Photographing on Railways and Train Tracks

I initially had no intentions of posting these images to social media or visible to the public, but after some consideration, I thought this would be a great opportunity to help spread the word about train safety. According to Joyce Rose, president and CEO of Operation Lifesaver, a person or vehicle is hit by a train approximately every three hours across the U.S. ​​

Photographing a senior on a railroad track is a huge nono and as a professional photographer, we know without a question to refrain from photographing on a live line, abandoned line, or potentially 'usable' track. 

Back story. This senior client's father has worked for a train line for many years as a conductor. They had requested photos of their daughter with railroad tracks. Naturally, I turned down the request. They came back with a location that was a section of track that was on private property that was set up as a display with a train car on the disconnected track. I accepted due to it obviously not being located anywhere near an actual line. (both ends of the track ended to an open field (100-yard section of track with nothing connected). 

The purpose of this is to re-iterate the dangers of photographing on train tracks as the message is very clear in our profession. For more information about train safety, visit Operation Lifesaver