The following message appeared on the Railroad list. It was written by Scott Porinsky, and I thought it was funny so I am passing it on:

Unfortunately there are all too many people who dont know much about the railroad but think they do.

Shortly before I went train dispatching on the BN in the early 70s, a freight train hit a house that was being moved across a grade crossing east of Savanna, IL.

This occurred in the middle of the night and the housemoving contractor said he was purposely doing it at night because of lack of highway traffic and there wouldnt be any trains running. Talk about lack of understanding the railroad.

I recall the engineer being asked on the radio where exactly he hit the house (meaning the road crossing), and his reply was somewhere between the bathroom and kitchen.