About 50% of the time when police are called, because some neighbor saw us with surveying equipment, the police know exactly what we are doing and are simply responding because (I guess) it is necessary. In our state surveyors for boundary determination are protected by law against trespassing charges. The other 50% of the time results in unnecessary delays in order to give explanations for the reasons we are working and to remind the police of our rights.
Perhaps the worst time for me was working for AMTRAK in Connecticut. We were measuring along the main line, and needed to get bridge clearances. While making measurements underneath a highway overpass we suddenly noticed helicopters overhead. Black helicopters! Then a team of agents drove up and began their investigation of our doings. It was scary.
It turns out the President was attending a graduation ceremony in Groton at the submarine base, and was expected to take that highway, driving over us. Fortunately we had our credentials, and members of AMTRAK acting as flagmen.
When we finished explaining the purpose of our work they let us go, but still checked under the bridge. They thought we were planting bombs.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Probably haven't had a seated President in my immediate neighborhood ever. Truman supposedly spent the night at a tiny hotel in a now-ghost town in my county before taking up residence in D.C. He was representing some oil exploration company at the time.
A few of my years in MIchigan coincided with Ford being President. He was from Grand Rapids, so he, his wife, his daughter and his son appeared in the famous Tulip Festival Parade in Holland, Michigan We attended the parade. Saw all sorts of fellows in dark suits talking to their own wrists on a regular basis. Ford and wife were in one vehicle. Daughter in another later in the parade and son in another even later in the parade. I have no idea how many Secret Service it took to handle three very separate vehicles spread along a very long parade route. That would have been a poor day to be surveying anywhere near the parade route.
Working along the railroads can get crazy if you are not working for the railroads, based on your experience, looks like that can get crazy too.
In my days as a PC, I got kicked out of active railroad rights-of-way more than once by transit police while traversing the centerline of the tracks. My stepfather was a career Engineer for Conrail and ran the same lines across southern NJ everyday. He was often pulling 100 or more tank, coal and freight cars to spurs along his route and would often complain about idiots on the tracks and how foolish they were to illegally be there.
One day I was assigned a boundary survey of a large tract that backed up to a Conrail line. The tract was heavily wooded so I worked my way through the woods, split the tracks, set a PK in a tie and proceeded to have my IM set up there. As I was walking down the tracks to set another point with my rodman, in the distance, I see a train coming at us. There was no way we were going to have the time to set a point and wrap the angles so I had the IM break set up and clear the tracks. As we waited patiently on the side of the tracks for the train to pass, the horn started blaring more and more as the engine approached. Much to my surprise, as the train neared, I knew that I was in trouble as soon as I recognized my stepfather pointing at me and shaking his fist. Needless to say, I was not in the best of his graces on that particular day! I felt like a little kid getting caught stealing candy by saving hours of time and effort cutting line.
I got home from work, took a shower, cracked a beer and fired up the grill, preparing to bbq dinner, then can the rign ring on the land line. Let's just say that hell hath no fury like a stepfather scorn! He lectured me sternly for about a half hour telling me not to do that again. I took his lecture under consideration and returned the next morning to traverse down the tracks to save over 1,000' of line cutting in the summer heat. I never told him that and he retired from the RR a short time later but to this day, he still talks about the day he busted me on the tracks and how mad he was after sharing idiot stories with me.
At AMTRAK they called that fouling the track. On the main line trains can be going in either direction at any time on either of the main lines. The trains could be travelling at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour too.
The flagmen were supposed to be in radio contact with trains in the vicinity so they could warn us fifteen minutes in advance of an approaching train. They did so by blowing an air horn.
Sometimes the flagmen were late. It was frustrating so one day one of the team went ahead without waiting fot the flagmen. The next day he was banned from the project.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Doing a boundary survey once on a junkyard in the industrial sector of North St. Louis City. I was setup on an asphalt street that was running in between the front of the junkyard and a rail spur with 3' weeds growing out of it. Beyond the spur were a set of 3-4 rail lines that were active. A train goes by as I'm locating fence, property corners etc. It wasn't 10 minutes later and a police suv pulls up on me. It was the Port Authority. (the Mississippi River is nearby and runs parallel with the tracks) He tells me that I'm fouling the tracks by being within 25' of that weeded up spur. I politely mention that I'm on a public street. He already had an unhappy lady from the base on the phone and had me talk with her. She said that I would need flaggers at a cost of $1200 and it would be two-weeks. I told her that I would have been done in 15 minutes if they would have left me alone and that we'd figure something else out. Fortunately, I wasn't ticketed.
I may have told this story here before.
Was doing level runs establishing elevations on stream crossings for some flood control project. One day we were running down the tracks along the East side of the Hudson. Myself and the PC were walking on the service road, our liaison was walking on the edge of the tracks. The PC told him over and over to NOT walk there, he kept saying "I'm OK". Next thing you know there's a blaring horn behind him, I never saw anyone move so fast. Once we got back to vehicles we didn't see him the rest of the day. That was also the day that I found out that it's true that you can't hear a train coming up behind you, this was also in the middle of summer, so cold weather gear didn't play a part.
I have my own railroad crossing as the railroad splits one of my farms. Anytime I cross those tracks, I act as if I can see one coming. There is no wasted time getting the 100 feet from fence line to fence line. I have lost tract, but I was told by a RR worker several years back that there were 17 trains a day on that track, all headed south, plus the occasional work vehicle going either way. There is also a sidetrack more than a mile and a half in length. Sometimes they leave a train setting there for up to two weeks. Normally, they break the train for me. But, not every time. Feeding cattle on the other side is not an easy process then.
Thank you for the stories everyone. Be safe!
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
One day in the summer of 2004 I was working on a side street a short distance from one of the major thoroughfares here. President Bush was expected in town for a campaign appearance. The cops showed up and shut down access to the main road. People came out of nearby offices to watch the spectacle. Within minutes this main road was completely clear of traffic. A few minutes later the motorcade comes screaming by. A fleet of motorcycle cops, followed by several cop cars. Then a highway cruiser bus. Then more cop cars, more motorcycles, another couple of buses, a couple limousines, buses, cop cars, motorcycles and limousines. One of those vehicles had the president and first lady in it, but I couldn't say which. All doing north of 60mph on city streets. There must have been a hundred vehicles all told. Then they were gone and after about 2 minutes more the cops took the barricades down.
The flagmen were supposed to be in radio contact with trains in the vicinity so they could warn us fifteen minutes in advance of an approaching train.
I've done plenty of jobs in the RR right of way over the years and have been RR safety trained more than once. On one particular job we were surveying tracks in King Street Station in downtown Seattle, outside of the Kingdome. We had a RR flagman with radio escorting us, and had to clear the tracks 15 minutes before any arriving train. If it took 15 seconds to clear the tracks we were dogging it. Then we had to wait around while the train was in the station, then had to wait several minutes after the train left to get the all-clear to resume work. Under these conditions the productivity was at all time low that week. Would have been a great job for scanning, if that had been a thing then.
I said they were supposed to be in radio contact, but sometimes they were not. A lazy flagman added to the danger, and yes they could be a drain on productivity.
We were somewhere near Providence, Rhode Island, and it was hot. My partner Charlie was writing in the notebook with his head down. Then I saw the train coming. There had been no warnng from the flagman. He was resting in the shade of a bridge looking at his fingernails.
I called to Charlie, but he must have thought I was joking around, and didn't stop writing. So, I grabbed his arm and repeated my warning.
In the panic and haste, Charlie dropped the notebook, and attempted to retreive it. I kept yanking on him until we got away. Charlie admitted his foolishness, and we fired the flagman.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
@Norman_Oklahoma Mark - That may have been the same time when Bush Jr. came to Central Oregon to inspect some forest fires. He stayed at the Cross Waters development/golf course 15 miles south of here at one of his college fraternity brother's mini-mansion. The entire 48 hours he was here you could hear jet fighter planes circling overhead, doing their combat air patrol stuff. He was scheduled to fly from Cross Waters to the Redmond USFS Air Center (15 miles north of us) at 8AM one morning. We hiked up Pilot Butte (summit is 500' above town) to get a glimpse of the flight. We scan the horizon to the south, no sight of any helicopters, and then hear a clattering roar and lo and behold, there go three Black Hawks at treetop level above town and about 300 feet BELOW our vantage point on the butte.