By: Summer Lin

On Friday, July 19th, 2024, a tortoise was discovered on the railway tracks of a train from Aldershot, a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England, to Ascot, another town in England. The train had to be stopped to rescue the escaped tortoise and reunite it with its owner. The tortoise was unharmed but still delayed a lot of other trains.

This incident was also used by the organization Network Rail to remind people of the dangers of the railroad tracks.
“The pet animal, named Solomon, was spotted ‘moving at pace’ on the line towards Bagshot, Surrey after escaping from his owner’s nearby home.” said the Network Rail and South Western Railway staff watching the incident.

Solomon, the tortoise who had escaped his home nearby, was unharmed, and his owner came to pick him up later that day. Even though the tortoise delayed 4 trains, if the reptile had not been spotted, then the results would have ended extremely unpleasant. Thankfully, this story had a happy ending, but Network Rail used this as a warning that people should keep an eye on their pets.
“While we are delighted that this story has a happy ending and can reassure passengers that our ‘everyone home safe, every day’ ambitions extend to pets, we must remind everyone that the railway is dangerous,” a spokesperson from Network Rail said.

This event, of course, made Solomon become known.
“Network Rail poked fun at the situation on X, referring to Solomon as a ‘shellebrity’ and telling a user that he had ‘shelled out for a ticket.’”[1]
The tortoise later received a free ride on a train on a safe platform and arrived where his owner could safely be retrieved.

When the tortoise wandered onto the railroad track, it had deleted 4 trains, but thankfully. It was safe. However, Network Rail mentioned that this is a reminder to always be careful and watch pets, for they can wander everywhere.

[1] “Runaway tortoise rescued after being spotted on train tracks”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c728rn880d7o

[2] “Runaway tortoise causes train delays after trespassing on tracks”
https://www.kake.com/runaway-tortoise-causes-train-delays-after-trespassing-on-tracks/article_35672a53-541d-5b94-a4fc-82e4b4abe320.html