When they realized that they could actually drive it away, Dowdy instructed his buddy to hop out and drive his silver pickup truck to the Redland Tavern, where they would rendezvous. By car, it's a 20-minute trip.The Redland Tavern, a place that advertises ''Bikers Welcome'' on the sign out front, is steps away from the tracks near Krome Avenue and 232nd Street. On Sundays, patrons listen to a country and classic-rock band called Big Dick and the Extenders. [...]
Dowdy's mother, flight attendant Elizabeth Combs, says her son has always had a thing for railroads.
The family celebrated his eighth birthday party at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in South Miami-Dade County. Family photos show Dowdy smiling broadly, wearing a blue and white conductor's hat. His vanilla-frosted birthday cake was decorated with multicolored train figurines.
By age 10, he was volunteering in the model-train room at the museum. The director there confirmed that Dowdy was a volunteer, but did not want to say more.While growing up, Dowdy played with a train simulator computer game, which taught him the ins and outs of working a train.
Train simulator video games, I just knew it.
Anyways, I guess he figured the biker chicks (and biker guys too probably) would be pretty impressed if he showed up at the Redland Tavern on a 120-ton iron horse for the Big Dick and the Extenders show.
L&N_LCL_SUBI used the term "RAILFANS" because that is what you used. Not a personal attack on you in any way. Thief, would do just fine in this instance. However, we have many among us who just can't believe that A) this is stealing B) railbuffs, railfans, etc. would do this C) that most of us real railroaders saw this coming a mile away. The idiot fringe among the rail enthusiast crowd is growing and becoming a work hazard. (As well as the idiot fringe among every other group out there)
I used the term "RAILFANS" because that is what you used. Not a personal attack on you in any way. Thief, would do just fine in this instance. However, we have many among us who just can't believe that A) this is stealing B) railbuffs, railfans, etc. would do this C) that most of us real railroaders saw this coming a mile away. The idiot fringe among the rail enthusiast crowd is growing and becoming a work hazard. (As well as the idiot fringe among every other group out there)
Ok, now I feel relieved. As for A) & B) no argument from me, C) I believe you and agree.. It is just unfortunate that we can't tell the responsible from the fringe ..
L&N_LCL_SUBA little research using Google turned up no less than 320 stories about this incident. Granted most of them are repeats of the same story, just from other newspapers, news outlets, etc.
A little research using Google turned up no less than 320 stories about this incident. Granted most of them are repeats of the same story, just from other newspapers, news outlets, etc.
I am sure this is so, but I would research likewise if it was an interest other than just my responding to what I thought was a major generalization post. I just "copied" use of railfan from other posts, I don't really like or use the term myself.
L&N_LCL_SUBI wouldn't expect anyone to wade through most of the non topic related posts that follow the original post for a thread. A little searching will do. I didn't post the link because I looked for all the info a week ago when this happened.
I wouldn't expect anyone to wade through most of the non topic related posts that follow the original post for a thread. A little searching will do. I didn't post the link because I looked for all the info a week ago when this happened.
Agreed.. my failure to look a bit deeper..
L&N_LCL_SUBI'm not itching for a fight. Just don't blame dedicated union employess who work for a living (or at least try to) for something so stupid as stealing a locomotive. We understand that this is a federal offense.
I'm not itching for a fight. Just don't blame dedicated union employess who work for a living (or at least try to) for something so stupid as stealing a locomotive. We understand that this is a federal offense.
Didn't intend to point blame anywhere. Didn't know I even left that vibe, again, just "copied" a lines from other posts, I didn't even think those posters were blaming RR employees..seemed to be just a comment about other possible suspects
L&N_LCL_SUBI am not worried about the layoff one bit. I saved for the past few years expecting this, so I am not very concerned. I like to work so I am going to a trade school during the furlough and starting a business on the side.
I am not worried about the layoff one bit. I saved for the past few years expecting this, so I am not very concerned. I like to work so I am going to a trade school during the furlough and starting a business on the side.
Great foresight.. I seriously meant it about the layoffs & hope things get better sooner than later. (but since this isn't a political forum.. nuff on that ).. I have several RR friends, some got the layoff, the others cut back (they define it as doing the other Jobs' work). Depending on the RR, depends on how bad it will stay. Not good for RR'ers or any of us for that matter.
L&N_LCL_SUBSorry if I was rude to you. I didn't PM anyone at all about this. Just trying to point things out that I felt strongly about.
Sorry if I was rude to you. I didn't PM anyone at all about this. Just trying to point things out that I felt strongly about.
I am don't think you were rude just appeared you were frustrated, I apologize for writing the post in a manner that led to this type of exchange.Good luck to you.
mp
L&N_LCL_SUBBecause if you had taken the time to find the follow up story about the two" RAILFANS" that were arrested for stealing this locomotive, you would have realized that two "RAILFANS" were arrested for stealing this locomotive. Clearly two "RAILFANS" that were at fault. I am a disgruntled laid off employee and the last thing I or anyone of my laid off brothers wants to do right now is go get on an engine and take it anywhere for FREE! The only logical assumption anyone could have had, even before reading the follow up story about the "RAILFANS", would be to assume that it would be "RAILFANS". P.S. I am using the term "RAILFANS" as any other term that would certainly be more appropriate, even in this forum, is frowned upon. Also, I underlined the word stealing, as some don't understand the definition of taking something that doesn't belong to you.
Because if you had taken the time to find the follow up story about the two" RAILFANS" that were arrested for stealing this locomotive, you would have realized that two "RAILFANS" were arrested for stealing this locomotive. Clearly two "RAILFANS" that were at fault. I am a disgruntled laid off employee and the last thing I or anyone of my laid off brothers wants to do right now is go get on an engine and take it anywhere for FREE! The only logical assumption anyone could have had, even before reading the follow up story about the "RAILFANS", would be to assume that it would be "RAILFANS".
P.S. I am using the term "RAILFANS" as any other term that would certainly be more appropriate, even in this forum, is frowned upon. Also, I underlined the word stealing, as some don't understand the definition of taking something that doesn't belong to you.
Wow, sounds like a bad year so far, sorry about your layoff, however.
1st, why would you expect me to wade thru 2-3+ pages of diesel hot plugs, cold starts, fire truck engine, GTLoco pictures etc., I post or reply to other posts here based on a page or two of previous posts, If you expect me to read page after page of tangents to the original post, forget it. Besides, I just used other posters' phrases to make my point so hopefully you filled their PM boxes with your angry comments too.
2nd, seems you were just itching to vent whatever your frustrations are as opposed to posting a link to whatever follow up story you knew about, that I didn't find. Hooray for you! I hope you have a better year..
3rd the term 'railfans' is just a way to label someone or a group so as to marginalize them or make some type of comment that supposedly applies to a huge group of people where that whole concept of assuming that just because they have been labeled that all 100, 1000, 10 million are "the same", is absurd. Unless you are a bureacrat or govt official, then I understand.
Obviously my guess as to how to label those who took the engine in your P.S. is; criminals, thieves, idiots, vandals, fools .. words like that, as opposed to railfans..that just doesn't get it done! Even the article I found here, thanks to your suggestion, the label was 'rail enthusiast' (whatever that is) used by the writer describing the police report and by the thief himself; no one used railfan that you keep highlighting. Just shows your label of railfan is not even consistent with the story.
mphill66 Why is everyone assuming a "railfan" had anything to do with this. Let's see, someone here mentions "nowadays, few reporters know much, if anything, about railroad operations"... and then one of those very same reporters says, " investigators believe their thief is someone with more than with a passing fancy for trains" and then, posters here just go along with the assumption it Must be a railfan.. Don't you think there could be a few more possibilities than that??... (someone else mentions it might have been a disgruntled (laid-off) employee, or some guy who knows how and was trying to impress his friends or girl with what he can do, or mash a lot of pennies, or whatever.. ) mp
Why is everyone assuming a "railfan" had anything to do with this. Let's see, someone here mentions "nowadays, few reporters know much, if anything, about railroad operations"... and then one of those very same reporters says, " investigators believe their thief is someone with more than with a passing fancy for trains" and then, posters here just go along with the assumption it Must be a railfan..
Don't you think there could be a few more possibilities than that??... (someone else mentions it might have been a disgruntled (laid-off) employee, or some guy who knows how and was trying to impress his friends or girl with what he can do, or mash a lot of pennies, or whatever.. )
Re: Grand Theft Locomotive - as it turns out, the video game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas does actually allow you to steal a train - they also have a misson where you are supposed to drive the train and stop at the stations, but I never got far enough in the game to do that. Not sure if Grand Theft Auto IV has trains in it since I don't have an XBOX 360 or Playstation III (Grand Theft Auto III had trains you could ride, but you couldn't steal them).
The box is good, but that game seems that it would be a bit limited
RE: the theft - article someone forwarded to me indicated that the engine was CSX 2617 (I think that is the right number), a GP38-2 (it definitely was a GP38-2). I think that the train simulator programs (I've never played them) probably have a GP38-2
Obviously, the charge would be more along the lines of unauthorized use - at least that would be all they could prove, there was obviously no intention to permanently deprive CSX possession of the locomotive, which is an element of the crime larceny. To actually physically steal a locomotive would be much more difficult. I think that there are likely some specific statutes involved
Left of the wheel, with big chrome buttons and a big chrome surround...we had a '58 Fury Wagon, with the 3 way tail gate...had it roll away once also...you had to make sure when you pushed "Park" that the button clicked home, or it was still in gear.
23 17 46 11
Johnny -
Don't remember much about the sequences for the various "gear levers" - but I do know that I never had the chance to drive my Mom's red 1960 Dodge Polara convertible (black top) with the pushbuttons for the auto trans selector ! (Quentin/ Modelcar - do you remember them ?) As I recall, they were to the left of the steering wheel. Never had a problem with it/ them, either, for the 7 years she owned it (until I was around 14), except one day my little sister must have somehow released the Park brake. The transmission must not have been in either Park or a gear, because the Dodge rolled down the driveway and then curved off onto the lawn - fortunately, no harm done to anyone or anything.
- Paul North.
tree68I've been involved with fire apparatus for a number of years and have had a similar experience running the pumps on the engines (pumpers). If I could figure out how to get it in gear (which used to vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer), I could get water out of it. Nowadays there is a great deal more consistency between the vendors.
Johnny
Paul_D_North_Jrwas to figure out how start each of the new aircraft that came there for testing
I've been involved with fire apparatus for a number of years and have had a similar experience running the pumps on the engines (pumpers). If I could figure out how to get it in gear (which used to vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer), I could get water out of it. Nowadays there is a great deal more consistency between the vendors.
We might have any of three types of locomotives for our locals each year - an RS-3, a GP9, and a C424 - all start a little differently, from what I've seen. I'm hoping to get some hands-on this year.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
For comparison, in his fictional book SPACE about the history of NASA and the U.S. space program, James Michener wrote to the effect that the hardest thing to do for the test pilots at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station was to figure out how start each of the new aircraft that came there for testing - no 2 were alike, and they all had different switches and procedures to start the engines. Once they got it started, any reasonably competent pilot could figure out the flight controls - those were pretty much the same in all of them - and get the bird into the sky. I've asked several pilots about this, and none of them (yet) has said that it's wrong.
tree68 wabash1it would be extremely difficult to get a draw bar or a knuckle with light engine. Wabash, you owe me a new keyboard. Mine's full of the tea I just spit out while I was laughing....
wabash1it would be extremely difficult to get a draw bar or a knuckle with light engine.
Wabash, you owe me a new keyboard. Mine's full of the tea I just spit out while I was laughing....
checks in the mail, but really if there is 1 thing I've learned in all the years out here is never is not used in railroading. If i said that you could never do that with light engine someone would post a pic of a engine without a draw bar and a engineer and trainmaster standing there looking at it saying "well i was in notch 2 comming thru yard track 5 at 9 mph when the thing just fell out and hit the ground. honest, the conductor was awake( sniker) looking back there when it happened,
wabash1 edblysard Wabash, Still pounding rocks and pulling pins...but I have had to start a few motors...had a new engineer that had trained on our MK1500Ds...all he learned in class was to simply turn the knob on the back wall to start and the computer does it all for ya...(Catapiller engines) He was assigned a pair of SD40-2s one day, couldn't figure out how to start them...took him back to the long hood and showed him the directions...made him watch so he could see how it was done...he though the locomotives were broken because every time he turned the knob on the back cab wall to "start" an alarm went off! Duh.... Did he stand there waiting for a voice to say you are the 10k engineer to run this engine and you have won the grand prize!!!!!!! In all honesty for about 7hrs and 55 min I would be plum scared to work around this man . he might be a great engineer but on engines like sd-40 with the extra power i be real cautious. I hate to see what happen if ground relay got him and the alarms going off and your 40 cars away, Hey ED my choo choo broke come fix it.........
edblysard Wabash, Still pounding rocks and pulling pins...but I have had to start a few motors...had a new engineer that had trained on our MK1500Ds...all he learned in class was to simply turn the knob on the back wall to start and the computer does it all for ya...(Catapiller engines) He was assigned a pair of SD40-2s one day, couldn't figure out how to start them...took him back to the long hood and showed him the directions...made him watch so he could see how it was done...he though the locomotives were broken because every time he turned the knob on the back cab wall to "start" an alarm went off! Duh....
Wabash,
Still pounding rocks and pulling pins...but I have had to start a few motors...had a new engineer that had trained on our MK1500Ds...all he learned in class was to simply turn the knob on the back wall to start and the computer does it all for ya...(Catapiller engines)
He was assigned a pair of SD40-2s one day, couldn't figure out how to start them...took him back to the long hood and showed him the directions...made him watch so he could see how it was done...he though the locomotives were broken because every time he turned the knob on the back cab wall to "start" an alarm went off!
Duh....
Did he stand there waiting for a voice to say you are the 10k engineer to run this engine and you have won the grand prize!!!!!!! In all honesty for about 7hrs and 55 min I would be plum scared to work around this man . he might be a great engineer but on engines like sd-40 with the extra power i be real cautious. I hate to see what happen if ground relay got him and the alarms going off and your 40 cars away, Hey ED my choo choo broke come fix it.........
Ed, it looks as though engineers will have to learn many different ways of starting engines--just as automobile drivers had to learn the ways that were peculiar to the different automobiles. There is the tale of a man who, when he learned that Henry Ford was going start manufacturing cars with the kind of transmission that many of us older folks learned on, bought three or four Model T's so he would not have to learn something new--when one wore out, he would take the next one. Even with the standard three-speed transmission, not all were worked the same--I think it was the 1928 Buick (there may well have been more years) that had the reverse and low gears on the right side and the second and high gears on the left side.
coborn35 wabash1 coburn Im not sure what your refering to. i run trains in 100 degree days and i run trains when its 5 below. it dont make to much differance they start pulling the same regaurdless. Now if you mean that they are easier to tear apart cold yes this is true, but this was light engine with a reduce crew. it would be extreamly difficult to get a draw bar or a knuckle with light engine. But if it can be done the CSX can do it..... No, no, no, cold as in not running currently. There is a huge difference between starting an engine that is not running (i.e, priming etc) versus starting a running locomotive into movement (i.e inserting a certain thing somewhere etc)
wabash1 coburn Im not sure what your refering to. i run trains in 100 degree days and i run trains when its 5 below. it dont make to much differance they start pulling the same regaurdless. Now if you mean that they are easier to tear apart cold yes this is true, but this was light engine with a reduce crew. it would be extreamly difficult to get a draw bar or a knuckle with light engine. But if it can be done the CSX can do it.....
coburn Im not sure what your refering to. i run trains in 100 degree days and i run trains when its 5 below. it dont make to much differance they start pulling the same regaurdless. Now if you mean that they are easier to tear apart cold yes this is true, but this was light engine with a reduce crew. it would be extreamly difficult to get a draw bar or a knuckle with light engine. But if it can be done the CSX can do it.....
its called a reverser handle it is inserted in the reverser and it lets you go either direction, its not going to get you arrested to say it, and starting a engine is the same no matter if you shut it off 5 min ago or last week. you haft to prime them then start them, In reality i thank you for being descreat in not wanting to say things that you tip off people on how these are run and started but you know this yourself that on the net you can get this info . Now if only they would come out with MS Doctors operation simulator, or car salesmens simulator banker simulator, or my favorite trains magazine editor simulator ( learn to be bergie making hard choices, paper or plastic, what picture to put in the magazine and when to come and talk to all his fans)
Ed when did you become a engineer you had that right but you forgot the main thing after you get a track warrent and get moving you hit conductor in head to put back asleep. If i wanted to hear someone nag nag nag i stayed at home with the wife.
While in the SHORT term, it was cheaper for these clowns, in the LONG term veiw of things, I think that while not cheap, my experiences at the Sumpter Valley Ry. and the Nevada Northern Ry were a LOT less expensive.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
Yeah, I know...
On most EMDs, and almost all GEs, you open the long hood door with the big sticker outside that says "Engine start switch inside"...then you follow the nice directions printed on the inside of the door...go to cab, turn start switch to "start", open electrical cab, flip the battery switch on, flip the start relay switch on, flip needed breakers for other stuff, go to engine start switch in the compartment, turn to prime till sight glass fills, turn switch the other way to crank, hope the batteries are good, play with the layshaft till the silly thing catches, keep it reved a little till the engine smooths out, shut door, go to cab, turn start switch to run...knock off hand brake, insert reverser, turn gen field on, adjust mirrors, try to get cab heater to work....wake up conductor...put dinner on the manifold...wake up conductor....
For those who asked, no, locomotives do not have glow plugs...the compression ratio is much higher that a truck or car, plus the volume in each cylinder is much much more than a car...if you can crank it and get fuel into it, it will start minus any major defect.
Seriously worn rings and cold, dirty fuel filters can be a pain, along with low batteries, but thats the way it goes.
For a "fan" with any knowledge, who has observed this procedure, even from trackside and has any small amount of mechanical ability, getting a "cold" locomotive to start would not be a major problem...
Now, defining cold as one that had been running, say, earlier that day, well, thats not really a "cold" start, but even if it had been parked a few days with a standard shut down procedure, it still isn't as complicated as it might seem, if the fan had any knowledge at all of how a locomotive works.
I would bet money that, unless they were dumber than dirt, any one of this forums members could get a GE Dash 9 moving under power with in 30 minutes.
The problem is not the ability to start a locomotive...the problem is the ability to get to a locomotive, and get inside it...and the willingness and wanting to do so in the first place...by the way, locks only keep out honest people, crooks simply bust them and do what they want.
If someone was determined to "steal" a locomotive, and had acces to one, and a little time, they could.
The machines are quite forgiving to idiots in this resepct...jack around with one long enough and you can figure out how to move it.
These guys wanted to take one for a run...if not this one, they would have found another one somewhere, for them it was simply a matter of time, and not much can really be done to stop people like them, short of an armed guard...the requirements of where locomotives have to be left and what jobs they are assigned to sometimes leave them open to fools like these two, and that also is the way it goes.
The saving grace to all of this is that the only place they can take the locomotive to is where the tracks lead them, and at some point in time they will be noticed, or run out of room to play.
wabash1coburn Im not sure what your refering to. i run trains in 100 degree days and i run trains when its 5 below. it dont make to much differance they start pulling the same regaurdless. Now if you mean that they are easier to tear apart cold yes this is true, but this was light engine with a reduce crew. it would be extreamly difficult to get a draw bar or a knuckle with light engine. But if it can be done the CSX can do it.....
Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
wabash1if air driven starter crank til out of air then go home
Is there a footnote "come back with a large tank of compressed air"?
Ed look at page 141 article 2 subchapter A parigraph ii line3 it says mash accelerator 1/3 way down and crank till engine starts release accelorator release start button and key, on cold engine pump accelerator 3 dozen times. then crank engine if it does not start in 3 min wait 5 min for starter to cool and repeat. if air driven starter crank til out of air then go home.
No locomotive has glow plugs the glow plugs was something they added to light truck and cars
They are called glow plugs. They are basically battery-powered, electric heaters that pre-heat the engine intake air to initially help each compression stroke raise the temperature high enough to ignite the fuel. I do not know if any diesel locomotives are equipped with glow plugs. There have been a variety of engine features used to help diesel engines to start.
al-in-chgo Do diesel-electric locomotives have "glow points", as some diesel cars do?
Do diesel-electric locomotives have "glow points", as some diesel cars do?
Don't believe so. For that matter, none of our "big" fire trucks do, either, although our F550 rescue truck does.
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