In the book, he's described as not being all that banged up, either. It's entirely possible he was trying to get away from the train and hit his head or something.
It's also hinted at that there is SOMETHING ELSE IN THE WOODS, and maybe that's what got him! It is, after all, a Stephen King story!

I always thought he was doing what Teddy did."Train Dodging" but he misjudged the train.

I never read the story. Perhaps he was partially or completely deaf?

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this is not far fetched at all. this is something that actually happens in real life. i personally know a guy that got hit by a train when he was kid and nearly died
And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you

That part of the track ran though a forested area, it's not crazy to think that an approaching train would also sound like wind passing through branches. Also, wasn't there a body of water like 15 feet away? Plenty of things to distract from or disguise the sound.
Why do people so frequently get told to read the book on a
movie
database?

Oddly this type of thing has happened in real life a number of times. It sounds incredibly bizarre but it's not unrealistic. There have been at least two stories like this in the media in Southern California in the last year or so. Freakin' weird and one could categorize it as stupid but it happens.
"It's Minnie Pearl's murder weapon."

I lived next to train tracks for years. Trains do not constantly blow their horns, usually just when the trains are approaching a crossing or they see something on the tracks.
Ray could have been very tired or had dosed off and didn't hear it. We'll never know

+1 for that.
Although Gordie and Vern is likely the only successful students to graduate from said school in the very same movie.

Maybe this isn't how it was in the 50s, but trains can be extremely quiet, especially if they're running with the engine in back. I grew up near train tracks, and a friend and I once didn't hear a train until it was under us when we were climbing a chain link fence on a bridge. It was almost completely silent and scared the beep out of us.

Ray Brower went to the Prometheus school of running away from things i.e. running in a straight line away from whats coming straight at you instead of running sideways away from it
People tend to look at you differently when you stuff a voodoo doll full of laxitives

If anything is a plothole in the story, it would be how did the engineer not know he hit someone. Trains will stop after they hit someone, not just keep going leaving the body to be discovered whenever. I suppose it's possible back in those days the engineer could get away with not paying attention. Maybe reading a newspaper or something.
Well for starters, it could have been night time when he hit him. Also, back in those days, it wasn't too uncommon for train engineers to be drinking while on the job. My uncle used to be an engineer as well. They had to build an overpass over one of the tracks because back in those days, he and his buddies would be piss drunk and stop the trains across the road, blocking all traffic.

My father was an engineer for amtrak, and yes people got hit & killed all the time. Granted most of the time the people were drunk, but it happenes rather often to people not drunk.
If anything is a plothole in the story, it would be how did the engineer not know he hit someone. Trains will stop after they hit someone, not just keep going leaving the body to be discovered whenever. I suppose it's possible back in those days the engineer could get away with not paying attention. Maybe reading a newspaper or something.

as a child, I used to have to cross a railway track on my way home from schoolnot at a crossing, just along the line. One day, walking home with my brothers, I was very cross for some reason and stomping along lost in my own angry world. I went to step across the first track and my brother pulled me back by grabbing my jacket.as I turned around to yell at him the train went whooshing past! Up until then, I had not seen or heard it. If not for my brother's quick thinking, I would have been smooshed on the front of that train!
Also, about the shoes coming off. W@hen a person dies, their body goes limp initially and that's when shoes fall off.you'll often see random shoes when there has been a bombing or other type of accident where people have been suddenly killed

That was my initial thought. I used to live on an acre of land and far into the woods was a train track (not for commuting). It rarely ever blew its horn, but I could still hear it coming and going.

It happens all the time. two times just in Portland Oregon the past 4 months.
http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2015/02/amtrak_train_fatally_hits_man.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2014/10/man_killed_by_train_in_southea.html

who knows.. gordie said the train knocked him out of his shoes, so we know that the train mustve whacked im good, but, its IMPOSSIBLE not to hear, or even feel a train coming, those things are so powerful and loud, a deaf man can feel the air and surroundings around him rumbling. outside of a suicide, or being frozen in fear

I'm glad you responded. I figured there was more to it in the book, but just haven't gotten to read it yet. Thanks!

I know it's been quite a while since you asked the question, but I'm going to answer it anyway.
According to the book, the Brower kid's mom told the police her son went out (bringing with him a bucket) to pick blueberries and never came back. So that was what was on the news, and that was how the 4 main characters knew.
And then the kid got lost and he followed the track all the way (the reason why he got so far away) thinking it could lead him back home. He became disoriented when he realized he was still in the middle of nowhere, and now having lost interest in picking blueberries he threw his bucket away (this is the reason there was no bucket or blueberries anywhere near his dead body).
In the book, the 4 main characters discussed how the Brower kid had probably gotten so scared when the night arrived and had stick to the track, or even slept very near to or even on the track. He was alone, unprepared, so far away from home, and was probably in shock too, plus it was dark, so it's very logical that he didn't hear the train (or was to shock to move before the train hit him).
IN SHORT, he was not hit by the train when he was in normal mental state, picking blueberries and whistling (lol). He was hit by the train after he got lost, became disoriented and scared, most likely at night, and was probably sitting or sleeping on the track.
So there ya go!

A woman I worked said she & a friend nearly got hit by a freight during the 80's.
She described how the wind direction all but muffled any sound, pushing towards the train, away from them walking, erasing most warning.
It wasn't a railway crossing with horns & signals.
Having said that, I don't think she implied a sudden train dodge either like the movie lols. More to the point had they not looked around, in less than a minute they'd have been dead.
All in all, it is very probable to be killed by a train. If you go stand near a local railway crossing, esp an urban/suburban one, & see just how fast they're plowing through those in real time then realize that train speeds are regulated through populated zones encountering one out in rural/wilderness would be f'd up.
Like driving on a highway 120kph, & a train off to the side just cruises right on by that would be instant killshot.

What people also don't understand is that you can be 5-10 feet off the tracks and the train can suck you in with a vacuum like suction. So he may have been picking the berries by the side of train and got sucked into the wind tunnel that happens when a train passes at high speeds. This could also explain the idea of his shoes flying off. The intense suction could have drawn him in and shot him out at a drastic force.

I'm always surprised when I hear that some one was hit by a train but it still happens on a relatively regular basis and I always wonder "didn't they hear it coming?" But apparently, they didn't

Yeah it seemed like they could've just jumped onto the front of the train even lol

Trains seemed very loud and incredibly slow as well in film. Especially during bridge scene I almost laughed, the train was at jogging pace and with just one carriage it could have easily stopped I reckon. What train driver wouldn't try his hardest to not mow down a group of kids?
"I believe what ever doesn't kill you, simply makes youstranger"
The Joker