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The only impossible journey is the one you never begin ~Tony Robbins

                        This past weekend I celebrated my 44th birthday and in between time of running errands and other family functions I took some time to take the Jeep and watch some trains. With everything that has been going on and changing careers I just haven't had the time to get trackside like I used to. For many years it wasn't uncommon for me to be trackside camped out for the day with food, my camera, and an ambition that only can be described as borderline insanity. It didn't matter if it was 90 degrees out or it was 20 below I was out there to capture the moment the iron giants roamed through my hometown or the country side. Life happened and I lost my ambition. So what happened? Well to tell the truth without pointing any fingers I just quit making the time to do what I loved. That changed this week and weekend.............

A Westbound auto-rack train passes the Jeep 

Thursday:  My love and I after a appointment decided to snag a few minutes trackside to get my feet wet. I was distracted replying to messages when a Westbound auto-rack snuck up on us and the only picture was the one above I was able to grab. This started a small fire back in my heart......

Friday: This was the only day that was good enough to be outside without being too cold, wet, or burning fuel to keep warm. we pulled off into a grassy area next to the tracks and backed into our spot. Where my love and me opened up our snacks and proceeded to wait for a train to roll by.  About 25 minutes later a local railfan named Fred came by and parked facing us and parallel to the tracks. 

A typical day in the railfan community 

            I spent a few minutes chatting with Fred and catching up (it had been a few years) and I got cold and went back to the Jeep,  Fred would let me know if the Westbound train was close. About 20 minutes later Fred blew his  car horn as the Westbound CSX train M369 (a mixed freight train) approached. I jumped out of the Jeep,  grabbed my camera and snagged the train as it passed the Jeep...

The Westbound 

            Having already spent more than the 2 hours planned for the day we decided to head home (even Fred found it to be too cold) but that would not be the end of the line............Figuratively speaking..

A cold rainy day 

Saturday: It was my birthday and we had errands to run, however we decided since that we had to wait  about 4 hours in between appointments we would steal sometime and visit a antique store where I found some books and a piece of vintage ham radio equipment.  After the store we grabbed some fast food and set up down at my usual spot I have laid claim to  (railfan wise) for more than 20 years and waited to see if any trains would come by and of course yes they did.... The first one was our same train from the day before (it runs almost daily) the CSX M369  it rolled by and I grabbed a video of it (posted below) as it rolled by. After it I had began to do my usual nodding off when my love alerted me to what would be the second train (no symbol symbol known) as I hurried to get a picture I slipped on some ice and accidentally got this shot right here.........

Perfect timing I 018 rolls by 

        

    After that it was time to go and of course our weather would even turn colder and not ideal for being outside. It was a weekend that honestly I found my way back home to the things I love. This year I look forward to the trips, the fun and of course the trains, Over-landing, and off-road fun we plan on having. 

Hope you enjoyed this, and remember God is still in control. Until Next time, take care ~ERT 

            

Safety and sense A guide to Urban Over-landing

 

 Common sense is a not so common commodity anymore 

In this blog I will go over some safety tips for Urban over-landing..........

Urban Over-landing can be dangerous going to a city to railfan or even stop overnight to get some rest can turn a otherwise a fun uneventful trip into a bad time. Railfanning and traveling to cities has taught me to be aware and with our upcoming  Blog  and YouTube Series I have developed a system to help you make the most of the trips we made this is part 1 of a 3 part series and in this blog I will go over what I call T.O.A.S.T or Total Overall Assessed Safe Trip scale. 

Urban over-landing can be dangerous, one must always be aware 

            I developed the scale based on factors such as, crime, facilities, food and entertainment,proximity to tracks and overall environment. One or more factors can get a rating escalated or de-escalated. Basically it is four color categories.... Red......Orange.....Yellow........Green. Almost always most places will be a yellow meaning you always have to be aware. Very rarely if at all, will be a Green. Lets Go over every color in detail starting with the worst.....Red!!!

RED: 

    This can be assigned if there is a high crime area or you are close to a track with no safety protocols or railings. This is one you may not want to take the  family,  stay overnight or even after the sun goes down. You must have your head on a swivel and a CCW might definitely be your friend in this case. Alot of Urban areas including my town will get this rating one-time or another. 

ORANGE: 

    This parallels Red closely still while it is a safer rating it still isn't a fully comfortable place to relax or even break out expensive gear. It can be escalated to Red quickly and later on  I will discuss this more in detail..

YELLOW: 

    Most places will get this as trains are still dangerous machines. Factors also include the ability  to take family with caution and of course most facilities will be minimal including food and bathroom. 

GREEN: 

    Some non train trips will get assigned this and some places where it's OK to spend the night but  always remember that crime and bad things still can happen anywhere.......Always be Alert 

    So with this out of the way let's go into how something is rated.........

    Our trip assessment begins with looking at the towns area does it have a lot of crime and drug use? Large homeless population? Are the tracks close by? Let's take a example from my favorite spot in the picture at the beginning of this blog. 

I rated this area ORANGE/RED why? One we have a high crime rate and while during daylight hours it is minimal it still exist with many bad people walking through. Second while in a public area the tracks are easily accessible to small children and also no food or bathroom facilities are available. This area also has large homeless camp under the bridge opposite of the tracks and behind the locomotives cab, At night this area goes to RED as it's not well lit, police patrols are minimal and calls for help may go unanswered for long periods of time if they have a high call volume. 

    

    Let's finish with when we give a area a rating that can change but do your homework and check out the area ahead with another person, maybe even leaving the family home in some cases. This rating will always be found on the beginning of a blog story containing a trip or a day trackside. As always though remember God is in control Stay Healty and Stay Blessed......