2 Miami men charged with stealing locomotive
MIAMI - Police arrested a train enthusiast and his friend, days after the pair took a CSX Railroad locomotive for a joy ride, according to an arrest report.Brandon Dowdy, 22, and Alex Johnson-Self, 23, both of Miami, were arrested Tuesday, after detectives said they found Dowdy's fingerprints on the train stolen out of a Kendall area station late Sunday.Dowdy told officers that he saw the train and "wanted to look at it," according to the report.He ended up prying various locks and tampering with switches to move the train, police said, before he abandoned it about 7 miles south of where the locomotive was parked. [...] Dowdy was being held in a Miami jail on $45,000 bond Thursday, charged with grand theft, burglary, Interference with railroad track and other equipment, and unauthorized persons interfering with railroads.Johnson-Self, also charged with grand theft and railroad inference, was released Tuesday on $12,500 bond, a jail spokeswoman said.Johnson told police Dowdy is a train enthusiast and "simply wanted to take the train for a ride," according to the report.
MIAMI - Police arrested a train enthusiast and his friend, days after the pair took a CSX Railroad locomotive for a joy ride, according to an arrest report.Brandon Dowdy, 22, and Alex Johnson-Self, 23, both of Miami, were arrested Tuesday, after detectives said they found Dowdy's fingerprints on the train stolen out of a Kendall area station late Sunday.Dowdy told officers that he saw the train and "wanted to look at it," according to the report.He ended up prying various locks and tampering with switches to move the train, police said, before he abandoned it about 7 miles south of where the locomotive was parked. [...]
Dowdy was being held in a Miami jail on $45,000 bond Thursday, charged with grand theft, burglary, Interference with railroad track and other equipment, and unauthorized persons interfering with railroads.Johnson-Self, also charged with grand theft and railroad inference, was released Tuesday on $12,500 bond, a jail spokeswoman said.Johnson told police Dowdy is a train enthusiast and "simply wanted to take the train for a ride," according to the report.
Morons.
Geez - I'm a train enthusiast, too. I'd like to take a train for a ride. I'll wait until I get my "learner's permit," though.
Like I said - that teenage inability to correlate actions and consquences - only a little older...
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...
Must not have been able to master the 'reverser' to bring the engine back to where he found it. In the words of Bugs Bunny - What a Maroooooon!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I would like to hear the how this guy "stole" the locomotive since it never left the property.
.
Nice graphic for the box of the (fictional) video game version !
Paul_D_North_Jr Nice graphic for the box of the (fictional) video game version !
+1
Casual Stealing eXpected...
Dan
Ham549I would like to hear the how this guy "stole" the locomotive since it never left the property.
Got a good laugh out of that Ham ol boy, and I dont mean the game.
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
CNW 6000 Casual Stealing eXpected...
Now, if later that same night he'd just returned the loco to where he started from -
would anyone have noticed ? How would they have known ?
Kind of like the proverbial tree falling in the woods if no one is around to hear it - does it make a noise ?
New locomotive: $1.7 million
Bail: $45,000
Grand Theft Loco: Priceless
;-)
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
Yes i got a good laugh out of it too. As for the locomotive thieves, If these guys did all that, they had the intentions of doing something wrong. Not that taking the engine to begin with was right, but when you consider all that had to be done including unlocking things it shows it was planned. When a group of kids sent a train into a building around here in the early 80s, they threw the switch after the train would have been warned by the nearby signal. I don't feel bad for people like this, and i do agree that at 22 they should know better.
You should submit this to FAILBLOG.org
WSOR 3801 Won't stop somebody real determined, but slows down most people. Also, wonder if it was shut down, or left running...I would think Florida would be warm enough to shut it down. The event recorder might be neat to look at.
Won't stop somebody real determined, but slows down most people.
Also, wonder if it was shut down, or left running...I would think Florida would be warm enough to shut it down. The event recorder might be neat to look at.
coburn I only have 1 question for you. what is the differance on starting these things cold from any other time? Did they not show me where the choke cables are maybe this is why every diesel i have ever been around snorts coughs farts til warmed up I never started them the correct way. Please exsplain it to me and keep it simple, old guys like Ed and myself suffer from CRS. Hey ED wheres my MIRROR.
But these actions pose even bigger questions I know what the NS would do but the CSX guys need to chime in. Since he was acting as engineer do the conductors have a timeslip comming for not having a conductor on board? What punishment will he get for not having proper track athority to be there. On the ns its 60-90 days. I bet he didnt preform the proper brake test before leaving.
RE: the WSOR lock photo:
You really expect that $10 Chineese/Mexican master lock to keep anything but a light breeze out of the cab??? Giving the door a good tug would probably be enough to snap that thing right off.
Other sources I've seen ( http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-bn-0226traintheft,0,7779640.story ) said that the locomotive was locked (probably with a RR lock), but he pried it off. I did hear rumblings somewhere that locomotives were going to be equipped with lock boxes for reversers, but we see how well those locks can last
bnsfklineYou should submit this to FAILBLOG.org
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
Wabash,
The mirror is still in my grip, I forgot to put it back, was too busy trying to find the "How to start a cold locomotive vs a hot locomotive" chapter in my timetable and special instructions...
I would time slip them, and see if the first guy out on the extra board wanted to slip 'em too, after all, his buddy was acting as switchman out in the field...
wabash1 coburn I only have 1 question for you. what is the differance on starting these things cold from any other time? Did they not show me where the choke cables are maybe this is why every diesel i have ever been around snorts coughs farts til warmed up I never started them the correct way. Please exsplain it to me and keep it simple, old guys like Ed and myself suffer from CRS. Hey ED wheres my MIRROR. But these actions pose even bigger questions I know what the NS would do but the CSX guys need to chime in. Since he was acting as engineer do the conductors have a timeslip comming for not having a conductor on board? What punishment will he get for not having proper track athority to be there. On the ns its 60-90 days. I bet he didnt preform the proper brake test before leaving.
23 17 46 11
wabash1coburn I only have 1 question for you. what is the differance on starting these things cold from any other time? Did they not show me where the choke cables are maybe this is why every diesel i have ever been around snorts coughs farts til warmed up I never started them the correct way. Please exsplain it to me and keep it simple, old guys like Ed and myself suffer from CRS. Hey ED wheres my MIRROR. But these actions pose even bigger questions I know what the NS would do but the CSX guys need to chime in. Since he was acting as engineer do the conductors have a timeslip comming for not having a conductor on board? What punishment will he get for not having proper track athority to be there. On the ns its 60-90 days. I bet he didnt preform the proper brake test before leaving.
I was referring to starting the engine/ starting it moving.
Cold diesels are hard to start, but it depends on how cold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_cGG56QA4&feature=related
Wow, you would beleive that they were either hidng a Steam Locomotive behind that thing, or it was an ALCO in disguise
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
It is said that diesel engines are cold blooded. They heat chunks of air by quickly squeezing them. When those chunks of air are as hot as they can be, they shoot fuel into them. With too cold of a surrounding temperature, they cannot get their chunks of air hot enough to ignite the fuel. So operators keep spinning them, so that even though each squeeze fails to raise the temperature high enough to ignite the fuel, the heat adds to the surrounding heat in the cylinders. As the cylinders warm up, the maximum squeeze temperature rises. Eventually it rises high enough to ignite the fuel and sustain ignition.
Do diesel-electric locomotives have "glow points", as some diesel cars do?
al-in-chgo 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.
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.
No locomotive has glow plugs the glow plugs was something they added to light truck and cars
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.
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.....
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"?
Johnny
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.....
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.
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
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.....
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.
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