A Further Note on Why I Don't Like Trains in Wichita

On the way home Katie and I got stopped by a train.  It was the back-and-forth kind that slowly heads one direction for a few minutes, stops for a few minutes, heads back the other way a few minutes.... You get the picture.  The trains that are just passing through town aren't that big of a deal; usually less than a five minute wait.  The "Sunday Driver" trains take at least twice as long, often longer.

So Katie and I are sitting there, watching, waiting.  We see the rear locomotive approach the intersection and ... come to a stop.  Sigh.  After a few minutes, the locomotive pulls away rather quickly and this time there is no train attached.  We are both very excited by this.

And the the cross-bars don't go up.  The red lights are still flashing and the warning bell is still clanging.  We see the cross-bar for the on-coming traffic rise and then stop half way.  It hangs there for a minute then drops back down.  Shortly, our cross-bar rises half way for a few minutes and then drops back down.

It takes a few of these cycles for us to get close enough to see the source of this mystery.  The cross-bars are being directly lifted by (I presume) a train company employee.  He lifts one for a few minutes and then cross the street the lift the other.  

This is a first; never seen anything like this before.

Twenty minutes of waiting.  During rush hour.  We had plenty of company.