Railfan or thief?

[Train Guy 3]

Ummmmm ..... I've never seen that switch stand before.

[csxengineer98]

Like i said befor...bid on it on Ebay....
csx engineer

[bigboy4024]

getting back to what i wrote eralyer i did check the numbers and asked BNSF and they said that the one i kepet was taken out from an old crossing that they riped out and BNSF it self sold to the scrap yard and the one with the glass balls they said it was sent out there along time ago by G.N. after i had to clean of the rust to find the numbers big boy

[Train Guy 3]

I found some torpedoes in a metal box beside the track today. It looks like its been there while and it was halfway under the ballast. So is taking it stealing?

[kenneo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Train Guy 3

I found some torpedoes in a metal box beside the track today. It looks like its been there while and it was halfway under the ballast. So is taking it stealing?

Get rid of those things NOW! Call your local explosivies folks at the police of fire department, and the Railroad. You have in your possession some VERY UNSTABLE explosives.

Looks to me like a good reason not to pick up stuff on the property.

BTW - on the former railroad i worked for, we would run stings when we found people congregating around the tracks for now particular reason. The Roadmaster and a Special Agent would Hi-Rail by and talk to the folks, and invariably, one would try to be "honest" and ask for a spike or something. The RDM would give them a spike, and the bull would bust them for receiving stolen property. You see, the RR had a rule that absolutely prohibited an employee or any former employee from ever possessing any railroads property or former property for any reason at any time or any place - even if they had a proper Bill-of-Sale. So when the RDM gave that person a spike, well, there you are.

Railroads use the "Store-in-Place" inventory system, which means that what is laying around is on inventory. Once a month the track inspector is supposed to inventory this stuff. It's there so that transportation of supplies is reduced and is ready near by when needed.

DON'T TAKE ANYTHING. PERIOD.

[espeefoamer]

If you find items like spikes or tossed out air hoses,they are fair game.Anything the railroad is obviously using,LEAVE IT ALONE!Once I was in Long Beach when they were tearing the P.E.tracks out of the middle of Ocean Ave.Since this was a Sunday no one was working,and I added several spikes to my collection.

[Train Guy 3]

Well those torpedoes are curently in my dad's " explosive containment " area ( steel casket basicly), my cousins job it get that kind of stuff to de-arm and such. I took those things cause usually kids play along that area of tracks. I know how explosive there are. My grandpa told me about when they used them out in Wyoming. I've read a some of stuff on those suckers just going off.

[JoeKoh]

Glad you got rid of the explosives but you should talk to the kids that areas arround railroads are no playgrounds.
stay safe
Joe

[Train Guy 3]

Yeah I'm working on talking to those kids, no body listens. I'm tring to get something set up with my school and Operation Lifesaver. I just can't believe how many people at my school think a train hitting you is just like breaking a leg. It is just unreal, I've thought about showing some of my videos to them during drivers-ed.... maybe they learn.

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kenneo
[brBTW - on the former railroad i worked for, we would run stings when we found people congregating around the tracks for now particular reason. The Roadmaster and a Special Agent would Hi-Rail by and talk to the folks, and invariably, one would try to be "honest" and ask for a spike or something. The RDM would give them a spike, and the bull would bust them for receiving stolen property. You see, the RR had a rule that absolutely prohibited an employee or any former employee from ever possessing any railroads property or former property for any reason at any time or any place - even if they had a proper Bill-of-Sale. So when the RDM gave that person a spike, well, there you are.

Out of curiousity, what are the limits of the RR police juristiction? Are they actual peace officers commissioned by the local, state or federal gov't or are they more in the line of security guards? If they actually have statutory powers, I would find it hard to believe that someone wasn't suspended or sued for entrapment in this age.

It seems it would be hard to uphold a conviction for having RR property with a bill of sale. That would be like saying that I couldn't have a surplus flight jacket bought at a store once I get out of the service.

[Anonymous]

What if you, like me, found a CPR switch lock tossed into a refuse dumpster adjacent RR property? It was in there, laying atop a bunch of other junk including an old push mower the RR was OBVIOUSLY discarding? When you put your trash out on the curb it's technically open to anyone who wants to take it by law. Isn't this the same thing?

[JoeKoh]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Train Guy 3

Yeah I'm working on talking to those kids, no body listens. I'm tring to get something set up with my school and Operation Lifesaver. I just can't believe how many people at my school think a train hitting you is just like breaking a leg. It is just unreal, I've thought about showing some of my videos to them during drivers-ed.... maybe they learn.

Good keep fighting the fight![:)]
stay safe
Joe

[mudchicken]

dharmon: Railroad police are licensed federal marshals, complete with badge and gun. They try to stay within the railroad boundaries and work with the local police agencies. They can pull rank on the locals but prefer the good neighbor approach.

Train Guy 3: If you need help with the OLI people in Ohio, have JoeKoh relay your info to me. We just taught awareness basics to surveyors at Lima and are working on Columbus next year, we can get people to you. Your Ohio OLI Coordinator is retired State Highway Patrol's Sheldon Senek.

For Pete's sake - GET RID OF THE TOPEDOES! (Things that old abused are potential bombs that can go off with just a change in temperature or pressure!!!!)

Mudchicken

[Anonymous]

I think were getting down to the nitty Gritty...

Look i fount today half-a=broken old CPR light that was lying 6 feet, 9 inches away from the railroad..

Oh yeah well i found a one-one/thousandth of an inch of old CPR wiring used for signals where they going to use it?

Oh yeah well i found a door handel off an old EMD f Series locomotive... 8 blocks away from the RR tracks

You see where i'm going with this...

Look if you take an RR spike, Big deal... If you come with a dumptruck and fill it up with spikes.. That is a big Deal!

If you take TORPEDOES off of RR property, first off, did you know they are explosive? Yeah they could cause abit of damage.. so maybe it wasn't a good idea to have taken those.. I know i wouldn't have!

Look the RR will never miss 1 spike,. they'll miss 100 or 1000 but not one..
Thet will miss 1 Dwarf signal... They'll also miss 100, or 1000 of those too

Just use commonm sense, But do stay off busy Railraod corridors.

[Train Guy 3]

Yeah i knew those dern things were very explosive. The main reason i took them was for the kids at the trailer park. I probably shouldn't have taken them. Those things have now been disposed of by an Army CORPS engineer.

[edblysard]

Train Guy,
First, good job.
You removed a serious danger to the foot traffic there, and if said traffic consist of a lot of younger kids, you may have saved some kids hand or eyesight.
By the way, its a federal offense to have those in your posession without a federal license, and also a crime to transport them.
(yes, railroads have a license and permit for them)
But you showed a lot of what Mookie and Modelcar are looking for, common sense, by turning them over to someone qualified to dispose of them correctly.

Next time, try calling the railroad instead, and place the burden on them to remove the danger.
Only if they fail to correct the problem should you act, and then you should call you local police, they are trained, (or should be) to handle things like this.

Still, you should be commended for first identifying a danger, then removing the danger so others stay safe, then turning them over to someone qualified to handle the problem.
All in all, a good job.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[kenneo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Train Guy 3

Yeah i knew those dern things were very explosive. The main reason i took them was for the kids at the trailer park. I probably shouldn't have taken them. Those things have now been disposed of by an Army CORPS engineer.

Good job, there!! Ed's method mentioned above is best for you to use. As Mudchicken said, a change in airpressure is sufficient to set them off, and when one goes, they all go. The railroad is required to keep them in blast proof containers, which are in turn placed in blast proof lockers just in case something happens that they blow.

[Train Guy 3]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard

Train Guy,
First, good job.
You removed a serious danger to the foot traffic there, and if said traffic consist of a lot of younger kids, you may have saved some kids hand or eyesight.
By the way, its a federal offense to have those in your posession without a federal license, and also a crime to transport them.
(yes, railroads have a license and permit for them)
But you showed a lot of what Mookie and Modelcar are looking for, common sense, by turning them over to someone qualified to dispose of them correctly.

Next time, try calling the railroad instead, and place the burden on them to remove the danger.
Only if they fail to correct the problem should you act, and then you should call you local police, they are trained, (or should be) to handle things like this.

Still, you should be commended for first identifying a danger, then removing the danger so others stay safe, then turning them over to someone qualified to handle the problem.
All in all, a good job.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

Speaking off federal offenses.... I had a close call before. I let my FCC license run out and didn't have 2 of my transmiters registered. Thank goodness for no Fed. guys at my train watching spot. My bud let his run out and the FCC had a few letters sent to his house. We didn't start having problems till after 9-11-01, I assume it's just a precauion.