Confounded railroad ties!

"He walked beside the track to avoid the nuisance of trying to walk the irregularly spaced ties."
(from The Iron Marshall, by Louis Lamour

I remember from my childhood walking along the Rock Island railroad that ran parallel to and just south of Highway 10 at Magazine, Arkansas. It was irritating. The ties were spaced too far for one step, and too near for two. (Strange what we remember from our youth.)