Possible explosive device found near railroad tracks

[Anonymous]

zugmann

Murphy Siding

Anybody want to talk about railroad stuff?

 

Nah. Goats are more fun. 

So are Oregon cookies. 

And Eleanor Roosevelt selling margarine on TV.......

[zugmann]

Murphy Siding

Anybody want to talk about railroad stuff?

 

 

Nah. Goats are more fun. 

 

 

So are Oregon cookies. 

[Anonymous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNgZcRn9peM

 

[CNW 6000]

Murphy Siding

Anybody want to talk about railroad stuff?

Personally I thought Ken had some great perspective...as he lives in that town.  Waiting for more info...

[dmoore74]

Have there been any further reports on what the "device" actually was?

[Murphy Siding]

Anybody want to talk about railroad stuff?

[wabash1]

If i post i think I will be reported again its probley gonna be PG-13 or worse and Norris will go Bad Doggie.

[spcascades]

In regards to the "green goat,"  if it has a cat engine, would that same goat meow out in the corn field? 

 

Which brings up another thought, could you train that same cat powered green goat to use the littler box?

 

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HY8vxYX78s

[blownout cylinder]

CopCarSS

You guys disappoint me a little bit. I mean...yes...I realize you're all waving to Eleanor Roosevelt in the fog while eating oreos. None of you have mentioned the fact that she was really there to see how well camouflaged those white boxcars with the shackles are in the fog.

Thanks for the laugh! It was a good thing I just swallowed me coffee when I saw this!!

[BNSFwatcher]

Shouldn't we ask "Tugboat Tony" about the fog horn, if he isn't too busy running into railroad bridges?

This thread is even funnier than Darwin's thread.  I'm proud of y'all!

The Invisible Goatman

[BNSFwatcher]

A serious question.  Was it a "Green Goat"?  They are much easier to see in the fog, even if they are in a pasture or cornfield.

Hays

[BNSFwatcher]

RRKen

There was so little information.  Even if I was given more, I doubt it would be shared here.   Indeed it would not.   I let the powers that be do that job.

Another GOVERNMENT COVERUP!

Hays

[Victrola1]

I have heard cows must be kept from green corn or their stomachs may expand and explode. What about Oreos? What of goats?

If a cow in green corn along the tracks explodes as the engine goes past, will this cause the train to be put in emergency stop? Will the Secret Service return fire from Eleanor's private car?   

[CopCarSS]

You guys disappoint me a little bit. I mean...yes...I realize you're all waving to Eleanor Roosevelt in the fog while eating oreos. None of you have mentioned the fact that she was really there to see how well camouflaged those white boxcars with the shackles are in the fog.

[edblysard]

You would think after this many years I would be prepared....

Paul_D_North_Jr

. . . and most especially a post by/ from wabash1 ! 

- Paul. 

[Anonymous]

 YAY!!!!!

The 100th post!!!

Eleanor Roosevelt would be proud......

[schlimm]

Victrola1

Eleanor Roosevelt was a well known advocate of government regulation.

http://boe.aar.com/boe/download/bureau_of_explosives_specification_for_standard_track_torpedoes.pdf

 

 

Among other things, but I doubt if she had anything to do with regulating railroad employees or the link above.

[Victrola1]

Eleanor Roosevelt was a well known advocate of government regulation.

http://boe.aar.com/boe/download/bureau_of_explosives_specification_for_standard_track_torpedoes.pdf

 

[schlimm]

 What's the deal with the Eleanor Roosevelt "wit?"

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

. . . and most especially a post by/ from wabash1 ! 

- Paul. 

[Deggesty]

edblysard

I just blew coffee out my nose and all over my desk....

Ed, when will you learn: DO NOT fill your mouth just before reading a post, especially one on a thread like this?

[Victrola1]

 Would using a fusee for auxiliary light photography be of concern? 

 

[Anonymous]

RRKen

New regulations were to go into effect December 26, 2008, but the railroads successfully petitioned for a delay until April 1, 2009. The regs can be found at 49 CFR 1580.

Suffice to say, every passenger and freight railroad now must have a Rail Security Coordinator who is available 24/7 to coordinate intelligence and security with the Transportation Security Administration and law enforcement agencies.

And every railroad now is required to "immediately report potential threats and significant security concerns to the Department of Homeland Security at 703-563-3240 or 1-877-456-8722."

Potential threats or significant security concerns are defined to include:

--interference with train crews;

--bomb threats;

--suspicious items that could disrupt railroad operations;

--suspicious activity around rail cars or rail facilities;

--discovery of a firearm or other deadly weapon on a train, station, terminal, facility, storage yard, or other location used in the operation of the railroad;

--indications of tampering with rail cars;

--surveillance of a train, facility, storage yard, or other location used in the operation of the railroad;

--threatening correspondence received by the railroad.

That is interesting because it seems to directly intersect with the railroad photography hobby.  The prohibition item of surveillance would certainly cover all railroad photography.  It would also pertain to observation alone without a camera.  And it would apply to people conducting surveillance who are not actually on railroad property. 

 

Now granted, it does not say that surveillance is illegal.  However, the occurrence of surveillance does require the railroad company to report the incident to the Department of Homeland Security.  So what happens after that phone call?

 

Surely the police must be called in order to investigate the surveillance incident and make a report to DHS.  Maybe DHS sends their own officer to directly investigate.  So, if this is the procedure, it means that any person who looks at a train with apparent interest, from any location, will be questioned and investigated for conducting surveillance if that person is seen by an employee of the railroad.

[zugmann]

CNW 6000

mInteresting posts Tom & Paul.  About the only 2 worth reading on this thread. 

 

 

That hurt, Dan.  I'm taking my fusees and going home. 

[RRKen]

New regulations were to go into effect December 26, 2008, but the railroads successfully petitioned for a delay until April 1, 2009. The regs can be found at 49 CFR 1580.

Suffice to say, every passenger and freight railroad now must have a Rail Security Coordinator who is available 24/7 to coordinate intelligence and security with the Transportation Security Administration and law enforcement agencies.

And every railroad now is required to "immediately report potential threats and significant security concerns to the Department of Homeland Security at 703-563-3240 or 1-877-456-8722."

Potential threats or significant security concerns are defined to include:

--interference with train crews;

--bomb threats;

--suspicious items that could disrupt railroad operations;

--suspicious activity around rail cars or rail facilities;

--discovery of a firearm or other deadly weapon on a train, station, terminal, facility, storage yard, or other location used in the operation of the railroad;

--indications of tampering with rail cars;

--surveillance of a train, facility, storage yard, or other location used in the operation of the railroad;

--threatening correspondence received by the railroad.

In addition, the FRA has posted rules concerning TIH/PIH materials which includes:

"To guard against the possibility that an unauthorized individual could tamper with rail cars containing hazardous materials to precipitate an incident during transportation, such as detonation or release using an improvised explosive device (IED), the rule requires the rail carriers’ pre-trip inspections of placarded rail cars to include an inspection for signs of tampering with the rail car, including its seals and closures, and an inspection for any item that does not belong, is suspicious, or may be an IED."

The training we get is not on a whim from the carrier.  Your interpretations do not matter since,  you are not in a position to regulated railroads, nor impose economic penalties upon them.  This information is out there for you to research at you leisure.  And it seems to go along with what the former Military people here have said.

[Anonymous]

CNW 6000

Interesting posts Tom & Paul.  About the only 2 worth reading on this thread. 

Oh come on Dan, your opining is a little harsh...The thread is not that bad.  Besides, it was misinformation and incorrect assumptions by some of the original posters that got this thing rolling.  RRKen LIVES in Mason City.  He is in the best position to know (FACTUALLY) what happened.

[CNW 6000]

Paul_D_North_Jr

tomikawaTT

zugmann

 I have found a total of ONE torpedo.  Long forgotten in the box on a foreign line locomotive.  [snip] 

[snip]

As a former disaster control responder, I was told to isolate any unidentified or known explosive device, clear the area of personnel and wait for a qualified EOD team to deal with it.  I also got to re-calculate the safety zone around each parking spot where a bomb-loaded F-4 might be parked (it was big, and got bigger.)  If, on the other hand, I recognized it as reasonably harmless (grenade with the pin still in, or a pipe nipple without an explosive charge) I could simply remove it and turn it over to EOD when they arrived if potentially explosive, or to recycling if it was simply scrap.

So maybe the conductor saw something he didn't recognize that was actually not an immediate hazard, recognized as such by the responders.  Sounds to me as if everyone involved did what they were supposed to do.

Chuck {MSgt(ret) USAF]

 

When I was working at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland in the early 1980's, some of the safety rules and briefings concerned UXO = UneXploded Ordnance, especially the old stuff, which we were told could be more dangerous because of chemical decomposition leading to instability and hence a risk of detonation from any impetus - movement, vibration, impact, static electricity, etc. 

So yours truly was walking along a low embankment on the edge of a large field above the Mulberry Point track one fine spring afternoon, and sees something that looks like an old dirt-encrusted  mortar round laying at the break of the slope down to the tracks.  A hole the same size was right next to it, and the grass was freshly mowed - I surmised that a tire on the mower caught the edge of it and flipped it out of its hole.  There was nothing identifiable nearby, so I got a single stake out of the truck, drove it in the ground about 3 ft. away, and tied red survey flagging on it.  On my way out that day I reported it by leaving a message for our APG construction coordinator/ inspector, 'Doc' Shelley.

Next morning I stopped in to ask what happened with it.  He notified the base Fire Dept., who got the UXO guys out to go get and dispose of it - turned out it was a live round from back in the World War I days.  Then I was complimented for finding and reporting it - and yelled at for driving the stake in next to it, which could have set it off.  Lesson learned for the next time, which may pertain here . . . even if you know what it is, if it's old, don't touch it or go near it - get the experts.

- Paul North. 

Interesting posts Tom & Paul.  About the only 2 worth reading on this thread. 

[blownout cylinder]

ericsp

zugmann

 And what happens when a RRer finds a fusee in the fog?

 

Run away, screaming, at a speed slow enough to allow stopping within half the length of visibility or 15 feet per hour, whichever is slower. 

Wouldn't it better if'n he used a fog horn? Some fog has been known to swallow the human voice y'know

[edblysard]

I just blew coffee out my nose and all over my desk....

wabash1

Fog Waving Saftey fussee, all in 1 post this is not good, now exsplosive and judgment of duty , looks like this thread is headed for the crapper. Norris you cant blame me this time. good doggie..................