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How Low Can Somebody Go?

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, July 9, 2022 5:40 PM

A tour of the rig as she sat in the museum prepandemic, plus you can see glimpses of the squad and the original Crown engine 51 nearby.  The WLF rig was pulled out during the pandemic closure for mechanical work.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hbtb-KQjr0s

 

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, July 8, 2022 7:32 PM

pennytrains
Engine 51, the Ward LaFrance rig, made a cameo appearance in the movie "The China Syndrome"

Oh yeah!  That's Engine 51 all right!

I wonder if Marco Lopez, Chet Kelly, Mike Stoker, and Captain Stanley are aboard?

Obviously Squad 51 is otherwise engaged.  Wink

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, July 8, 2022 6:42 PM

Overmod

I have argued for many years that these high-value items should be 'microchipped' and/or microetched in a way that is difficult for thieves to detect or defeat.  Originals modified this way would have little change in 'historic fabric' value, and items sold without them could be as easily recognized as guns with the serial numbers filed off.

 

Yes, but think back to what happened years back at the Cumberland shop.  It's hard to prevent an inside job when everyone there is volunteer labor.  And all it takes is getting a foot in the door to learn how an organization secures things.

Facebook and YouTube are cluttered with images, stories and even "run-by" videos of people who have Nathan chimes installed on their pickup trucks.  Maybe they're unaware of the history of the horns or just believed the seller's stories about where they came from.  But sadly the sellers may have just plain climbed a fence and stole them knowing there's a market for these rather rare "collectibles".

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, July 8, 2022 6:30 PM

Flintlock76

 

 
zugmann
Heck, there's more than a few fire trucks running around with "Ebay-sourced" (read: stolen and sold on Ebay) horns. 

 

What's the world coming to?  Fire trucks are supposed to go "WoooooOOOOOOoooo, ding-ding-ding-ding!"  NOT "HONK!"

Allow me a brief demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCz5qppicY

 

Engine 51, the Ward LaFrance rig, made a cameo appearance in the movie "The China Syndrome" and you can hear it's siren and horn in this clip.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=965230510158088&id=143171525697328&_rdr

 

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, July 8, 2022 5:07 PM

BaltACD
Don't bring a baseball bat to a gun fight. https://www.wbaltv.com/article/shooting-light-conway-streets-downtown-baltimore/40548856

Is "squeegee worker" the current annoying euphemism for what we used to call 'windshield'washing bums' in New York a few decades ago?  Threatening to smear your windshield with dirty water if you don't pay them off quickly enough?

That's not 'work' in any positive sense of the word.  We used to have a word for it: extortion.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, July 8, 2022 3:36 PM

BaltACD

 

 
Flintlock76
...

And if nothing else, volunteer patrols armed with baseball bats. 

 

Don't bring a baseball bat to a gun fight.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/shooting-light-conway-streets-downtown-baltimore/40548856

.

 

If that article's to be believed the victim's mistake was not leaving the scene after passing through the squeegee crowd.  Don't think with your glands folks, know when to walk away. 

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Posted by SD70Dude on Friday, July 8, 2022 1:39 PM

We had the horns stolen off our snowplow and Jordan spreader last year.  Neither are operational so it's not as big a deal as this M&E locomotive theft, but it's still theft and the perps had to go to some considerable work to scout the place and then climb up the equipment.  

We don't have builder's plates out on any of our equipment, they're all in a safe, secure storage location.  The numberplates on both our steam locomotives are painted aluminum replicas.  

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by Backshop on Friday, July 8, 2022 1:21 PM

BEAUSABRE

Fans have a bad rep with the pros for being thieves. There's an awful lot of number and builders plates that were acquired via the "five fingered discount". Not to mention the occasional larger item. "Take only pictures and memories with you".

 

IIRC, the E&LS had "fans" vandalizing the two Baldwin sharks that they own.

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, July 8, 2022 11:50 AM

Flintlock76
...

And if nothing else, volunteer patrols armed with baseball bats. 

Don't bring a baseball bat to a gun fight.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/shooting-light-conway-streets-downtown-baltimore/40548856

.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, July 8, 2022 8:32 AM

Harrison
And as much as I would love to see a fire truck go by blasting a K5LA, the legality is questionable. 

You've got that right Harrison, locomotive horns are certainly attention-getters but they ain't street legal by any means.

Maybe  it was a railfan that grabbed it, maybe it wasn't, we just don't know.  But it's a certainty that railroadiana collecting can be a mania for some people just as other types of collecting can be manias where common sense and morality goes right out the window:

"I've got it, it's MINE, and no-one elses!"  

I've said it before, those with collections of railroad equipment have got to find the funds for no-nonsense security.  Lights, cameras, alarms, you name it.

And if nothing else, volunteer patrols armed with baseball bats. 

 

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Posted by Harrison on Friday, July 8, 2022 8:19 AM

The Batten Kill Railroad had three different thefts in 2020-2021 (if I remember correctly). Builders plates, an E-unit nose door, and the horn off of 4116. Of course, after these occur, there's a lot of finger pointing but nothing really happens besides increased security. 

 

And as much as I would love to see a fire truck go by blasting a K5LA, the legality is questionable. 

 

Harrison

Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.

Modeling the D&H in 1978.

Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"

My YouTube

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, July 8, 2022 7:59 AM

I have argued for many years that these high-value items should be 'microchipped' and/or microetched in a way that is difficult for thieves to detect or defeat.  Originals modified this way would have little change in 'historic fabric' value, and items sold without them could be as easily recognized as guns with the serial numbers filed off.

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Posted by BEAUSABRE on Friday, July 8, 2022 2:55 AM

Fans have a bad rep with the pros for being thieves. There's an awful lot of number and builders plates that were acquired via the "five fingered discount". Not to mention the occasional larger item. "Take only pictures and memories with you".

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, July 7, 2022 7:32 PM

zugmann
Heck, there's more than a few fire trucks running around with "Ebay-sourced" (read: stolen and sold on Ebay) horns. 

What's the world coming to?  Fire trucks are supposed to go "WoooooOOOOOOoooo, ding-ding-ding-ding!"  NOT "HONK!"

Allow me a brief demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCz5qppicY

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, July 7, 2022 7:30 PM

pennytrains

I guess the old saying ISN'T true.  People WILL steal anything even if it IS bolted down!  Angry

 

Well, as Colis Huntington is reputed to have said:

"Whatever isn't nailed down is mine!  And anything I can pry up isn't nailed down!"   Pirate

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, July 7, 2022 7:10 PM

PS they probably assumed it was "abandoned".

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, July 7, 2022 7:09 PM

I guess the old saying ISN'T true.  People WILL steal anything even if it IS bolted down!  Angry

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, July 7, 2022 5:43 PM

Flintlock76

When I was working, we had a industry location where it was convenient for the carrier to leave the engines at the facility while the train the engines had brought to the facility was being loaded.  After the engines repeatedly had their horns stolen, we stopped leaving the engines at the location.  That location is not that far from the state of New Jersey.

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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, July 7, 2022 4:40 PM

Could be railfans with sticky fingers. Could be a trucker with sticky finger.  Heck, there's more than a few fire trucks running around with "Ebay-sourced" (read: stolen and sold on Ebay) horns. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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How Low Can Somebody Go?
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, July 7, 2022 4:17 PM

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