The real reason we warn kids to stay away from the tracks. It turns out that confectionery is cheaper than gravel in some parts of the world (and resists water erosion better because of the wrappers). Sadly they didn't anticipate anthropomorphic erosion events such as this leading to extended rail line outages.
Once the secret was out it became a nation-wide phenomena for kids to raid the tracks.
Railway engineers have been attempting to address this problem by tweaking the infill composition. A recent experiment involved infilling with only licorice, however it turns out some kids still like it. Local newspapers claim the railway engineers were quite confused by this result.
On the right the girl's hairdo reveals she had a recent near-miss at one of these railway digs. The adults now keep an eye on things -- if you pay close attention you will notice that there is actually an adult (or at least teenager) in this scene. Analyse the image closely and you might spot it.
An aspiring railway engineer at the top of the sketch, wearing blue, is pointing out a flawed sleeper. Either that or he's making a fat joke about one of his friends sitting on it.
The dirt desire-paths around the tracks show that locals regularly walk this line. Maybe it's safer than you think? These kids might not have been the first to raid this spot (how did they lift the sleepers?), I suspect the adults cracked it open sometime last night. Usually rail workers cover these sites with a tarp and signposts within a day of reporting.
Prompt: "The lost powers of childhood. Group of children in a park next to a rail line, discovering flaws in the world. Chocolates are everywhere." Generator: Bing DALL-E
This was a really fun and high-effort post, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it. I put this together because I had a crappy day off work sick.
I'm often more interested in the world of a fictional work than its actual plot or characters. Is it a place, regardless of how horrible or how nice, that I'd genuinely want to visit and experience? I probably cheated a bit on this one (directly bribing the reader with chocolate) but it still counts.