We’ve all probably seen it: a photograph of senior sitting on a suitcase in the middle of train tracks, a couple kissing across between the rails, or a young family walking down the tracks. I honestly don’t know when train tracks became a “thing” in photography. While I get the appeal, the idea of a journey or moving on, you will never see me take clients onto train tracks & I think we should talk about why.

Dangerous
My first priority with my clients is their safety. Every year, hundreds of people are injured or killed while trespassing on railroad property in the U.S. Over the past couple years, we’ve seen many stories of photographers and/or their clients being injured or killed while shooting on train tracks. Even though we do not have high-speed trains in the US it is still difficult to move out of the way of a moving train in time, as evidenced by this high injury and death rate, despite all the publicity around this issue. The Federal Railroad Association actually lists these 6 reasons you should not shoot on tracks:

1. Trains can’t stop quickly to avoid people or vehicles on the tracks.
2. An optical illusion makes it hard to determine a train’s distance from you – and its speed.
3. The average train overhangs the track by at least three feet.
4. Railroad tracks, trestles, yards, and rights-of-way are private property.
5. No tracks should be assumed to be abandoned or inactive.
6. People in your community mimic your behavior.

It’s Illegal
All tracks (active or not) are on private or government-owned property and are regulated by a complex set of Federal, State, and local laws, as well as regulations and practices from the companies who own the tracks.  If a rail line is still laid out and connected at each end, then it’s not dormant, even if you never see a train on it.  A truly dormant track is a non-functional track that is very clearly marked as such by both the local government and the rail line.  There are very, very few of these in the country, and those are usually in the process of being removed or made into a walking trail.  No rail tracks should ever be assumed to be dormant, abandoned or inactive.

Private Property
In addition to it being illegal, train tracks are often located on private or government-owned property, which means stepping foot on them is actually trespassing. Trespassing is a misdemeanor that can result in fines and/or jail time (particularly in states that have active awareness campaigns about rail track dangers). Inactive tracks that are on private property could still result in heavy fines and/or jail time for you and your client. The fine for trespassing can be up to $10,000 and even could include jail time.

Could Lose Business Insurance Coverage
Most insurance would be void and discontinued if we did something blatantly illegal and dangerous like this. If I were to drop my camera while trespassing, or my client twists an ankle, or worse, there’s a very strong possibility insurance wouldn’t cover it since we were trespassing on private property at the time.

Unoriginal
Obviously, my first priority is safety and running my business legally, but let’s also consider what we’re providing our client. If you google “train track photos,” you will find a slew of images of people with their portraits on tracks. Honestly, it’s overdone and super cliche at this point. As professionals, we ought to pride ourselves on creating original, unique pieces for our clients – which really means eliminating train tracks from our repertoire anyway.

So there are my five reasons for not shooting on railroad tracks. I certainly hope that this explains why I’m pretty adamant about not shooting on them. I wish that it were possible for me to share this knowledge with everyone who has a camera because I do find it truly terrifying when I see someone taking pictures of a family on tracks with two young children. Things can change quickly in a place like that and horrible things can happen. Personally, I just don’t think it’s worth the risk… especially when I can create stunning images at a multitude of other locations where it is legal and safe for us to be.