Putting coins on railroad tracks
April 18th, 2014 at 5:08:59 PM
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So, Mike, do you feel you got your two cents worth out of that research project?
;-)
;-)
April 18th, 2014 at 5:10:01 PM
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I did this as a kid and never found the penny. My conclusion was that this would be what always happened, that the money would be gone.
I needed to be well-heeled like the Wizard so I could afford further experimentation [g]
I needed to be well-heeled like the Wizard so I could afford further experimentation [g]
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!” She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
April 18th, 2014 at 5:11:38 PM
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Quote: DocSo, Mike, do you feel you got your two cents worth out of that research project?
Good one. Yes, I did.
Quote: odiousgambitI did this as a kid and never found the penny.
I was fortunate in that the train was slow. Otherwise, I would have found a lot less then 7 out of 9. The one in the video was not the train that went over my pennies, as there were two sets of tracks. When my train went by, about an hour after the first train, I didn't have my camera ready.
I also did this many years ago in Maryland and recall what few times I found the penny it was much further away. However, I didn't recall which direction they went in when this thread started.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
April 18th, 2014 at 5:14:37 PM
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I'm glad you didn't get in any trouble. Railroad police can be tough and unforgiving on trespassers. CSX police are especially that way.
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
April 18th, 2014 at 5:21:17 PM
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Quote: 1BBI'm glad you didn't get in any trouble. Railroad police can be tough and unforgiving on trespassers. CSX police are especially that way.
The only thing to keep me away from the tracks was a sign saying "this area property of the railroad."
At the risk of changing the topic, one of the items on my bucket list is to hop on a freight train. One thing that gives me pause is a scene in the movie Into the Wild, where somebody doing just that took a beating by railroad security. The movie doesn't say how they caught him, but I got the impression it was a camera. They stopped the train and the security guy knew exactly where he was.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
April 18th, 2014 at 5:32:17 PM
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Quote: Wizard
At the risk of changing the topic, one of the items on my bucket list is to hop on a freight train.
You know they sell ticket for those things, right? Can go wherever you want, sit inside and everything ;)
The opinions of this moderator are for entertainment purposes only.
April 18th, 2014 at 7:52:02 PM
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Where I lived when I was a kid a rail road track went right through my backyard. Lots of memories of putting coins on the track. One evening we was placing coins to be flattened and a train started coming. My friends dog was on the other side of the track and didn't make it back across before the train came. My friend is on one side of the track yelling at the dog to stay on the other side. Of course the more he yelled the more excited the dog got. The dog timed it just right to cross the track under the train. He made it but his tail didn't. The track cut it clean off just like it had been docked.
April 18th, 2014 at 8:01:44 PM
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Quote: FaceYou know they sell ticket for those things, right? Can go wherever you want, sit inside and everything ;)
You can get tickets to sit on freight trains?
"Then you can admire the real gambler, who has neither eaten, slept, thought nor lived, he has so smarted under the scourge of his martingale, so suffered on the rack of his desire for a coup at trente-et-quarante" - Honore de Balzac, 1829
April 18th, 2014 at 8:28:18 PM
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Quote: WizardOkay, I hope you guys are happy. Here is a video of my experiment to answer the question at hand.
I welcome all comments.
I don't think it's +EV to document the commission of a crime in a video where your face is visible and then post that video to a public Web site under your real name...
April 20th, 2014 at 6:34:34 PM
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Quote: sodawaterI don't think it's +EV to document the commission of a crime in a video where your face is visible and then post that video to a public Web site under your real name...
I don't concede that I committed a crime. There was a sign saying the area was property of the railroad, but it didn't say I couldn't walk about there or put coins on the track. Besides, I really don't think the railroad will come after me for this, even if I did unknowingly break a law. As for it being -EV, considering the joy the video will bring to the millions of YouTube viewers.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
April 20th, 2014 at 8:44:21 PM
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Quote: FaceYou know they sell ticket for those things, right? Can go wherever you want, sit inside and everything ;)
There hasn't been Amtrak service from Southern California to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City for a lot of years, which is a shame.
"Quit trying your luck and start trying your skill." Mickey Crimm
April 20th, 2014 at 9:10:57 PM
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I appreciate your work, Wizard. Thank you.
I find it curious that the squashed coins are relatively round. Whenever I see the pennies in those souvenir press machines, they always come out oval, since they are rolled from one end to the other, instead of being "hammered" straight down.
I find it curious that the squashed coins are relatively round. Whenever I see the pennies in those souvenir press machines, they always come out oval, since they are rolled from one end to the other, instead of being "hammered" straight down.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
April 20th, 2014 at 10:14:51 PM
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Quote: AyecarumbaI find it curious that the squashed coins are relatively round. Whenever I see the pennies in those souvenir press machines, they always come out oval, since they are rolled from one end to the other, instead of being "hammered" straight down.
Out of curiosity, I looked up train weights (Engine/locomotive). The lightest was around 80 tons. It is quite a hammer.
Sanitized for Your Protection
April 21st, 2014 at 3:10:03 AM
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Quote: Wizardone of the items on my bucket list is to hop on a freight train.
I'd plan carefully to avoid injury and truly miffed security folk
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!” She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
