Banff Alberta - A railfan sees a photo opportunity, a locomotive mock-up, walks up to the imitation train tracks, and steps onto an electrified mat.
 
Shocked, he retreats.
 
Not only that, the railfan appears to have learned an important lesson that could save its life.
 
It's a scenario that has happened several times in the past year during a pilot study at two test sites built to mimic a fenced railway line.
 
The so-called electromats were placed at the fence openings.
 
"So far, we've had four attempts by railfans."
 
"One tried twice and, in all cases, they were repelled from the site," a ferroequinologist said Wednesday.
 
"They didn't test the mat again, but some of them did come back to the area for more photo attempts."
 
"They were clearly still attracted, but unwilling to try the mat again."
 
"So that's a promising result."
 
The electromats are part of a 5-year-long pilot study aimed at finding ways to reduce railfan attractants.
 
One method the railway knows to be working has been to decrease the number of donuts dropped from its locomotive cabs.
 
Another method has the opposite effect, the use of locomotive horns, which appears to be more of an attractant.
 
A railway official said:  "We're very encouraged by the electromat results, there's a lot of really strong fundamental science going on in terms of railfan psychology."
 
"We've identified several areas where photographing is taking place, both along the railway tracks, and off."
 
Two other components of the pilot study, which includes both Banff and Yoho national parks, have included fitting certain railfans with GPS collars to better monitor their movements, and attaching GoPro cameras on locomotives to record how they react to passing trains.
 
Author unknown.