20 boxes of fro]en pigs’ feet taken in train heist
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) ² Train robbers have broken into a rail car and carted off 20 boxes of frozen pigs’ feet during a Southern California desert stop.
Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Aaron Hunt tells the Victorville Daily Press that the thieves probably didn’t know what was in the rail car when they broke into it Friday night.
It wasn’t a lucrative heist: The entire haul was worth about $200.
Hunt says the theft was discovered when the freight train made an emergency stop near Victorville, about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Hunt says authorities are investigating why the train initiated emergency stop procedures.
A train can make an emergency stop for various reasons, including if the crew sees something on the tracks ahead of them or if one of the rail cars has a braking problem
Hopefully no one is wanting to make Pickeled Pigs feet on the other end of that trip. Could have been worse it could havve been worse could have been Hog Jowels.
Pork products ARE against the Muslim faith, hence my supposition it wasn’t an Al Queda caper. Wonder where the railroad bulls were? Out chasing photographers?
I assume the emergency stop was intentially set by the robbers, especially since it was such a stop. They likely had gotten on a some yard just prior. I wonder what was in the other cars. Maybe they simply counted wrong and opened the wrong car.
Either those boxes are not very big, or that cargo is pretty low value - for $10 a box, I wonder why the pig’s feet needed to be shipped at intermodal rates ?
Many funny comments above (Ed Blysard’s being my favorite). [(-D]
Back in the early sixties, I was offered some pickled pig’s feet. To be polite, I ate one or two. I have eaten none since, even though it is possible to buy them in stores around here.
Was it a container or reefer broken into? All the on-line sites I’ve looked at (Can’t get the original link to open) just say a UP rail car. I’ve just assumed it was a mechanical reefer.
I’d imagine the boxes were in the 10-15 lbs range, the exact weight of each box varying. If shipped in the big bulk boxes, you’ld need a fork lift to move them. I worked for three and a half years for IBP (now Tyson) at their Perry, IA pork plant. For the first six months, my job there was cutting off the hind feet and tail on the disassembly line. After that I got the job doing the plant inventory. Boxes of meat were of different sizes depending on product. IIRC, about 25 lbs was the heaviest for being handled manually. At that plant the less desirable parts (like pig’s feet and ears) usually went to the freezer, operated by an IBP subsidiary. The conveyer line however went through the fresh meat storage area and once in a while I’d find a box on the floor or there might be an order for a few boxes and they’ld be taken off the line and placed on a pallet.
While IBP only shipped meat by truck, the freezer operation did ship by rail. After going to work for the UP, I caught the Perry way freight a few times and switched the plant. IBP was the only “regular” customer on the line and switched (usually) once a week. Most of the line has since been abandoned.