Running on railroad tracks

I'd do it if given the chance. I\'ve always wanted to spend a couple weeks running alongside traintracks. Just to see where they will take me. Maybe run across a few states or something. Meet some hobos, train hoppers, etc etc. Maybe write a song about it when I get back.

I live on Long Island in New York. I can't imagine running on the railroad tracks here. But then again, the tracks are made for subway trains coming to/from the city. They are very fast and the tracks are not secluded, they pass through residential/industrial areas so I imagine you could run into some trouble when spotted.

Plus the third rail... you don't want to mess with that.

SunsetGrill wrote:

I live on Long Island in New York. I can't imagine running on the railroad tracks here. But then again, the tracks are made for subway trains coming to/from the city. They are very fast and the tracks are not secluded, they pass through residential/industrial areas so I imagine you could run into some trouble when spotted.

Plus the third rail... you don't want to mess with that.

Yes I'm familiar with Long Island... I wouldn't want to be near those tracks during a run.

Caltrain has tracks that run up and doown the peninsula to The City. It's a populuar place for suicides so now there are guards barking at us to get off the tracks as trains zip up and down from San Jose to Frisco.

Trains near me have terrible footing, they are all surrounded by a large size granite gravel. I presume your railroad tracks are better for running?

I don't recommend it.

Figure you have a pretty fair chance of tripping on something and bonking your head on the tracks.

You might come to in separate pieces, if only briefly.

It's a time-honored tradition in rural areas, where they often form a good link between trails. I wouldn't recommend it on any track that sees passenger trains, though. We used to run on the tracks all the time in college, and would go across a fairly long trestle. The trestle was clearly visible from a nearby bridge and village, but fortunately no snitches ever called the cops on us.

To the person concerned about hitting your head on the tracks - do you not have arms?

I've run on train tracks a few times, but I think it's not a good idea. As others have mentioned, the footing is bad, and you really might trip and bonk your head on a rail. Where I ran on the tracks, in rural Utah, there wasn't a very good surface between tracks, so I only ran on the tracks for a couple of hundred yards. It takes too much concentration to avoid spraining an ankle or worse. Also, this might happen to you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPz0-iYTTw

That's right. No person has ever failed to get their arms out in time to avoid a potential knockout.

Particularly when running between two solid steel rails for every step.

however I'm not concerned about hitting my head. I'm smart enough to avoid running on train tracks.

I used to do this all the time on tracks that only carried freight trains. The only reason I stopped was because the footing around the tracks was bad (large rocks) and so I had to be very careful about stepping only on the wood. Also I once ran upon a make-shift campsite (not in camp grounds) that was littered with trash, needles, and beer bottles, like a redneck homeless hang out. Nobody was there at the time but I got the bad feeling that I did not want to come across them again on my own.