[Faline]

Dead man on rail (or possibly tram) tracks, late 1930s. Details unknown.

[Sharon]

Wonder what happened

[Faline]

Maybe just clipped by a train.

[mrsandman187]

probably shot or stabbed.

[William May]

Sorry, but that guy wasn't hit by a train.
#1. Look at all the grass growing in the train tracks. They haven't been run over by a train in a LONG time. When steam engines ruled, they constantly dropped cinders. Any operating rail line had NO grass or anything else growing near the tracks. Between the cinders, ashes, and lubricating oil they used, they killed all the vegetation from one side of the roadbed to the other.
#2. When rails are in use, they have a small, shiny section on the top rail where the trains pass. The actual contact area of a railroad wheel is less than the thickness of a dime. Both the rail head, and the rail wheel have curves machined into them, to make the contact area as small as possible, to reduce friction. The shiny area you see on used rails is due to the variations in geometry of the different wheels. So the marks are shiny in a large area, but only a tiny area is actually touched by any wheel. Those rails are dully and rusty on top.
#3. If he'd been hit by a train, or even brushed by one, he would have been torn to pieces. There aren't just the wheels, but also the sanding tubes, the bars that knock rocks off the tracks, etc.
I think this guy was killed and dumped.
He didn't fall off a train, either, because like I said earlier, no train used those tracks for a least a year prior to him being there.

[vagabond]

Maybe he's just sleeping one off?

[Photoplay]

Blood soaked shirt front, smears of blood under chin and nose. Lifeless half open eyes. I agree with mrsandman187 , probably shot or stabbed

[Kelseecat65]

Would love to know the story. He was dressed nicely.

[reubthadude]

Nice shot