A friendly encounter with NS Police

[jabrown1971]

My general experience with the NS police has been quiet good. They all seem friendly and don't shoot first. They ask questions, get a feel for what is happening and then make their decision. It might be in the training they receive, or maybe NS just does a good job in hiring decent folks. When I was growing up there was one that usually patrolled in the area I grew up in. He knew the "regulars" and rarely would stop. He would slow down, take a look at the group wave and move on. The one railroad cop I never met, but always hoped to run into was Dale Jenkins, Mr ITC himself.

[louisnash]

We had a NS police officer stop at our shop a couple years ago. The crews had been telling them about all the trouble they were having with people running the crossing.

We chatted for a while, he let us take a pic of his cruiser and that was it.

All in all, it comes down to respect for one another. To get it, you gotta give it.

Brian (KY)

[JoeKoh]

Most rr cops are just doing their jobs.mind your manners and you'll be fine.
stay safe
Joe

[oskar]

My last encounter was Masters week when the NS and CSX pulls there train with there big bosses (CSX and NS do not park there train in the same spot) well me and my grandfather were sitting there for about an hour and 2 Richmond County cops pulled up so my grandfather steps out of the car and asked ''what's the problem'' and one of the policemen said '' what are you doing here'' and my grandfather said ''watching trains'' and showed my pad that I put the engine numbers on then one of the cops said to me '' so you like trains'' I said yep then he said ''nothing wrong with that'' I said ''nope''
took it to the guy that called the cops on us and I don't know what happened then so he said ''come on back here and there was a IC 100 with 4 cars then a NS poilce man that we know from Savanna,GA and he said '' I still don't feel right come on back I give you a
tour of the coaches'' that was my second time in there. also a couple of years ago the BIG boss who is incharge came and talked with us

also some trains just stop for food there because there is a Italian resturant there and I have seen trains stop there.



kevin

[eolafan]

I had a similar experience last year here in my home town of Aurora, IL. A local city officer on patrol came over to us and struck up a conversation. Seems he is a railfan also and had fired steam loco 611 at some point in his life. I am sure his original idea for striking up conversation was to see if I was a real railfan (which he did in short order after asking me some questions, the answers to which only somebody who was a railfan would know) and then he really did get into friendly conversation with me. This encounter lasted for about forty minutes until he had to go back on patrol again. Just goes to show, if you are doing nothing illegal or wrong, you rarely have anything to worry about.

[cnw4001]

I last encountered an NS Police officer years ago and the experience was similar to that of
Dave Williams. We were stopped in Circleville, Ohio awaiting either 611 or the other NS steamer (can't remember the number) and in this case we pulled up along side the NS officer who was in an unmarked sedan. Pleasant chat and he then left to watch further along the line to be traveled by the passenger special.

An aside, lots of folks don't realize the huge effort the railroad had to put out to see that each of these trips went smoothly with the extra police, pilot vehicles on the railroad, and lots of other "overhead" for just one train.

Dale

[Anonymous]

It is like anything else, you get your good and you get your bad apples. A friend from college is an officer in a city in the southern part of the US and he told me straight up one time that 60% of officers are usually just regular good people, and the other 40% seem to always have something to prove. My luck with the railroad police has been good, as with any officer all you can do is treat any officer with respect and don't BS them. If they still want to make mountains out of mole hills, just keep your mouth shut and move on. (If you can)

[dwil89]

Amid all the controversy from the Metra detention story, here is a positive encounter that a friend of mine related to me. He and a friend of his were visiting Cresson, Pa, this past week. They were from out of state and had their out of state vehicle. They had decided to park near the tracks in Cresson at the extreme end of a gravel parking lot, near the MO interlocking to watch trains....I've done the same thing there. This was after dark. A white SUV pulls in beside them and the driver flashes a badge. It was an NS Cop. He asked my friend what they were doing,,,,My friend replied, just watching trains. So a conversation was struck up and my friend and the Policeman discussed good spots to shoot trains and hike to, off RR property. The officer related that he was into train photography also, and was striving to get a pic into a future NS Calendar. Then, a headlight appears from an Eastbound Trailer Train....Once it passes, the officer said, that's my train, gotta go! It turned out that the officer was assigned to pace the train, and keep an eye on it in locations where the train would be likely to stop. It apparently had some valuable commodities on it. Cresson is a spot where trains might have to stop due to traffic ahead. So, in this instance, the officer saw an out of state vehicle sitting by the RR in the dark, and was just verifying that it was not someone scoping out for an opportunity to break into the train. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown