on Amtrak at the age of 10 (from Portland via Seattle to Chicago and back; "The Empire Builder" didn't have a Portland section in those days).

I do remember one incident that might have given some people a few nightmares: I lived in a small town (the town that had the store with the ceiling fan) where the railroad track (a branch line) ran down the middle of one of the main streets. Near the end of the street, there was a restaurant. One night, some people, likely out-of-towners, were coming out of the restaurant to their cars parked across the street. Apparently they had not noticed the track in the street earlier, or the freight train parked on it. I believe the train crew had stopped for dinner, so if the diners had seen the train earlier, they may have thought it was parked at the end of a branch line or siding. Imagine their surprise when the train started rolling down the street where they had just walked. Their reaction of surprise was, to say the least, rather interesting.


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## DET63 (May 9, 2009)

I'm not sure if this would lead to a nightmare, but it sure would be a heck of surprise, at least the first time you saw it happen:


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## sky12065 (May 9, 2009)

DET63 said:


> I'm not sure if this would lead to a nightmare, but it sure would be a heck of surprise, at least the first time you saw it happen:


When I first got married we lived on a street that had trains go through, but we didn't have any markets. The only thing we had to worry about is that our cars were parked correctly... for obvious reasons!


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## the_traveler (May 9, 2009)

sky12065 said:


> *WARNING: NEVER DO THIS TO ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 7... AT LEAST!*
> ​


Is that the physical age - or mental age? :huh: If physical age. I'm past it, but mental age, I have a few years to go! :lol:


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## sky12065 (May 9, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> sky12065 said:
> 
> 
> > *WARNING: NEVER DO THIS TO ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 7... AT LEAST!*
> ...


And I'd bet that you'd use that to get a child's discount on your rail fare! :unsure:

SORRY CHARLIE! I don't think you'll get away with it! 

Well maybe... if you adapt me as your Loco Parentis and pay for my tickets! After all, we're already related by virtue of us... both being Loco, yes? :lol:


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