RRKen Bucyrus The original post was about the legal act of photographing railroads from public property being suspicious. It said nothing about trespass or banning photography. I don’t think there is much you can do about suspicion. Some people are full of it. Homeland Security thrives on it. The real issue, if it comes up, is the introduction of a prohibition on photographing railroad subjects from public property. Anyone standing around on a street corner at a rail road crossing looks suspicious to the men in Blue (or Brown or Red). Let us be serious for a moment shall we. I was in Harvey, IL back in 1988, and took some photos for stock of a man being questioned and arrested by the police. They tried it with me, but the law is on my side. So says those in the legal profession. If you think, for one moment that the Constabulary cares what you are taking photos of, or would want to get into a legal tug of war, think again. Be polite, follow instructions, and have a nice day.
Bucyrus The original post was about the legal act of photographing railroads from public property being suspicious. It said nothing about trespass or banning photography. I don’t think there is much you can do about suspicion. Some people are full of it. Homeland Security thrives on it. The real issue, if it comes up, is the introduction of a prohibition on photographing railroad subjects from public property.
The original post was about the legal act of photographing railroads from public property being suspicious. It said nothing about trespass or banning photography. I don’t think there is much you can do about suspicion. Some people are full of it. Homeland Security thrives on it. The real issue, if it comes up, is the introduction of a prohibition on photographing railroad subjects from public property.
Anyone standing around on a street corner at a rail road crossing looks suspicious to the men in Blue (or Brown or Red).
Let us be serious for a moment shall we. I was in Harvey, IL back in 1988, and took some photos for stock of a man being questioned and arrested by the police. They tried it with me, but the law is on my side. So says those in the legal profession.
If you think, for one moment that the Constabulary cares what you are taking photos of, or would want to get into a legal tug of war, think again. Be polite, follow instructions, and have a nice day.
We are on the same page, I think.
WhiteLeatherFrom Trains.com News Wire: "Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano this week suggested citizens should call law enforcement when they see someone taking a picture of "critical infrastructure." Photographing rail lines from public property remains perfectly legal, but Napolitano suggests citizens should call police anyway. "One of the things we ask people to do," Napolitano told Fox News, "is when they see something unusual, if they see, for example, somebody continually taking photographs of a piece of critical infrastructure that doesn't seem to make any sense … to report that to local law enforcement so it can be followed up on."I've been "investigated" as "suspicious" for simply sitting along a public road and it, like TSA at airports, is yet another slam against our basic 4th Amendment rights. Ms. Napolitano's suggestion will just tie up police and sheriffs for no real reason. She tells people that if you see someone doing something that's "perfectly legal", report it anyway. Wha...?????
From Trains.com News Wire:
"Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano this week suggested citizens should call law enforcement when they see someone taking a picture of "critical infrastructure." Photographing rail lines from public property remains perfectly legal, but Napolitano suggests citizens should call police anyway. "One of the things we ask people to do," Napolitano told Fox News, "is when they see something unusual, if they see, for example, somebody continually taking photographs of a piece of critical infrastructure that doesn't seem to make any sense … to report that to local law enforcement so it can be followed up on."
I've been "investigated" as "suspicious" for simply sitting along a public road and it, like TSA at airports, is yet another slam against our basic 4th Amendment rights. Ms. Napolitano's suggestion will just tie up police and sheriffs for no real reason. She tells people that if you see someone doing something that's "perfectly legal", report it anyway.
Wha...?????
GP40-2WhiteLeather From Trains.com News Wire: "Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano this week suggested citizens should call law enforcement when they see someone taking a picture of "critical infrastructure." Photographing rail lines from public property remains perfectly legal, but Napolitano suggests citizens should call police anyway. "One of the things we ask people to do," Napolitano told Fox News, "is when they see something unusual, if they see, for example, somebody continually taking photographs of a piece of critical infrastructure that doesn't seem to make any sense … to report that to local law enforcement so it can be followed up on." I've been "investigated" as "suspicious" for simply sitting along a public road and it, like TSA at airports, is yet another slam against our basic 4th Amendment rights. Ms. Napolitano's suggestion will just tie up police and sheriffs for no real reason. She tells people that if you see someone doing something that's "perfectly legal", report it anyway. Wha...????? Everyone needs to stop complaining. You all wanted the "Hope and Change" thing. Now, a least you got the Change. You should investigate all the other "changes" Napolitano wants to make to the Bill of Rights. Calling the police on every railfan will be the least of your problems.
WhiteLeather From Trains.com News Wire: "Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano this week suggested citizens should call law enforcement when they see someone taking a picture of "critical infrastructure." Photographing rail lines from public property remains perfectly legal, but Napolitano suggests citizens should call police anyway. "One of the things we ask people to do," Napolitano told Fox News, "is when they see something unusual, if they see, for example, somebody continually taking photographs of a piece of critical infrastructure that doesn't seem to make any sense … to report that to local law enforcement so it can be followed up on." I've been "investigated" as "suspicious" for simply sitting along a public road and it, like TSA at airports, is yet another slam against our basic 4th Amendment rights. Ms. Napolitano's suggestion will just tie up police and sheriffs for no real reason. She tells people that if you see someone doing something that's "perfectly legal", report it anyway. Wha...?????
I think that is an excellent point. She came out with some kind of "be on the lookout for domestic terrorists" alert for law enforcement last spring that kind of surprised a lot of people.
Most of us aren't looking for a fight...all we really want to do is follow-up on our interests by taking pictures from a safe location that does not contravene any laws. Personally I enjoy watching trains from a park adjacent to the tracks. I really don't take pictures as I'm a lousy photographer anyway...and I don't want to attract attention to myself. I'm not afraid of the police...just don't like being conspicuous in public. Maybe things are different here in Canada...most railfans here are like myself..we pursue our interests alone...I've never met a mob of foamers as someone else here so colorfully calls us. I don't see the problem..
Thoughts just occured to me:
GP40-2 Everyone needs to stop complaining. You all wanted the "Hope and Change" thing. Now, a least you got the Change. You should investigate all the other "changes" Napolitano wants to make to the Bill of Rights. Calling the police on every railfan will be the least of your problems.
Because the previous administation was a perfect model of protecting personal rights.
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
WIAR wabash1 then you wonder why the railroaders hate foamers . you guys are the first to complain when the law comes to your spots and questiions you and the same guys who complain when railroaders turn you in. then you guys are the same guys who female dog and moan when you here of someone screwing up and making a bad name for foamers , then you have the nerve to turn railroaders in on the abuse button here for your own fantisy to continue. With all that said my point is the same guys ( all you guys posting) Are attempting to go out and draw alot of attention to your self and really set yourselfs back 20years and if you come out in the swarms that your trying to do so you can prove your points, then great i Hope everyone of you go to jail ( for your cause yea right) and i will help the police arrest the ones in my area. this is not a game. You want to be accepted do it the right way not as a bunch of vigalanties . No im not parinoid and i dont belive the world is ending. but when i see groups of people standing track side its not ussually a good thing and most generally ends up being trouble. Who, pray tell, in this entire thread up to the point of your reply, said anything about being vigilantes? It was simply proposed that those of us who are willing can go out to take some photographs of trains on a certain Saturday during a certain time period, from public property. How is that being a vigilante? Nobody's proposing a mass protest where we all trespass on railroad property. That's absurd. And for that matter, let's just say, Wabash1, that a large group of people did congregate in your neighborhood, on public property, to snap some train photos. You are going to help the police arrest them, are you? Good luck. What would you see? A buncha law-abiding, tax-payin' guys, standing in a parking lot or on a sidewalk facing the tracks, with cameras around their necks, swappin' stories about trains and railroad history, laughin', jokin', maybe making some new friends in the process, wearing their favorite RR ball caps and many (like me) a few pounds past slim, and you in your sanctimony will volunteer to help the police cuff 'em all and drag them into the pokey? Uh huh. Sure you will. I think you'd be the one who stands a better chance of getting arrested for making a false report because no 911 operator would believe a crime was being committed or even such a group of rail enthusiasts were doing anything suspicious. Calm down.
wabash1 then you wonder why the railroaders hate foamers . you guys are the first to complain when the law comes to your spots and questiions you and the same guys who complain when railroaders turn you in. then you guys are the same guys who female dog and moan when you here of someone screwing up and making a bad name for foamers , then you have the nerve to turn railroaders in on the abuse button here for your own fantisy to continue. With all that said my point is the same guys ( all you guys posting) Are attempting to go out and draw alot of attention to your self and really set yourselfs back 20years and if you come out in the swarms that your trying to do so you can prove your points, then great i Hope everyone of you go to jail ( for your cause yea right) and i will help the police arrest the ones in my area. this is not a game. You want to be accepted do it the right way not as a bunch of vigalanties . No im not parinoid and i dont belive the world is ending. but when i see groups of people standing track side its not ussually a good thing and most generally ends up being trouble.
then you wonder why the railroaders hate foamers . you guys are the first to complain when the law comes to your spots and questiions you and the same guys who complain when railroaders turn you in. then you guys are the same guys who female dog and moan when you here of someone screwing up and making a bad name for foamers , then you have the nerve to turn railroaders in on the abuse button here for your own fantisy to continue.
With all that said my point is the same guys ( all you guys posting) Are attempting to go out and draw alot of attention to your self and really set yourselfs back 20years and if you come out in the swarms that your trying to do so you can prove your points, then great i Hope everyone of you go to jail ( for your cause yea right) and i will help the police arrest the ones in my area. this is not a game. You want to be accepted do it the right way not as a bunch of vigalanties . No im not parinoid and i dont belive the world is ending. but when i see groups of people standing track side its not ussually a good thing and most generally ends up being trouble.
Who, pray tell, in this entire thread up to the point of your reply, said anything about being vigilantes? It was simply proposed that those of us who are willing can go out to take some photographs of trains on a certain Saturday during a certain time period, from public property. How is that being a vigilante? Nobody's proposing a mass protest where we all trespass on railroad property. That's absurd.
And for that matter, let's just say, Wabash1, that a large group of people did congregate in your neighborhood, on public property, to snap some train photos. You are going to help the police arrest them, are you? Good luck. What would you see? A buncha law-abiding, tax-payin' guys, standing in a parking lot or on a sidewalk facing the tracks, with cameras around their necks, swappin' stories about trains and railroad history, laughin', jokin', maybe making some new friends in the process, wearing their favorite RR ball caps and many (like me) a few pounds past slim, and you in your sanctimony will volunteer to help the police cuff 'em all and drag them into the pokey?
Uh huh. Sure you will. I think you'd be the one who stands a better chance of getting arrested for making a false report because no 911 operator would believe a crime was being committed or even such a group of rail enthusiasts were doing anything suspicious.
Calm down.
To answer your questions Yes.... I dont call 911 and I have a very good working relation with the local police and they know im a engineer. and yes i will help arrest anyone who thinks they are above the law. and if you want further proff. Ask the 15 men who thought they was right I informed them they was tresspassing that they wasnt allowed there. they informed me that they had the right to be there and watching trains and taking pictures was ok by them and one loud mouth decided to do his yea yea bull and said for me to leave , the funny part is they was still waving at trains when i went by, but they was 2 miles away at the public depot.LOL so yes i will have guys moved and yes i will turn guys in and yes if you run your mouth it happens faster
I must also say my point was not to start a fight only to point out that this act you are proposing will do more harm than good, aint nobody taking anything away but go out in mob form protesting and it will drag you down,
Interesting. Now you say you (will?) call 911 for people who think they're "above the law", implying they would need to be actually breaking some law. You didn't say that before. You just said if people go out in a big group you'd hope we all get arrested. I said it before and I'll say it again: Calm down. I see no reason for this kind of hysterical rant just because you may have had some trouble with trespassers before. So you argued with a few yahoos trespassing on RR property and they decided to move. Big deal. Nobody here said anything about going out as a mob - you just read that into all this and it's not accurate. There are people who take pride in abiding by the law, then there are people who think they can enforce the law themselves, like you. If you see somebody trespassing then call the cops. If they're not doing anything to break any laws, leave 'em alone.
wabash1 then you wonder why the railroaders hate foamers . you guys are the first to complain when the law comes to your spots and questiions you and the same guys who complain when railroaders turn you in. then you guys are the same guys who female dog and moan when you here of someone screwing up and making a bad name for foamers , then you have the nerve to turn railroaders in on the abuse button here for your own fantisy to continue. With all that said my point is the same guys ( all you guys posting) Are attempting to go out and draw alot of attention to your self and really set yourselfs back 20years and if you come out in the swarms that your trying to do so you can prove your points, then great i Hope everyone of you go to jail ( for your cause yea right) and i will help the police arrest the ones in my area. this is not a game. You want to be accepted do it the right way not as a bunch of vigalanties . No im not parinoid and i dont belive the world is ending. but when i see groups of people standing track side its not ussually a good thing and most generally ends up being trouble. To answer your questions Yes.... I dont call 911 and I have a very good working relation with the local police and they know im a engineer. and yes i will help arrest anyone who thinks they are above the law. and if you want further proff. Ask the 15 men who thought they was right I informed them they was tresspassing that they wasnt allowed there. they informed me that they had the right to be there and watching trains and taking pictures was ok by them and one loud mouth decided to do his yea yea bull and said for me to leave , the funny part is they was still waving at trains when i went by, but they was 2 miles away at the public depot.LOL so yes i will have guys moved and yes i will turn guys in and yes if you run your mouth it happens faster
It must be stressful to be retaining so much anger.
It also saddens me as I watch the quality of our educational system decline. The current fad of text messaging instead of talking on our cell phones is leaking out into all forms of writing. Capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence construction, and even some words are all being lost.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Fellas- can we try to keep this thread on track, and back away from personal attacks please?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
WIAR Interesting. Now you say you (will?) call 911 for people who think they're "above the law", implying they would need to be actually breaking some law. You didn't say that before. You just said if people go out in a big group you'd hope we all get arrested. I said it before and I'll say it again: Calm down. I see no reason for this kind of hysterical rant just because you may have had some trouble with trespassers before. So you argued with a few yahoos trespassing on RR property and they decided to move. Big deal. Nobody here said anything about going out as a mob - you just read that into all this and it's not accurate. There are people who take pride in abiding by the law, then there are people who think they can enforce the law themselves, like you. If you see somebody trespassing then call the cops. If they're not doing anything to break any laws, leave 'em alone.
Norris they aint got enough to get me worked up this guy named wair is nothing . Its not that important to me as ill have them arrested Im just trying to show them that if they go out looking like a bunch of vigilanties they will only set them selves back 20years but this dummy dont want to believe anything just ready to jump back at me for proving a point. but he cant get that right as i didnt say anywhere in that post that i call 911. LOOK AGAIN WAIR AND SHOW ME THAT I SAID ILL CALL 911....... HINT YOU WONT FIND IT.. I DID NOT WRITE OR SAY IT.
Phoebe Vet wabash1 then you wonder why the railroaders hate foamers . you guys are the first to complain when the law comes to your spots and questiions you and the same guys who complain when railroaders turn you in. then you guys are the same guys who female dog and moan when you here of someone screwing up and making a bad name for foamers , then you have the nerve to turn railroaders in on the abuse button here for your own fantisy to continue. With all that said my point is the same guys ( all you guys posting) Are attempting to go out and draw alot of attention to your self and really set yourselfs back 20years and if you come out in the swarms that your trying to do so you can prove your points, then great i Hope everyone of you go to jail ( for your cause yea right) and i will help the police arrest the ones in my area. this is not a game. You want to be accepted do it the right way not as a bunch of vigalanties . No im not parinoid and i dont belive the world is ending. but when i see groups of people standing track side its not ussually a good thing and most generally ends up being trouble. To answer your questions Yes.... I dont call 911 and I have a very good working relation with the local police and they know im a engineer. and yes i will help arrest anyone who thinks they are above the law. and if you want further proff. Ask the 15 men who thought they was right I informed them they was tresspassing that they wasnt allowed there. they informed me that they had the right to be there and watching trains and taking pictures was ok by them and one loud mouth decided to do his yea yea bull and said for me to leave , the funny part is they was still waving at trains when i went by, but they was 2 miles away at the public depot.LOL so yes i will have guys moved and yes i will turn guys in and yes if you run your mouth it happens faster It must be stressful to be retaining so much anger. It also saddens me as I watch the quality of our educational system decline. The current fad of text messaging instead of talking on our cell phones is leaking out into all forms of writing. Capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence construction, and even some words are all being lost.
cry me a river , Im not angry not at the slightest, and as far as texting goes I dont have it that is a waste of time when a phone call is easier. and as far as proper english sentance structure bla bla bla its not important to me i dont care if there is capital letters periods or any of the other things you want , if you dont like it dont read it. dont come back to the site. simple enough.
Don't think they meant you personally..i.e. about the grammar. And anyway..one person's strength is another's weakness. I know people who can't write or spell..but they can strip an engine and then put it back together again. Back when I was in school a teacher warned me about putting in commas and periods..She told me that my run on sentences didn't give her a chance to breathe, and that I almost made her pass out for lack of air. I didn't tell her that that was my intention..
The proposed "action" comes down to some good old "civil disobedience," although in this case, there's nothing illegal about what's being suggested. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Push comes to shove, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the readers of this forum know more about this whole thing than John Q and Jane Public. Odds are if they wouldn't have called the police before, they won't now either.
It might be more effective to invite the person who suggested that people report "suspicous activity," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, to spend the day at one of the popular railfan spots, together with a horde of fans, so she can see that we're not a threat. Be sure to bring along your BNSF cards...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Phoebe Vet edblysard Phoebe Vet As long as the fear mongers keep constantly telling us that everyone is out to get us and that all middle easterners want all westerners dead you can expect this panic driven foolishness to continue and to continually get worse. I understand that the threat level has been raised to periwinkle. Periwinkle...isn't that the one where we are supposed to have a ten year supply of twinkies and five gallons of water put away in our bomb shelters "just in case"? No; that's Saffron. Periwinkle is where you dig a moat around your house and fill it with battery acid then trade the Twinkies for cigarettes and ammunition. Crimson is where you are authorized to make pre-emptive strikes against any neighbors who strike you as suspicious.
edblysard Phoebe Vet As long as the fear mongers keep constantly telling us that everyone is out to get us and that all middle easterners want all westerners dead you can expect this panic driven foolishness to continue and to continually get worse. I understand that the threat level has been raised to periwinkle. Periwinkle...isn't that the one where we are supposed to have a ten year supply of twinkies and five gallons of water put away in our bomb shelters "just in case"?
Phoebe Vet As long as the fear mongers keep constantly telling us that everyone is out to get us and that all middle easterners want all westerners dead you can expect this panic driven foolishness to continue and to continually get worse. I understand that the threat level has been raised to periwinkle.
As long as the fear mongers keep constantly telling us that everyone is out to get us and that all middle easterners want all westerners dead you can expect this panic driven foolishness to continue and to continually get worse.
I understand that the threat level has been raised to periwinkle.
No; that's Saffron. Periwinkle is where you dig a moat around your house and fill it with battery acid then trade the Twinkies for cigarettes and ammunition.
Crimson is where you are authorized to make pre-emptive strikes against any neighbors who strike you as suspicious.
I hate it when my kids use the Alert Color Play Book for a scratch pad.....
23 17 46 11
zugmannGP40-2 Everyone needs to stop complaining. You all wanted the "Hope and Change" thing. Now, at least you got the Change. You should investigate all the other "changes" Napolitano wants to make to the Bill of Rights. Calling the police on every railfan will be the least of your problems. Because the previous administation was a perfect model of protecting personal rights. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
GP40-2 Everyone needs to stop complaining. You all wanted the "Hope and Change" thing. Now, at least you got the Change. You should investigate all the other "changes" Napolitano wants to make to the Bill of Rights. Calling the police on every railfan will be the least of your problems.
GP40-2zugmann GP40-2 Everyone needs to stop complaining. You all wanted the "Hope and Change" thing. Now, at least you got the Change. You should investigate all the other "changes" Napolitano wants to make to the Bill of Rights. Calling the police on every railfan will be the least of your problems. Because the previous administation was a perfect model of protecting personal rights. Whatever helps you sleep at night. The previous administration (which I was no fan of either since you brought it up), hasn't been in charge since January, and has nothing to do with the current version of "Homeland Security" (whatever that means). The issue is one Janet Napolitano, who seems to think the U.S. Constitution no longer applies to her decisions, and everyone who does not agree with her is a domestic terrorist. If this is your idea of CHANGE, then you can keep it.
zugmann GP40-2 Everyone needs to stop complaining. You all wanted the "Hope and Change" thing. Now, at least you got the Change. You should investigate all the other "changes" Napolitano wants to make to the Bill of Rights. Calling the police on every railfan will be the least of your problems. Because the previous administation was a perfect model of protecting personal rights. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
I am reminded of my youth when my father who as an Army Reservist in Army Intellegence, and several social studies teachers kept hammering home the concept of how Communist Rusia enlisted the populace to report any suspicious behavior by their neighbors or fellow workers. Even George Orwell railed against such Socialistic and Communistic activities. But today, those same people want us to roll over and play dead while they encourage the guy next door to call the authorities on the guy next door and me. That is probvably what boils my blood mor over this whole photography issue than anything else. But I guess it is cheaper than hiring more cops!
NO! The idea of going out Oct 3 around noon Eastern Time and take a picture of a trian from public property sounds better and better all the time. I really doubt, that if anybody does do it, that there will be more than three people at any location nor that more than a couple hundred would participate nationwide. So maybe we should do it around noon Eastern Time the first Saturday of every month until this nonesense is stopped!
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
Henry:
Going out to photograph trains on October 3 is a good idea, but not around noon daylight time because the sun might still be high enough in the sky, or overhead, so the shot might not be that well lighted. Railroads Illustrated has selected October 3 this year as Railfan Day In North America so there might be more photographers out than usual photographing trains.
RRKenMurray Lutefisk and grits...Mmmmmmmmmmm...Mmmmmmmmmmmm.........drool drool! There is all sorts of not right with that statement. May as well add ketchup, and chase it with a Bromo.
Murray Lutefisk and grits...Mmmmmmmmmmm...Mmmmmmmmmmmm.........drool drool!
Lutefisk and grits...Mmmmmmmmmmm...Mmmmmmmmmmmm.........drool drool!
There is all sorts of not right with that statement. May as well add ketchup, and chase it with a Bromo.
Not too mention that preparing lutefisk and grits sounds like very suspicious behavior, better call the DHS about the toxic inhalation and toxic ingestion hazard!
- Erik
Tested the program today. Went to Nicholson, PA today to witness the passage of Steamtown steam excursion across the CP/DH (orignial Delware, Lackawanna and Western RR) Tunkhannock Viaduct. And I think it worked out pretty well. No body from Homeland Security showed up so apparently no one complained. About 30 lined a country road between several cornfields north of the bridge with cars, cameras, video and sound recording, and tripods; another couple dozen had gathered at the Pump and Pantry Coenvencience Store and Gas station (private property but no one seemed to care), and several others scattered around the town of Nicholson. I, myself, set up my tripod at the corner of Main St. and PA Route 92 in front of the Doller General Store across Main St. from Peoples Nationa Bank. The train was supposed to have arrived around 2pm but because of an NS southbound, it was held in Dalton, PA and did not arrive until 3:20pm. Two other railfans shared the same area for over an hour. An unmarked State Police car (uniformed driver) did pass by once but did not bother us. Somebody should probably report this lack of notice to Homeland Security and have everyone in Nicholson arrested for not reporting about 100 or so railfans scattered around town and the bridge in violation of HS laws! Or was that a survellance team the blue and white single engine Cessena that kept circling town before the train's arrival? But, all in all, I think Oct. 3rd should go very well with no violence or destruction of property anticipated, and probably noone to be reported or arrested unless they are stupid in their own right. The public is now on notice! And , what the hey, for noon ET, on the first Saturday of every month from now on!
henry6 Tested the program today. Went to Nicholson, PA today to witness the passage of Steamtown steam excursion across the CP/DH (orignial Delware, Lackawanna and Western RR) Tunkhannock Viaduct. And I think it worked out pretty well. No body from Homeland Security showed up so apparently no one complained. About 30 lined a country road between several cornfields north of the bridge with cars, cameras, video and sound recording, and tripods; another couple dozen had gathered at the Pump and Pantry Coenvencience Store and Gas station (private property but no one seemed to care), and several others scattered around the town of Nicholson. I, myself, set up my tripod at the corner of Main St. and PA Route 92 in front of the Doller General Store across Main St. from Peoples Nationa Bank. The train was supposed to have arrived around 2pm but because of an NS southbound, it was held in Dalton, PA and did not arrive until 3:20pm. Two other railfans shared the same area for over an hour. An unmarked State Police car (uniformed driver) did pass by once but did not bother us. Somebody should probably report this lack of notice to Homeland Security and have everyone in Nicholson arrested for not reporting about 100 or so railfans scattered around town and the bridge in violation of HS laws! Or was that a survellance team the blue and white single engine Cessena that kept circling town before the train's arrival? But, all in all, I think Oct. 3rd should go very well with no violence or destruction of property anticipated, and probably noone to be reported or arrested unless they are stupid in their own right. The public is now on notice! And , what the hey, for noon ET, on the first Saturday of every month from now on!
Good for you, Henry! What? A 100 or so railnuts scattered around town and NOBODY REPORTED THIS "MOB"??!! Oh my God. Next thing you know they'll be snappin' pictures! Wait! They were doin' that too??!! God help us. Oh no - for God's sake they were probably patronizing local businesses and buyin' sandwiches and coffee to enjoy while watching trains! WILL THIS TYRANNY OF CRIME EVER END??!!
On 10/3, I'll park my car in Isanti, MN in the public parking lot on the west side of the BNSF Hinckley Sub, cross the tracks on the sidewalk, stroll-up to my favorite coffeehouse, flirt with the pretty girls they have working there as always, get a latte', stroll back to my car by the same route and sit there in a lawn chair and snap pictures of BNSF, CP & UP freights rolling through town while the light is good.
This is surely the beginning of a life of crime - at the age of 46.
Just because Ms. Napolitano suddenly tells the world to be suspicious of anybody photographing critical infrastructure, it does not mean that the world is going to follow her orders. In the first place, I don’t think that the average person sees railroad operations as “critical infrastructure” that is on pins and needles about security breaches. And I don’t think that the average person finds railfan photographic activity to be as incomprehensible or troublesome as some might suggest.
The biggest threat to railfans (and to the rest of us) is that people like Napolitano will push for laws that govern what may and may not be photographed, regardless of the location of the photographer. The line may be clear right now, but nothing is chiseled in stone.
That, Bucyrus, is part of my point!
FWIW: In the most recent issue of Popular Photography letters column, a writer refers to the bimbo Janet's statement mentioned by the OP, and asks, "When this will end?"
So it is not only railfans that are feeling the loss of freedom; it is photographers of all types.
Of course Homeland "Security" must keep us reminded of how important they are to the preservation of our cherished lifestyle; for if we did not feel threatened by everyone and everything, what need would we have for their phony-balony department?
I bet those that are of the mentality to watch Fox 'News' really sopped up her statements, and double-checked their guns before putting them under their pillows for the night. They probably have Homeland Security's phone number on speed-dial.
If I was President that spookey Orwellian Department would be gone by the end of January.
Unfortunately it is a relatively new bureaucracy which has yet to flex it's teen spirit! It has to grow some more before it will implode as all bureaucracies do! It just takes so long.
zardoz Of course Homeland "Security" must keep us reminded of how important they are to the preservation of our cherished lifestyle; for if we did not feel threatened by everyone and everything, what need would we have for their phony-balony department? I bet those that are of the mentality to watch Fox 'News' really sopped up her statements, and double-checked their guns before putting them under their pillows for the night. They probably have Homeland Security's phone number on speed-dial.
I hardly think that those Fox News types you mention would be cozying up to Janet Napolitano. I can’t seem to find a link to Napolitano’s 4/7/09 Memo To Law Enforcement on “right wing extremism” being a security threat to the U.S., but here is an article about it.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/16/right-wing-extremism-alarm/
The memo itself listed several red flag indicators for law enforcement to keep an eye on such as people who think taxes are too high or government is too big. Ostensibly, the memo was not intended for public viewing, but it somehow leaked allegedly. I believe that it was an intimidation tactic that was indeed intended to be seen by the public.
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