Another One Who Should Not Have Been Allowed To Reproduce!

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-44924264

[ummmm]

And the other 99% of the time?

[sanmac]

It's certainly not a good way to train your kids.

[bednobs]

in all honesty, i sort of agree with the dad, what a load of fuss over not very much. I bet the mum didnt though!

[mushroom25]

//what a load of fuss over not very much. //

would you think the same if the light locomotive or freight train that dad said "wasn't due yet" took kiddie's head off? believe me, at 60mph you cannot hear them until they are almost on top of you, and dad, although he said was looking, probably wasn't.

[rockyracoon]

I agree with Bednobs.

I expected something far more sinister when I clicked the link.

[ummmm]

Mushroom....you can hear trains when you're in a train station. They have announcements and boards telling us when trains are due to arrive.

[pastafreak]

While it may not have been dangerous at that moment, I think it sends the wrong message to the children regarding what is *fun*.

[bednobs]

i suppose the whole point is his head did not come off though. i would rather all kids stood back from the rails, but if they are oing t go near, what a good idea to lie down

[sanmac]

Happens all the time: Some little incident like this hits social media and everbody's appalled, outraged, horrified, gobsmacked...

[Mamyalynne]

Something not to be encouraged but hardly a top News story.

[mushroom25]

//Mushroom....you can hear trains when you're in a train station. They have announcements and boards telling us when trains are due to arrive. //

they don't announce freight trains. Trowbridge is just up-line from Network Rail's main engineering train depot at Westbury, and the line from there to the Bristol area is busy with engineering movements, especially at weekends. it is busy. by the time you hear a freight train whilst at a station, it will be seconds from you. it's not a car, a 2000t freight train will take over a mile to stop. if you're in the way, you'll be dead.

[andy-hughes]

Nothing did happen - but that is down to chance, and not the care of the parent.

Trains can appear without warning, or indeed sound - that's why track crews have two men, one looking each way, whose sole job is to keep an eye open for trains and warn the crew to get out of the way.

You would not expect this man to do anything other than say his son was perfectly safe - but he would say that, wouldn't he?

[Canary42]

///they don't announce freight trains///

They do in my region, "Please stand clear, the approaching train is not due to stop in this station"

[Gromit]

// believe me, at 60mph you cannot hear them until they are almost on top of you //

From the photo, there is a 90 degree bend out of the station. Freight trains have to slow down going through stations anyway, but the sharp bend would mean it would slow to a crawl.

The kid wasn’t really in any danger, but I would not let a child go near to the platform edge, even if lay down.

[ummmm]

I wouldn't either, Gromit, but to say this man shouldn't be able to reproduce when he could be a loving, caring father, is harsh.

[ToraToraTora]

so a 2000 ton train at a crawl is harmless then gromit? right oh!

[ummmm]

He didn't say that!!!

[Prudie]

Definitely blown out of all proportion, he was probably only down there for 30 seconds. Would I let my child hell no! Absolutely filthy to lie on.

[ToraToraTora]

ummmm: "He didn't say that!!!" - Gromit: ".... but the sharp bend would mean it would slow to a crawl. " = train going slow, see, then: "The kid wasn’t really in any danger" - sounds very much to me like gromit believes that a freight train at a "crawl" is harmless.

[Ellipsis]

This is the sort of thing the Darwin Awards exist for. “A train won’t come without wa-...”