Re: An illegally parked train

The NS train in question blocked a crossing at the very end of the train, which the crew thought had been cleared, while they did cut the train in the middle to clear another crossing. The crew should have dropped the conductor at the blocked crossing first, and he should have walked forward to the next crossing which was cut to open for traffic. Totally at accident on estimated train length.
I once had a train fail where the rear two cars blocked the only entrance to a housing development. It was upgrade, so I put a man on the hand brake of the caboose, bled the air on two cars, cut the pin on the second rear car, and with a local hot rod car fan and a cable, got the two cars rolling to clear the crossing. I saved hours of wait for any engine to get there. You don't always need a engine to solve that problem.
Just remember, a road is a public right of way that is to be used crosswise or lengthwise by everyone in order of arrival. When a train comes, it uses its part of that public r/w and the next traffic just waits their turn. If there is a continuous solid stream of traffic on the main road, you must wait your turn to pull out into the road only when it is open and clear for you (except in RI where no one has the right of way). You may be required to wait 20 minutes if necessary or longer. There is no limit of how long you need to wait to pull onto the main road.
The laws by states limiting the length a train can occupy a public right of way, are not legal as the restrict interstate commerce and the need to perform transportation.
If it was a 150 car train, it would take much more than 5 minutes to couple up the train and pump up the air and make the required brake test and inspection and release and move off the crossing. All the time is not covered by the law as that would restrict interestate commerce.
Remember that when air hoses are coupled, the entire train must be walked to check the application of all brake shoes, and then walked to see that all brake shoes are in release. That 4 mile walk can take a hour to accomplish, plus there may be hand brakes to release.