Drunk grizzlies keep getting hit by trains in Montana

(Not that I blame you for squinting them, I am only providing reason why, perhaps)

It is often illegal.

I worked with them for about three hours, and at the end sent them home with a male rat. Both delighted as can be.

He was a very social and playful one that I had been planning on taking home.

I removed squirrel carcasses from all rooftop A/C units, along with the harvested nutshells that they had left behind. I patched the holes they opened into the walls and crevices of the condo apartments.

Finally I helped remove the 40-year-old pecan tree adjacent to one building's slab and which had hosted these pests for decades. The tree was lifting the slab and likely would have broken the foundation.

I have resolved that buildings should never coexist with either large trees (nut-bearing or otherwise) or with rodents.

Two years ago some jackass planted two pecan trees in the condo front yard. This year the pecans are falling and the squirrels have already moved back. The homeowners' association is clueless. The cycle continues.

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/bears-discover-fi...

Edit: https://youtu.be/7Ao-24274Jw

This example is not in Montana, but apparently minor derailings are a thing. And the cars that are not derailed don't really look much better.

I searched and found this database.

I don’t know how it compares to other countries but it’s a long list.

https://data.transportation.gov/Railroads/Rail-Equipment-Acc...

On the way back one time we were sitting for hours because a freight had come apart in two places on the only through track. I watched the crews hump couplers brought up from (presumably) Crater Lake past the bar car. Just a day working on the railroad.

They put the train together wrong once, without the crew car between the engines and first class. This meant that first class looked out over the engines. (They duct taped around the door to keep the snow and rain from pouring in.) About a half dozen of us stood there taking turns sharing bottles of wine and looking out the window in the dark as the train went over the Cascades en route to Crater Lake. Very cool.

On the way down one time, shortly after "lights out", there was an excited PA announcement "STAY IN YOUR ROOMS AND DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING METAL" and as I came to I noticed that the lights and ventilation were off and the train seemed to be coasting to a stop. The second announcement that anyone who saw "lights" outside the train should speak to a conductor was no more reassuring. Upshot was the dining car had suffered an electrical fire (coach apparently filled with smoke, but we were spared that in first class). They diverted to some huge rail yard somewhere in the vicinity of Crater Lake where they disassembled the train and put the wretched dining car at the end of the train; they catered in breakfast in Sacramento.

Dunno why all the best stuff happens just north of Crater Lake.

Northbound run looking out of the antique bar car: http://athena.m3047.net/train.jpg

There was a theater downstairs, I kid you not! http://athena.m3047.net/train-theater.jpg

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article27933093...

But then on the other hand train speed is dangerously difficult to assess even for us humans who in theory know full well what a train is. I believe that this is because much of the perception of movement is in terms of "size-units over time", which is why a fly at walking speed appears fast whereas big ship at 25 knots appears almost stationary unless you are too close for your own good.

Plus in this particular case, apart from the feelings it might generate in more engaged readers such as you, I don’t think the title has further real-life implications.

People conscious enough to actually have an impact on the matter (e.g. those to potentially reach out to organizations, or appeal to railroad companies directly to secure their cargo better) will surely read the article and realize the bears are 100% the victims.

Whereas the people who will think “haha, stoopid wasted bears” and move on, wouldn’t have actively done anything about the situation to begin with. They might still share the article though, which in turn increases its reach and improves its chance of finding someone who cares.

If there’s a fallacy here please call me out, but at this moment I don’t think the “sensationalized” element in this title is a bad thing. At worst it’s neutral, apart from earning Cowboy State Daily some (un)deserved bucks.

But I also know how big a train is, and I still don't see it. I know that in terms of mass, a train is to a car as a car is to an empty beer can. A car can derail a train, but won't very often. A moose might weigh as much as a small car, but has less stiff metal in the frame. It still might derail a train... but not very often.