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RAILFANS PLEASE READ THIS
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<b>I've brought this over from the Amtrak police arrest a railfan thread </b>(see that for the rest of the arguments) <b>PLEASE CONSIDER THIS THOUGH...</b> <br />[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by icmr</i> <br /><br />I'm VERY MAD about all of this. <br /> <br />Here's an idea. Someone starts a national Railfan club and if you are a member you get a card that says you can legally be around the tracks, take pictures, and viedo tape the trains. That way you can be there and no problems. <br />[/quote] <br /> <br /><b><i>Would that it were that simple! </i></b> <br /> <br />When a train sounds audible warning at you do you know the correct response? <br /> <br /><b><i>I'm not knocking Railfans...</i></b> <br /> <br />I've just known way too many bodies picked out from under... <br /> <br />You want to be the police officer <i>(one of those BIG BAD Police officers)</i> who goes round to tell your wife and kids that your parts are down the morgue? Oh Yeah... and the Coyotes will be snacking on the bits they didn't find... after the fire crew finished hosing your blood,guts and brains off the neighbourhood. <br />Got the idea...? <br /> <br />I was taking a train up to London with a girlfriend. As we walked across an invisible line at the station entrance she laughed. <i>(By the way, that's the same line where the commuters turn their brains off automatically and expect to be ejected gently at the other end on time to the nanosecond)...</i> <br />So,anyway... I asked her what was funny. Her chuckle was because she'd noticed other rail workers come out of an office/mess room as her train pulled in the day before. She said that she saw a magic transformation as they crossed some other invisible line. Both they and I apparently changed "mode". <br /> <br />her observation was correct... we do... I don't know how... it gets in the blood... <br /> <br /><b>Rail workers still get killed and maimed...</b> <br /> <br /><u><b>When I have new staff I give them this example...</b></u> <br />Do you play football/American football/cricket/baseball/basketball/... ? <br /> <br />Okay... so, when you are playing you need to have a strong awareness of where your team members are around you, where the opposition are, what's happening, what APPEARS to be developing and several more likely alternates that could happen. <br /> <br />Okay... so you play on Sundays and when you can fit it in... You need to have the PROFESSIONAL SKILLS that would get you into Manchester United , the Red Sox or whoever... This isn't a hobby ... it's a job. <br /> <br />That's <b>Exactly </b>the sort of awareness you need to develop when "on or about the track"... which means from about ten foot before you cross the boundary. <br /> <br /><b>You need to have that "radar" scanning every second you are there.</b> <br /> <br />I've come so close to being spread thin by a Class 47 doing 70 that my colleague watching past out. (Which put him at risk of injury). <br /> <br />I've known a Station Master who was a good guy and red hot on safety get spread the length of West Croydon Station. <br /> <br /><b>What chance do you expect someone wandering about with :- <br /> no proper training, <br /> no mentoring, <br /> no proper experience, <br /> probably little or no proper equipment... <br /> to have?</b> <br /> <br />Do you know how far back you should stand from a train doing 70? <br /> <br />Do you understand "turbulance"? <br /> <br />We had a very nice young lad, a vicar's son, no vandal or trouble maker, wanted to get some really good pictures... so he climbed onto a car... got away with it until he tried to climb over the catenary... <br /> <br />They wouldn't let his parents see what was left. <br /> <br />They'd had to chip molten flesh off the car roof. <br /> <br />You could (in this country) do a "Track Environment" course... £1,100... after you've paid for your "Personal track Safety" course.... and, as someone that started 25 + years ago I don't reckon either is worth zip.... <br /> <br />The way I was trained... I went out with a steam man who'd worked on the track during WWII. He told me what NOT to do, then what to do. <br /> <br />If I started to move the wrong way I got a smack in the ear on that side... barbaric?... a train ... doing 1 mph... doesn't know anything about culture... doesn't care... it's pieces of metal... moving. <br /> <br />I got the message... and the above time is still not the only time I've had to stand back fast and take a shuddering breath. <br /> <br /><i><b>I WANT RAILFANS TO ENJOY RAILROADS.</b></i> <br /> <br /><b><i><u>I <b><b>DON'T </b></b>WANT THEM TO END UP IN BODY BAGS.</u></i></b> <br /> <br />There is one thing that I tell all new staff is <b>THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ON THE TRACK... </b> <br /> <br /><b><u>IT'S YOU.</u></b> <br />YOU ARE WHAT WILL PUT YOU IN DANGER... <br />NOT THE RAILROAD <br />NOT THE MANAGEMENT <br />NOT A FRIEND <br />NOT YOUR WIFE <br />NOT YOUR HUSBAND <br />NOT YOUR KIDS <br /> <br />YOU <br /> <br />Which do you reckon is the more likely to get you into danger? ... <br /> <br />Drugs in your blood? <br />Alcohol? <br />Fatigue? <br />The row you had with your parther? <br />The letter from the IRS? <br />Concentrating on what you are doing? <br /> <br /><i>HEY! (As they used to say on Hill Street Blues) "Let's be careful out there".</i> <br /> <br /><i><b>ENJOY YOUR RAILROADING</b></i><b></b> <br /> <br /> <br />We had years of IRA bombs before 9/11 etc. I've evacuated and searched stations and trains (I even contributed to a Motorway being shut in the Rush-Hour). One thing I would reckon... you don't see someone leaving a supicious package standing around with a camera chatting. You also usually get a bad felling about people that are trouble... though you may only realise that it was a bad feeling after the trouble went down. <br /> <br />Then again... railways may be publicly owned/owned by the Governement (I don't know your law) but that doesn't mean a right of access. Would you expect to walk on an artillery range? Even more simple... if you were walking on a freeway would you argue with an officer telling you to get off? (Here walking on Motorways is illegal). <br /> <br />Trains DON'T go round you. <br /> <br />Photography is innocent, harmless etc etc. Yup... until you're not paying attention ...except to the loco on the far track ...and the train moving back on the near track takes you out. <br /> <br />Officially you have to get a permit to take any pictures on British railways/ Network Rail property... I've never known where you would get one. If you are outside the fence you are outside the fence... unless it's signed MoD land (Same as DoD). <br />People DO get absorbed in taking pictures... and fall off platforms... you've probably seen those "hilarious" videos of people filming the kids and falling in the pond on TV. do that with a train and... <br /> <br />Why should the Engineer have cardiac arrest? <br /> <br />I notice that in the account someone said "wait until we get someone to escort you... " this is exactly my point... and probably why he got arrested... it sounds like he didn't wait for someone going out of their way to provide help for him to be safe. how long would he have had to wait for an escort. The escort is there to save him from getting killed. What's a photo worth? Had he thought about the risk to himself? to others? Does he realise the complications of extracting a body from under a train? <br /> <br />Okay the cop may have been heavy handed... a train wouldn't be. <br /> <br />A win for the terrorists? only if you let it be. Think... we have to watch EVERYONE who wanders where they can do themselves or others harm... the more people there are just wandering around the easier it is for a maniac to go un-noticed. Also, if I don't stop you... on what ground do I stop anyone else? This is simply another reason for being sensible and policing ourselves. You don't leave your baggage standing around at an airport ... I HOPE!... same applies around trains. <br /> <br />Another line on the same thing... when mobile phones first went "hands free" we kept seeing people wandering around platform ends apparently talking to themselves... "Look-out! A jumper"! Then we got used to them... so a jumper walking around talking to him/herself became just someone talking on the phone... <br /> <br />If you don't want "Big Brother" laws don't give the law makers an excuse to bring them in... <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />NOW YOU GOT ME MAD TOO! <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1. You got a ticket? “You got a right to be there”! <br />Yeah…like you’ve got a ticket to the Superbowl…so you’ve got a right to run down to the end zone to get the perfect shot of a touchdown. <br />Try it… if you’re lucky the Cops will get to you before the fans do… before the players do. <br />2. You have a “Human Right” to play Russian Roulette with an automatic pistol if you want to. <br />Yeah, well, maybe…. Just do it on your own property, where the travel-on won’t hit anyone else… oh yeah, and in a body bag so no-one else has to clear up your mess. <br />3. Now I wasn’t there so I don’t know exactly what went down…BUT… <br />Maybe the cop was heavy handed… the guy had been warned about “Amtrak Cops” already… If I’m warned that there’s “trouble” about I keep <br />a low profile, I’m ultra polite… I take the cop’s number… I discreetly record what happens on my cell phone… In a location like that in this <br />country I would make sure I was on CCTV and my solicitors would be demanding a copy of the “Chain of Custody” records of the tape plus a <br />secured copy of the tape. <br />Then again… though this wouldn’t justify bad policing… what has the cop dealt with recently? Has he not long scraped a railfan off the <br />track… a drug abuser, a vandal… they all look the same after a train’s gone through them… <br />4. Some cops are stoopid… some railfans are stoopid… Thank God for potty training! Either way that’s my taxes are paying for the time <br />taken/wasted… and he should be out giving speeding tickets… <br />5. Would you stand in on the Freeway to take truck photos? <br />6. The 9/11 maniacs were “genuine” flying enthusiasts… went to flying school… got proper training… <br />7. What does the engineer of an intermodal at speed do… hang out the cab and check your “Enthusiasts Pass”? <br />8 . There is a miniscule minority of people that do the bad things… they foul it up for all of us… and the media don’t help… look at Katrina… first <br />thing we hear is about rapes, looting, shootouts… how many thousands of acts of caring have we not heard about? <br />9. Can’t say I count that closely… but how many US citizens are there? How many bombs/terrorist incidents have you had in the last ten years? (One <br />is too many). We have a national programme called “Crimewatch”… it always ends with the line “Don’t have nightmares”. If we all run around in <br />fear the maniacs have won. You don’t smoke while putting gas in your car? So just use the same sense about terrorism… we shouldn’t have to but <br />we all have to live with it. You can’t live on “red alert” 24/7/365. <br />10. Hey… if you’re a railroad cop… please remember… we’re as passionate about our hobby as you are about yours… you probably get a bit addicted, <br />a bit blind to reality… put the cuffs on gently… please sir. <br /> <br />
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