Railfan or thief?

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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

[csxengineer98]

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

[Train Guy 3]

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

[RudyRockvilleMD]

THIEF!!!!

[Train Guy 3]

Say the railroad takes out a switch stand and they throw it to the side. Well it turns out they threw it on " Bob's " property. Than you come along and think "Well I'll take that, its usless" . Are you stealing from the railroad, " Bob" , or are you not stealing at all. OH the posibilities.........

[Anonymous]

Same channels as you do.. except instead of MTV we get MTV canada, and BET Canada and Showcase Canada And HBO canada.. Basically everyhting with a Canada at the end, that means Canadian laws only apply to that channel.

[adrianspeeder]

What kind of stuff do you get up there? HBO here can get kind of crazy sometimes.

Adrianspeeder

[Anonymous]

Wabash.. No offence, but thats a terrible theory

If you equet the following 2 words into any old sentance, The most probable outcome will end up in disaster

"If everyone" went shopping for groceries in the next 5 mjinutes, and i mean EVERYONE, ther would suddenly be a food shortage in the united States.

"if everyone" and i mean everyone Went to KFC tonight, there would be a shortage of chickens.

The fact that "if everyone" phrase DOES not work in common society.

"if everyone" started smoking pot.. Well i don't know what the outcome would be, but it would be bad..

Use this phrase instead..

"Everyone does not"

"Everyone does not/will not" go to the grocery store in the next 5 minutes and cause a food shortage

"everyone does not/ will not" go to KFC tonight, and cause a Chgicken shortage

"Everyone will not" smoke pot and there will be no crisis.

BUT SOME do...

Some will go to KFC, some will go grocery shopping tonight and SOME will smoke pot..

so you can't base life or any of it's principles on.. "if everyone"

Not everyone will take Railroad spikes, as a matter of fact 99% of the population won't.

******************

Now as for fred, I'm gonna play nice, because if i really wanted to have a shouting match with you, i'd win.

Read the above, and soemthing totally off topic, why don't Canadians have direct TV? or that kind of crap.. actually i jsut did an essay on this.. it goes like this

See, Because you guys in the states are fed a Watered down version of whats actually on TV, up here in canada we have the CRTC who monitors whats on TV, and they're against censorship. so almost everything on Tv is uncensored.

The FCC likes censorship..

Canadian's don't...

So really THERES no point to haveing AMERICAN TV up here!

We do have BELL Express Vu, and Star Choice satelite systems up here, all CRTC regulated, all uncencored.. Hey fred! you should watch MTV uncensored, it's pretty good!


Some will take old RR spikes.. SOME "if everyoen" will never occur, its more like "Everyone won't"

[mudchicken]

Most likely theft....

What do you do with the farmer (agri-dummy) that needs some extra dirt to level his field and decides the railroad won't mind. (Never mind the borrow pit site, 30 ft x 300 ft x 8 ft. deep is at the toe of ballast against your branch main line!)....have seen this happen at Scott City, Ks (Now K&O Railroad) and at Hugoton, Ks (now Cimmarron Valley RR).................

It equates about equally to antique hunters that break into abandoned/vacant farm houses to rip out fireplace mantlepieces and staircase banisters....

Iron Feathers

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:
Originally posted by flee307
The fact that someone even has to ask this question shows how our society has declined.
Originally posted by kevinstheRRman


WHAT???

Common, lets get a grip here, people have freedom of speech and are permitted to ask what they want.. Sure your mower should be there after a week, But i doubt 5 years, because i think after about 2 years the town will come and remove it because it is a butt-ugly site!

I wasn't aware that the US Bill of Rights applied to Canadians? Teach me some history and/or understanding. Do Canadians have a guaranteed freedom of speech, and if they do why is it illegal, if it still is, for them to watch DirecTV or Dish Networks? Just Askin"...FRED

[wabash1]

Kevin this is the mentality that most young people have and you fit right in. the mega company have so much money and so much land and so much inventory that they shouldnt miss 1 little piece then everyone goes out and takes a little here and there and then there is none. then the railroad has to go out and buy more to replace what everyone stole. let me put it another way, your girlfriend has a car and she rides by herself unless you are with her I need a seat ill just take one of hers she aint using it so it should not be missed. and you dont have any female dog as it dont belong to you either.

[Anonymous]

The law is absolute on the subject. You can't take it on yourself to decide when something has enough value to make it stealing. If you go onto railroad property and take a rock two laws of man have been violated. If your are religious, it's between you and the almighty if it's stealing and tresspassing, but if I did it I know it's wrong. It pains me that we even need have this discussion, it really does. Another example, if you steal cable that's alright because you got nothing tangible? FRED

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by flee307
The fact that someone even has to ask this question shows how our society has declined.

WHAT???

Common, lets get a grip here, people have freedom of speech and are permitted to ask what they want.. Sure your mower should be there after a week, But i doubt 5 years, because i think after about 2 years the town will come and remove it because it is a butt-ugly site!

I COMMEND the person who started this thread, because It goes to show the ananymous readers of this forum the correct Railraod etiquette.

And besides, you think CP rail would give a crap if you found an old Iron Spire by the rails and decided to take that home.. I don't Quite see how thats stealing..

The fact that I have 2 RR spikes in my toolbox, does that now make me a thief? You can damn me to hell if it makes you any more confortable.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bigboy4024

what happens if that railroad property is in a scrap yard?

That's a mis-spoke because if it's in a scrap yard it's not railroad property. But if you know it was stolen and purchase it from the scap yard that too would be wrong. You should report it to the railroad if you know it was stolen. I would also get a detailed receipt from the scrap yard. I knew a guy who purchased ties from a store and later almost did time because the RR bulls checked the numbers on them and they were stolen. He still had to dig them up (using as fence posts) and return them. That man was my father-in-law. As to spikes, it's still stealing. You are rationalizing your stealing in your mind by saying the railroad wouldn't ever pick them up. You were also trespassing, railroad right-of-ways are not public property. FRED