He was standing on the platform waiting for a train.
He couldn’t help noticing the three maintenance workers in their orange, Hi-Viz jackets, on the other side of the tracks. They had erected a tall tripod over a hole in the ground. One of them stood to one side, he appeared to be the supervisor. The other two were working at the hole. One was winding a crank that lowered a cable over a pulley at the top of the tripod. The other was guiding the hook at the end of the cable into the hole. When he was sure that the correct depth was reached, he signalled the other to stop winding. He then extended his arm down and made some kind of attachment. He then signalled the other to wind the cable back up. The man, not knowing what he was watching, was fascinated nevertheless. Waiting for a train was boring at the best of times!
Once the thing attached to the cable was well clear of the hole, the winch was locked in position. The man watching could see that the object they raised was cylindrical, tapering to a smaller diameter at the top with some kind of gadgetry mounted on it. It was metal and painted black and about the size of a small LPG gas bottle. One of the men picked up a large piece of heavy board and slid it over the hole. The winch was used again to lower the object so that it came down to rest on the board. The cable was detached and the men, crouching either side of it, began doing something at its base. It seemed that they were having trouble with it.
It was at this point that one of them got up and went to a large tool bag and took something out.
The man observing all this was surprised when he saw that it was a large mallet. The worker went back to the object and knelt down next to it.
At the very moment he raised the mallet, the train pulled in, blocking the observer’s view…
Go figure!