Watch Your Step: Wildlife Nearby

[ironhorseman]

I’m wondering if anyone else out there has had any encounters with the wildlife while train watching?

What follows are three of my accounts.

While technically not train watching I was out by one of my favorite train watching spots in the countryside while on my daily run. There I came face to face with a rattle snake, or rather, a rattleless snake. It was less than two feet long, hand no rattle, and not big around. It’s head wasn’t any bigger than my thumb. I’m pretty sure it had a triangle shaped head which makes it a pit viper according to some books and websites I looked at.

When I first came across this snake I thought it was another garter snake because of it’s size, but from the looks of it this was very different from that. It was small enough that if I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was going I would have stepped on it. I crouched down to get a better look and expected it to slither away. However, it didn’t seem to want to go anywhere. I tossed bits of road gravel at it and all it did was bounce it’s head. I wasn’t about to touch a strange snake without a ten-foot pole. Since there were no ten-foot poles out in the middle of nowhere I grabbed the next best thing: a five foot dead tree branch. I poked the snake and it didn’t move. What a dumb snake. I figure maybe it wanted to bask in the final warm days of the year in the sun on this dirt road. That’s a good placed to get flattened by a speeding car. So, unable to scare it off the road I was about to give up and leave when it finally moved on its own. It made a side-winding motion into the grass and disappeared. I’ve been told there are rattlers all over Kansas but until the other day I have not seen one outside a zoo.

This is not the only critter encounter at this corner. At this same grade crossing, and many other crossing all up and down the railroad, are strange mounds of gravel. I noticed these one day several years ago when I was standing around waiting for trains. I wondered why bits of road gravel would just pile up like that. Fortunately, I didn’t have to find out the hard way. It turned out it was ants. Big red ants with a terrible temper. I threw a big rock (when in doubt, throw rocks) on the mound and man did they go into a frenzy. I threw rocks, sticks, trash, chewing gum, and old discarded railroad spikes on these mounds just to watch them cover the objects in seconds. I don’t know if these are the infamous fire ants, but I had a friend in 5th grade from New Mexico who told about ants that built big mounds like these. He said the kids would kick the mounds down at one recess and come back the next recess to see them built up again. For some reason these ants like railroad tracks because in town around some abandoned tracks they’ve built up their mounds there, too.

I’ve also been surrounded by coyotes. One night I went out into the country to get some audio recordings of the trains. Standing out there waiting, listening for the next distant train I heard a coyote howl. Then another and then another. It’s one thing to hear these animals howling in a zoo, it’s quite different when you’re alone, in the dark, in the middle of nowhere. It’s more psychologically nerve wracking than it is physically dangerous. They’d rather not been seen and I’ve only actually seen one in this area which that was over 10 years ago when I only caught a glimpse of it before it ducked into the tall grass.

Oh, and I’ve had my fair share of dog attacks, but remind me to you all about the wolf. I’ll save that one for later.

Animal Planet: eat your heart out.

So, does anyone else come across animals out there while train watching or even while working on the railroad? Come on, I’ll bet someone’s got something more exciting than my stories.

Watch your step out there.

[BNSFNUT]

I hit a skunk at about 60 mph while pacing a train. Got some great shots but some strange looks from other railfans when I pulled up to a crossing. Finally stoped at a high presure car wash and washed the under side of the truck.

[edblysard]

Possom 1
Port Terminal zip!

Not watching, but working!
Dragging a train from North Yard to Pasadena, come up to Bridge 5A, a center swing bridge over Buffalo bayou.
Looking at a red board, so we pull up into the circut, and wait.
Its 3 in the morning, and after 10 minutes, we still have a red, so we call the dispatcher.
Nothing.
Ten minutes later, try the dispatcher again, still nothing.
Call the dispatcher on a cell phone, no answer.
Call a trainmaster, we get a green within minutes.
So away we go.
Just as we get to dead center of the bridge, my engineer plugs the train.
Now, I am wide awake, lookng for the headlight of the train I think we are about to hit, but nothing is out there, no opposing train, no people on the bridge, nothing.
My engineer hands me a broom, and tells me to go get them off the bridge!
"Get who off the bridge?"
"Them" he says, while pointing down towards the tracks.
Sure enough , there on the left rail is a momma possom, all puffed up, teeth and fangs bared, looking for all the world like she is about to chew the wheels off the locomotive!
Right behind her is three of the most ugly creatures God ever put on this planet, her kids.
Now, I am not a mean person, I dont kick dogs or run over cats in the road, but putting a train into emergency in the middle of a bridge at three in the morning and then expecting your conductor to go sweep up a pissed off momma possom is just a little much!
I told him so, in real clear terms.
To which he replied, "I aint gonna run over no little possoms, so you either have to get them off the bridge, or call me a relief"
Now, for those of you who have never messed with a possom, pissed off or not, they aint the most social animal around, and mom was not in a good mood to begin with.
After she hissed and screamed, and chewed the broom to shreds, she decided my boots looked real tasty, and I decided that I really didnt want to go to Pasadena right now anyway!
I retreated to the cab, and decided to blow the horn real loud.
By now, the dispatcher our trainmaster had woke up/pissed off was calling, wanting to know why were hadnt cleared the bridge?

I let the engineer explain.
Hey, his call in the first place!

While all this is going on, momma possom decides she dosnt want to cross the bridge now, and is slowly picking up each kid, and carrying them to the end of the bridge, and setting them in the grass beside the pileings.

Almost a hour late, momma finaly decides to give us our bridge back.
One for the possoms, zip for the Port!
Stay Frosty
Ed

[Anonymous]

"I aint gonna run over no little possoms" - what a nice thing to say! To me, Ed, both your engineer and you are true heroes.
Have fun,
Oliver

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Oliver Trzok

"I aint gonna run over no little possoms" - what a nice thing to say! To me, Ed, both your engineer and you are true heroes.
Have fun,
Oliver

And I second that thought, Ed! There are a lot of engineers out there that would have probably mowed the creatures down - bad temper and all!

You started my morning out on a high note!

Mookie

[JoeKoh]

lots of Rabbits and a couple of deer along Csx in Defiance county.
stay safe
joe

[wabash1]

Ed

I would have told that engineer if he didnt want to hurt the animal then he get out there and shew them off .If there was a deer or a dog cat maybe raccoon rabbit i might have stopped but this one is strange.and a bridge over the river i aint getting off the engine anyways. Now for the ones who think I am a mean guy, wrong I feel bad when i hit and kill a animal. Ive hit puppies and kittens ( and it brought a tear to my eye) at 60mph you cant stop. there been deer etc.. But really ed if it would have been a mother skunk would you have gone??? I think the engineer was just waking you up. jelous that he couldnt nap.

[edblysard]

Actually,
he is a Decon in a local AEM Church.
We we just leaving yard limits into CTC, so we were only going around 15 mph.
Today was kinda fun.
Some one has abandoned a dog in the North Yard.
Its female, looks like a small Lassie.
For some reason, she decided she belongs to the switchman on my crew, and followed him around all day, wouldnt let him get farther than 10 feet or so before she would begin to follow him.
Every time he took the motor down into the yard to get a cut of cars, she would run alongside it, keeping a eye on him!
We ended up tieing her to the control tower so she wouldnt get run over.
When we tied up, she walked over to his truck, and when he opened the door, she jumped in and sat down like she has been riding there for years.
Guess he has a new fishing partner!
She responds to it, so he decided he is going to call her Switch.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[ironhorseman]

That possum incident was too funny! [:D] Now I see in the news wire in Butte, Montana a track inspector found mountain lion cubs frozen to the rails.

While I haven't seen any mountain lions here in Kansas (although they think there's one on the KU campus) I'm almost certain I've seen a wolf. Some people keep wolves as pets and maybe this one got loose but it was enough to scare me. I was on foot out in the country to watch trains when something jumped out of the ditch and hopped across a grassy field. It was brown and by the way it was leaping I thought it was deer at first. I could only see it at the apex of it's jumps because the grass was so high. But on the second jump it was clear it was more canine than deer like. It had something black in it's mouth, too. I thought it was a coyote but by the third jump it was obviously too big for a coyote. On the fourth jump I thought maybe it was dog. But the fifth time I saw I realized that was no dog. The only dogs that big are great danes and saint bernards and this was definatly neither one. And it's a known fact that wolves can jump higher than dogs.

I continued on my way but I found the biggest couple of rocks I could get my hands on and kept them until I got back into town. I've convinced myself it was wolf but I'm not sure now. What ever it was it was big and I'm just glad it went the other way and not after me. That was in 1996.

Something else bizarre I found once at a railroad crossing was what looked like giant tortise foot. You've probably seen those giant tortises in zoos and this foot looked like it was big enough to fit one. Kansas has more box turtles than you can imagine but they don't get that big. I looked around for carcass but didn't find any other remnants which makes it even more bizarre.

Sometimes I wonder what lives out there in the country and sometimes I don't want to know what kinds of things are out there.

[Anonymous]

Sorry Mookie but I agree with Wabash. I grew up in the country and a possume is a nasty animal. If I told you what they eat YOU wouldn't eat lunch. And furthermore it sometimes isn't what they eat but WHERE they eat it. Ed deserves a medal for even trying to shew them away. They can play possume but when young are involved they don't. You think your vet needs a new arm after a Mookie visit, I don't even want to think about a possume visit. They can be as sturborn as a Missouri Mule and meaner than a mountain lion. You don't want to tango with a possume. They can and will charge just like Ed said. Many of you will remember my possume story that I told in another thread 2 or 3 months ago. A bite from a possume would most likely mean a rabies shot. Never had one and hope to never need one. When was the last time I saw a possume you ask. About 2 nights ago when I tried to run over it. [:0] Sorry Mookie, it is the country boy in me. Unfortunately I missed and it got across the street and into a yard. Give me another chance and it will be history. And that a fact Jack [}:)] [;)]

[Anonymous]

Hmmm.... Does a homeless dog count as wildlife? Or a bum? Other than that, you can encounter moose along tracks. Maybe a bear if you're lucky (or not lucky, depends on who you are)

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

Sorry Mookie but I agree with Wabash. I grew up in the country and a possume is a nasty animal. If I told you what they eat YOU wouldn't eat lunch. And furthermore it sometimes isn't what they eat but WHERE they eat it. Ed deserves a medal for even trying to shew them away. They can play possume but when young are involved they don't. You think your vet needs a new arm after a Mookie visit, I don't even want to think about a possume visit. They can be as sturborn as a Missouri Mule and meaner than a mountain lion. You don't want to tango with a possume. They can and will charge just like Ed said. Many of you will remember my possume story that I told in another thread 2 or 3 months ago. A bite from a possume would most likely mean a rabies shot. Never had one and hope to never need one. When was the last time I saw a possume you ask. About 2 nights ago when I tried to run over it. [:0] Sorry Mookie, it is the country boy in me. Unfortunately I missed and it got across the street and into a yard. Give me another chance and it will be history. And that a fact Jack [}:)] [;)]

Jim - we have possum right here in Lincoln proper. In fact - I live 2 blocks from my growing up house and they have had several possums in their yard. Our yard had a resident possum - he made Mookie at 14 pounds, look like a mouse. Big sucker - but he stayed away from the house, only went between our house and the one next door. Anyway - this possum was hit by a car right in front of our house! I know they are mean, possibly rabid and ill-tempered, but so are some humans and we don't kill them! We keep our garbage covered and while he may get a drink at our bird water dish, so what. We keep our cat indoors. Our late dog Budz had a face-to-face with an oppossum and she minded her mistress and didn't move an inch - the possum hissed and left. He didn't want to start trouble. I have had a face-to-face in broad daylight on a sidewalk - the possum didn't chase me (unlike trains who leave the tracks and chase people cross county...remember that?) and when I didn't move at it, it moved on.

Da Mook doesn't threaten wildlife and wildlife doesn't threaten her.

Moo

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie


Da Mook doesn't threaten wildlife and wildlife doesn't threaten her.

Moo

MUST be that Mookie charm, something that Jim definately doesn't have. (Dan--no commented needed here, go flying instead [8D] )


Yes when young are not involved they can play possume, they can stand and hiss, or they can turn tail and run. But if food or young are around katy bar the door. Them suckers will charge faster than a teenage girl with a new credit card at a Wal-Mart sidewalk sale. [:0] Glad you never had any problems with me. I guess Ed and me are just unlucky. But let me tell you, next time I'm gonna get em. [:p]

[Anonymous]

Dan [:D]

Got any A-10 s nearby. [:D] Yeah, I know not your average Navy bird. But ya gotta admitt, an A-10 vs. possume would be fun. Just a couple of round of the 30 mil and no more possume. [;)] Whoaaaaaa baby. Country fun. [:D]

Yes, I did notice you used the correct spelling. Us country folk don't care if we spell possume correct or not. [:p]

[Mookie]

Box up your possums and your squirrels and send them to the Mookie! Anything would be better than the jerk living next door right now!

La Mookie

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

Dan [:D]

Got any A-10 s nearby. [:D] Yeah, I know not your average Navy bird. But ya gotta admitt, an A-10 vs. possume would be fun. Just a couple of round of the 30 mil and no more possume. [;)] Whoaaaaaa baby. Country fun. [:D]

Yes, I did notice you used the correct spelling. Us country folk don't care if we spell possume correct or not. [:p]

There'd still be possume......[;)]

little here [:0]

a little there[xx(]

some more over this way[8]

a little bit here[}:)]

some in Ed's grip...[:D]

[adrianspeeder]

Today I was doing some "work" with my "Super Speed Lawnmower" and a 10 point buck comes charging around a stand of trees towards my direction. I slammed it in reverse and got out the way. It went by, but in the direction towards my dad. In a split second decision, I cut the engine, and yelled for him to get his head up. I refired it to circle around and see what was going on. Dad said he got is gun drawn, but it turned off into the field. If I wasn't on the "speed demon" I don't know what would of happened, but it wouldn't be good.

Adrianspeeder

[dharmon]

Not that I get to do any much hunting in the Peoples Republic.........but, I can sit in the woods for hours and not see a thing except leaves change color and here you have a 10 pointer come to you. What is it about motor vehicles that attracts deer?????? It's just not right. The vegetarian streak continues[:(][:(] I better sign up for some Canadian Pringles[:D]

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

Not that I get to do any much hunting in the Peoples Republic.........but, I can sit in the woods for hours and not see a thing except leaves change color and here you have a 10 pointer come to you. What is it about motor vehicles that attracts deer?????? It's just not right. The vegetarian streak continues[:(][:(] I better sign up for some Canadian Pringles[:D]

Can you translate that for a no-opposable-thumb Mookie - what are Canadian Pringles? Is it decent?

Moo