Have You had a Rude Railfan-Railroader Experience?

[CopCarSS]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF railfan.

Ya,if I am on a public street out Railfanning and I don't care who it is that tell me to leave I will tell them to [censored] off. Allan.

Allan,

Couple things...

1) I have yet to have a railroader approach me to chase me off of public property. By the way your posts are reading, this is happening to you quite a bit. Where on earth do you railfan at? I think I'll not go there.

2) Have you ever heard of the art of schmoozing? The term may have a slight negative connotation to it, but it basically means approaching a situation with tact and grace to persuade another party to assist you. This relates somewhat to what Mookie and Ed touched on. Carrying a little tact into a conversation, even if you are in the "right" can work wonders. Immediately yelling expletives at and shoving a tiny part of a big document to a railroader probably won't do much to help your cause.

Schmoozing has allowed me to have good experiences at the DMV of all places. Keep in mind that even DMV employees are humans too, and they have a lot of crud that they have to deal with every day.

I think as railfans, the scales are already tipped in our favor, anyways. I would guess that a large majority of railroaders are railfans, even if they are closet ones. Why else would they choose to work in a tough industry with bad hours and a moderate level of on-the-job danger? Chances are that if you approach any potential problem situations with a little tact, a peaceful, mutually beneficial understanding and/or solution could be achieved.

Just a suggestion from a former youngster (who once upon a time shared your "In Your Face" attitude). Good luck trackside!

[DPD1]

I happen to be watching once while a derailment happened in a yard for a local shortline. It was pretty obvious to me they screwed up pretty bad. I was nowhere near being on their property when it happen. It was towards the back of the yard, which had a public city road running along the side of it. As I decided to leave, I figured I'd drive down that road to the back of the yard real fast, just to get a glance at the derailment. I took a quick look, then turned the car around to come back... Never even got out of the car. As I was driving back down the street, I see this guy in a pickup coming the opposite way, and with no warning, he abruptly turns into me head on and forces me to stop my car. I then realize it's a guy that works for the RR who I've seen before... Possibly their Trainmaster. He comes to the side of the car, and says "Do you need help?" or something to that effect. Which I thought was a funny thing to ask after being forced to stop by another vehicle. I said: "No... What are you doing man?" And just kind of looked at the guy like he was crazy. He looked at me for a few seconds, then stormed back into his truck and sped off. I knew that he knew his own guy had caused the derailment, so it wasn't an issue of security. I decided he simply was annoyed that someone was looking at their screw up. Being that I'm not a saint and have certainly lost my temper a few times in life, I decided to let it go. I think forcing someone off a public road because you don't like them looking at your business is a little off the deep end though.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[Anonymous]

Awwww, Ed. Why did you have to go bust this ding-a-ling's bubble with fact and reason. I think that I'll carry a copy of GCOR in my camera bag too.....Oh wait, I don't have a camera bag........I have a grip with a copy of GCOR in it. Oh well. This has gotta be in the top 5 stupid threads of all time!
Go ahead and fight fire with fire there Daniel. It'll go something like this......
-Hello T.M. XXXX
--Um, yes, I would like to report a rude employee
-O.K. Sir. Which company are you with? Was it a crew spotting your business?
--Well, um, no.....I'm a railfan.
-We're very sorry. I'll have a talk with them
Notice in this example the TM didn't bother asking what day, eng #, or what time. Why, because he won't give a rat's a**. Those guys are too busy chasing after us to care about this petty crap.

[Mookie]

Dan - be glad it was Ed and not Mookie - she would have had you out of bed at 4 am....

[CShaveRR]

Ed--

I've said it before:

You da man!

[dharmon]

Well here's my awful RR employee story:

This RR guy comes to pick me up at my house at like 9 AM to show me around the yard and areas he works, pet a locomotive and meet the folks he works with, have lunch and even go see thye circus train......Can you believe that...9AM!!! The nerve.....

Dan

[edblysard]

Chris...
Dont blink!

Daniel...
You forgot the beginning of that section of the GCOR....


1.6 Conduct
Employees must not be:

Careless of the safety of themselves or others
Negligent
Insubordinate
Dishonest
Immoral
Quarrelsome
or
Discourteous


Seems you left out the first few lines, most importantly the one about safety of themselves, and others...you fall into the "others" category.

Negligent...means I can’t turn a blind eye to your trespassing.

Insubordinate...I have a standing General Order to report any trespasser, any person acting suspicious, and any person taking photos of railroad equipment, tracks, bridges, structures and employees...guess I have no choice but to report you now, wouldn’t want to violate the GCOR and be insubordinate and ignore a General Order, would I...

Ed[:D]

[Chris_S68]

hehehe
I'd like to be there when a railfan attempts to instruct an employee on the GCOR.

[Mookie]

There are rude people in every business. It doesn't mean you have to be rude back.

I think most railroad people are like anyone else - you have happy ones and grumpy ones. Mostly happy as in most jobs. But if you go down the tracks and see people deliberately trying to and sometimes succeeding in killing themselves and trying to include you in it, or people shooting at you with rifles or vandalizing your freight cars, and add in just a tad of tresspassing - (cuz no one on this forum would deliberately tresspass!) it would make me a little grumpy, too.

These people aren't out there to be entertaining or program directors. They are there to make the railroad safe for employees and public alike. So cut them some slack and mind your p's and q's and check the attitude at the door.

Mook

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mustanggt

Back 2 years ago at north station I took a pic of an MBTA cab coach (to use as a detailing guide for a model which I sold off anyway) and got a "look" from a few Conductors.... They were real grouchy looks too. One of them said: "Put away the *** camera" ,so I did. And after I put it away they still gave me a dirty look. But you can't argue with these guys. They're just doing they're jobs to protect the station, even if they were a little rude.

But when someone tells you to put away your camera when your on public land is totaly wrong. Allan.

[Mookie]

I think the GCOR rule should apply to the public as well.

I also still think some railfans "cop a 'tude" and figure their presence with a camera should allow them to do as pleased.

I scared the daylights out of some poor maintenance worker, but even with a terrified look on his face, he still treated me with respect. (Yes I was on private property, but it wasn't railroad property and I only asked a question!)

So please don't think that a GCOR rule gives you the upper hand to treat property and people badly.

Don't be an "Ugly Railfan".....

[bbrant]

In 1994 I got some pics of a stopped CSX train in Pittsburgh. I stayed well away from the tracks when I was taking my pictures. For whatever reason when the train started to go the engineer was saying something to me. I can't read lips but I'm positive it wasn't a friendly "hello".

[mustanggt]

Back 2 years ago at north station I took a pic of an MBTA cab coach (to use as a detailing guide for a model which I sold off anyway) and got a "look" from a few Conductors.... They were real grouchy looks too. One of them said: "Put away the *** camera" ,so I did. And after I put it away they still gave me a dirty look. But you can't argue with these guys. They're just doing they're jobs to protect the station, even if they were a little rude.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainjunky29

Hello everyone.

I just wanted to remind those railfans that have had dealings with mean employees that you have one other recourse:

Employee discourteousy is a GCOR infraction:
1.6 Conduct
Employees must not be:

5. Immoral
6. Quarrelsome
or
7. Discourteous


1.9 Respect of Railroad Company
Employees must behave in such a way that the railroad will not be criticized for their actions.

Sincerely,
Daniel Parks

this is good to know and everyone should keep a copy in your camera bag when railfanning glennbob

[Anonymous]

NO, none comes to mind at this time.

[Anonymous]

Hello 06archerd if you read this you are paying attention to the forum and reading all the postings have fun railfanning[bow][bow]

[Anonymous]

What a good idea :i just made a print out of the GCOR infraction 1.6 Conduct ,and will keep a copy in my camera bag from know on>>>>[B)][angel][bow]glennbob

[Anonymous]

I like the GCOR infraction 1.6 the best hit em with their own rules..[^]

[Anonymous]

Ya,if I am on a public street out Railfanning and I don't care who it is that tell me to leave I will tell them to [censored] off. Allan.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone.

I just wanted to remind those railfans that have had dealings with mean employees that you have one other recourse:

Employee discourteousy is a GCOR infraction:
1.6 Conduct
Employees must not be:

5. Immoral
6. Quarrelsome
or
7. Discourteous


1.9 Respect of Railroad Company
Employees must behave in such a way that the railroad will not be criticized for their actions.

Sincerely,
Daniel Parks