Heads up to anyone railfanning the CN...

[Phoebe Vet]

WIAR:

It is you who doesn't truely understand the comparison.

The Gestapo was not the group murdering millions of people.  That was the SS and the military.  The Gestapo was Hitler's version of our Department of Homeland Security, except he called it Fatherland Security.

"An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation, we must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homeland."

Sound familiar?  That is from the speech he made in 1933 announcing the formation of the Gestapo.  He exempted them from the normal constraints put on law enforcement.  He gave them the authority to spy on German citizens, keep secret files, and arrest people who they deemed to be a threat to the Fatherland without the normal checks and balances.

And the German people celebrated their new found "security".

People who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

[Anonymous]

I stand-by what I said:  It was an outrageous and insulting comparison, and you should be ashamed to make such an assertion against your own country.  Sure, the Gestapo never handed anybody over to the SS for transfer to the camps.  Sure. 

Nobody in the government has granted any such secret police any special immunity to persecute anyone beyond the limits of the law.  I hardly think anyone is in danger of goose-stepping brown-shirts putting cameras in your sock drawer.  The argument of being "doomed to repeat" history can be used to justify about any kind of anti-government hot air. 

[selector]

Could we wrestle this bear back into its cage?

[Murphy Siding]

Could we wrestle this bear back into its cage?

  I can't imagine how.

[Anonymous]

in the future, you don't start something unless you are prepared to finish it on this (or any other) forum.

Whatever floats yer boat Dude.

BTW...and for the record...you started it.

Have a nice day...and happy sales managing!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry if I made anyone's brain hurt.

Zardoz...you have every right to say what you do.  Its just the way that you say it.

All of us (myself included) are guilty of that.

 

 

[zardoz]

I'm sorry if I made anyone's brain hurt.

Zardoz...you have every right to say what you do.  Its just the way that you say it.

All of us (myself included) are guilty of that.

I'm cool with that.  I know I do get rather emotional at times.  Especially if it's been one of "those" kind of days.

My apologies to the forum.

[RRKen]

CN is free to protects it's private property.  So go away if you don't like it.   Maybe a hobby like collecting toenail clippings would be less stressful  for you?

People are free to take pictures of publicly visible things like trains from a public place.  I will continue to do this as long as I'm interested and able.  Quit your job if you don't like your picture being taken.  Maybe a job like clipping toenails would be less stressful for you.

 

No one implied that folks should stop taking photos altogether, just that they do it from public property.   CN, like every other private property owner has a right to protect their property.    Besides,  in order to take a photo of me,  you would need a 600mm lens and permission to be on some one elses private property.  

[AlcoRS11Nut]

CN must be serious about this, because I went by Homewood Yard today and they have built a huge 7 foot high chain-link fence around almost the entire yard.

You all have it totally wrong.  CN management is using the trespassing issue as a smokescreen.  The 7-foot chain link fence at Homewood is just the start.  Soon, CN will have a chain link fence around their entire North American property.  Once that is done, the employees will no longer be able to go home.  They will effectively be "in jail" at CN Rail and with no way to get out, will work longer hours.  Efficiencies at CN will then return to the levels preferred by managmentment.

The libertarians on the forum should have fun chewin' on that...

 

 

[RRKen]

Something to think about.

I have a friend who's coming to visit us in a couple of weeks.  He, like I, is into freight car research and history.  For that, we often need to get information in the very tiny lettering stencilled on the cars.  So you'd think we'd be putting ourselves into the danger zone, or risk running afoul of this when we visit the CN crossing of Broadway at Blue Island.

But he wrote me recently to say that his best research is done when he's no closer than 100 feet to the cars, and all he needs is a 200-foot range of vision from that 100-foot distance.  I think we can do that at Blue Island without running afoul of CN.  Unless they detain us for the direction in which our cameras or binoculars are pointed, which is a whole other subject.

Our intent is to upset nobody.  As a railroader, I wish that were everyone's intent when watching us.

 

For years we would sit in the 'A' lot at Blue Island and watch the world go by.      When CSX laid down the law that the 'A' lot was actually their property, (it was the first time anyone had enforced this in over 20 years) we moved into the 'B' lot across Broadway, only to discover it was also their property.   Now we understand why. 

 

Even when I hired out, I was not all that strict about it, nor was my employer.   A series of events however changed that.  First, my employer has suffered huge losses from trespassers. 

Next, as I was hostling power in the yard one day, I proceeded to back up off a service track when out of nowhere, some person leaped out from behind me, with a camera around his neck.   I had lights, bells, and whistle going at the time.   Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have stayed clear until I had passed.    Later, as the City was building an overpass at the south end of our yard, some nitwit  started to use our yard as a short cut to work day after day.     In order to do so, he would have to climb down a six foot tall mud embankment, over a drainage ditch, and cross the tracks.   As we were getting ready to pull a drag out of the yard, I whistle off, and pulled ahead.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see him just barely miss the plow of my leader.  

 That was the final straw.  

We already had one death in our yard in recent years, we do not want another.   Maybe folks don't care about the safety of my fellow employees, I do!   And I will be darned (edited by selector) if any one from the public will comprimise safety again as long as I am around.  

[SFbrkmn]

I would suggest doing the train watching at the Homewood train park and then let us know how it is. Use it. That is why it is there.  In my opinion, there seems to be folks out there who take train watching so seriously. That freaks me out.  It should not be that way. This  should be a stress free, enjoyable hobby to get away from the real stress of life. If a rr puts up a no tresspassing sign or builds a fence, its not the end of the world. Usually the best locations for watching trains is indeed on public property--not rr property. Railroad trks, yards & such are not rolling museums open for public access.  Finally if someone wants to waste their film taking a pic of me at work, go for it. If you want my ugly face in your photo collection, I would feel honored.

[TimChgo9]

I think the simplest thing to remember here is to respect the railroad, their property, and the employees that are doing their job. If you must fan near railway property, then stay off of it.   But, by and large there are alot of us fans and photographers that understand that fact.  It's the people that have no respect for the property that are the biggest problem. 

Yesterday, a bicyclist in my neighborhood chose to shoulder his bike, and walk across the tracks, and not use the pedestrian tunnel. The ironic thing is, that he carried his bike up the embankment right next to the tunnel.....  It's the people like that that are the bigger problem. I watched the guy and just could not figure out what possesses someone to do something like that......