I heard a story recently of how the sheriff of a small, southern town decided to give a freight train a speeding ticket do local authorities have that sort of jurisdiction?
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
It's already been discussed on this forum:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/62926.aspx
Ed
Thanks! As stated in one of the posts on that thread the sheriff took off siren blazing along a parallel street then finally parked across the tracks ahead of the train luckily the engineer stopped the train in time!
Hi,
I've noticed you have posted a plethora of proto RR questions on this part of the Model Railroader forum. I suggest you would be much better served by going to the Trains (magazine) section of the master Kalmbach forum.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Steven,Allow me to share this..Grandview (a suburb) of Columbus,Oh had a no whistle use law between the hours of 1-3 pm and 10 pm to 6 am.
This happen in the summer of '67 while I was working as a brakeman.
We was switching the yard there in order to pick up some cars being held for a local industry anyhow, around 3 am the engineer gave a warning series of short horn blast for a suppose trespasser with the expected results a Grandview cop showed up and with ticket book in hand he climb on the engine and into the cab and demanded to see the engineer's driver license and a heated argument resulted so,the conductor had enough and radioed the dispatcher and requested a ARF and a company cop be sent to settle the dispute.
The ARF and cop showed up and took control of the situation and after listening to the Grandview cop he was informed the engineer was well within his rights by sounding a warning for the trespasser and he (the city cop) was subject to arrest for trespassing which resulted in another rather heated argument between the railroad cop and the city cop which ended with "You're under arrest for trespassing."
My understanding is the final results was goodwill apologies from PRR and the City of Grandveiw for that very unfortunate incident..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
mobilman44 Hi, I've noticed you have posted a plethora of proto RR questions on this part of the Model Railroader forum. I suggest you would be much better served by going to the Trains (magazine) section of the master Kalmbach forum.
Actually this is a forum for prototype information for the modeler as the forum header reads..IMHO he is free to ask prototype questions.
Brakie, to clarify.............
I was not trying to run the OP off, simply letting him know that with all his proto questions he would likely get more response from the Trains section.
Many cities and towns have passed speed restrictions on railroads. For the most part the railroads have been able to have them overturned because the track safety standards reside with the FRA and the cities do not have jurisdiction over railroad track speed.
The motor vehicle code covers vehicles that operate over roads but does not apply to rail vehicles. In addition railroads are operating on private property and not public highways. Generally police do not have the power to drug test crews involved in crossing accidents because the authority to test is included in the motor vehicle code and that does not apply to trains. There are a a couple states, Louisiana for one, where the authority to drug test is included in the criminal code and it applies to "vehicle operators" and there it does apply to train crews. The railroads have drug test and rules enforcement authority through Federal law. Railroads do their own speed tests and drug tests on train crews (it can be fun checking a radar gun through carry on baggage at an airport).
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Since railroaders love to tell stories, here's one that was related to me by Doyle McCormack of 4449 and NKP PA's fame.
The Nickel Plate Bellevue to Buffalo main passes through Lakewood, Ohio, and crosses about two-dozen grade crossings there. Doyle was engineer on a freight and at one of the crossings he saw a Lakewood police officer giving him a signal to stop, palms down in a "take-it-easy" motion.
The engineer made a heavy service brake application, speed limit then was 40 mph for freight, and got the train stopped about six city blocks away.
Sure enough, a red-faced officer pulled up at the nearest crossing and jumped out of his cruiser. He came up to the engine and hollered up, I want to see your licence now! Mr. McCormack replied, I don't need a "licence" to drive this thing.
Officer says, "Why didn't you stop when I told you to? That's evading and trying to elude an officer of the law."
I stopped as soon as I could without dumping this train all over town. Why are you stopping me anyway?
I saw loose bolts on the tracks back there and that is a hazard and you should have stopped.
It appears, the officer saw a few loose track joint bar bolts that were a little "sloppy" and felt that all train traffic should be halted immediately!
Yep, I guess with all the responsibilities that police have, track inspection shouldn't be one of them.
Regards, Ed
mobilman44 Brakie, to clarify............. I was not trying to run the OP off, simply letting him know that with all his proto questions he would likely get more response from the Trains section.
That's cool but,there's several very knowledgeable members here that will answer his questions so,why bother those folks? That forum use to be a hornets nest of arguing and I haven't been on that forum for years because of that and have no desire to go there..
BRAKIE mobilman44 Brakie, to clarify............. I was not trying to run the OP off, simply letting him know that with all his proto questions he would likely get more response from the Trains section. That's cool but,there's several very knowledgeable members here that will answer his questions so,why bother those folks? That forum use to be a hornets nest of arguing and I haven't been on that forum for years because of that and have no desire to go there..
There's a few of us who monitor both forums. I think though that the General Discussion part of Model Railroader can sting a person just as bad at times.
Jeff
Re: in the Trains forum, someone mentioned about fire engines being blocked at a crossing. The CSX/RFP main line goes through the county where I do EMS, with one overpass and two grade-level crossings. Probably a half dozen sidings. If we're responding and come to a blocked crossing, we radio dispatch that we'll be delayed by a train. Normally, we just wait until it clears. If the train isn't moving, or is moving slowly, standard protocol is to dispatch the next due unit, and/or mutual aid from the city. Ditto for police, but it was less of an issue for them since they normally have units on both sides of the tracks.
Not an optimal solution, especially if you have something especially time sensitive (I. E. Fire, cardiac arrest), but it's not a perfect world. The county opened a new station on the other side of the tracks last year, so it's much less of an issue than previously.
jeffhergert BRAKIE mobilman44 Brakie, to clarify............. I was not trying to run the OP off, simply letting him know that with all his proto questions he would likely get more response from the Trains section. That's cool but,there's several very knowledgeable members here that will answer his questions so,why bother those folks? That forum use to be a hornets nest of arguing and I haven't been on that forum for years because of that and have no desire to go there.. There's a few of us who monitor both forums. I think though that the General Discussion part of Model Railroader can sting a person just as bad at times. Jeff
As Brakie said, the OP is free to post questions on the Prototype forum, but he might better receive more informed answers, as well as a lot more answers, on the Trains forum where it is heavily populated by actual railroad personnel.
I think it all comes down to where can one get the best and most accurate information.
Rich
Alton Junction
But after all this is the MODEL RAILROADER PROTOTYPE INFORMATION FOR THE MODELER FORUM therefore it includes both questions about modeling the prototype and question about the prototype!