Slipping and Sliding on the Rails

It's that time of year again when the leaves hit the train tracks and the trains have trouble running. Oh yes, I’m talking about slippery rail season. With the trains running over the fallen leaves, it creates oil. The trains can't get traction to start moving and need a lot more room to stop.

Anyway, as soon as it rains, the whole problem just gets worse. Tonight we were running about 30 minutes late. At least they were giving away free pretzels at the concourse (some sort of celebration day) so I didn't go hungry. That was good timing.

There was a cranky guy on the platform spouting off about how lame the excuse was. Obviously this was his first November taking the train. I tried to explain to him that the train we were waiting for was coming from the end of the line so there was more mileage for it to slow down. If it was coming out of the yard, there was less distance to slip along. After a season with the leaves, you stop getting cranky and just learn to live with it (and adjust your schedule accordingly).

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