Prickly Fall: The Railroad Tracks Lesson

Leave Your Fears Behind

Local RR Crossing Acton, MA 5 Sept 2018

This summer, hubs and I stopped at a local railroad crossing and I suddenly remembered the lesson my father gave me at the railroad tracks behind the houses on Bowling Lane in Bradford, RI.

It must have been a time when my mother wasn't with us because she would not have approved of us going down so near to the tracks.

We went down a long series of stairs behind one of the houses. My dad looked at his watch and went out on the tracks. I was not nuts about following him. He told me to put my hands on the rails. It was vibrating. I saw no trains either way or a railroad stop like the one shown above.

Dad said that I should never go out on the tracks alone. We climbed back up the stairs and we waited what seemed like a long time until we could see the train coming. He said that you could always feel the vibration before the train actually came but it was very dangerous.

When I moved to Bridgewater from Rhode Island as a newlywed, I had no car to drive so I had to walk from our apartment to get groceries, go to the bank or the library.  I had to cross the tracks into town. When my parents came up for the first time, my dad took me aside and reminded me of the train lesson. I told him that I remembered and that I was still afraid to cross. Year after year the nearby college reported that kids took the shortcut by walking over the tracks and even some adults have been hurt on the tracks.

This is a good life lesson. Always be aware of your surroundings and don't take chances near the railroad tracks. It you see the train coming wait it out. There have been a lot of times when I have thought of dad and this lesson.

Proceed with caution. Life is short enough.