As a child in America, I was strongly warned to stay away from the railroad tracks. Gruesome stories were told about those people who wandered onto the track, unaware of the grave danger approaching.
Things are much different here in China. The railroad tracks are used for many things other than train traffic. Kids walk to school on them:
Older folks sit on the rails and enjoy the sunshine:
Groups gather and chat:
and now that we live here, you occasionally see a foreigner walking along the tracks:
Just be careful to get off and on the tracks at the right time!
There’s plenty of space for planting a garden:
In order to water their gardens, people have made good use of old hard hats:
Scooping water from the ditch alongside the track may be as risky as interacting with a train. It is filled with runoff from the drainage sump of a duck processing plant and the “HFM” fertilizer used on the gardens (which explains the high concentration of flies):
Finally, the tracks are not only used for “passenger traffic,” but also for “carrying freight”:
Gotta watch out for those foreigners on the tracks!
I can’t believe the kids walk on the tracks by themselves!
I see school children are the same everywhere! Cammo is the new black! Interesting curved RR ties. Are they concrete?
Yes, the railroad ties (like everything else here) are made of concrete. They have to conserve their wood products to use for disposable chopsticks!