I have been in many locomotive cabs when I was a kid…I can still recall the cab of N&W 4-8-0 # 444 and the B&O 2-8-0 whose number I long forgotten-the 444 was my first cab.
Even today I am given a “tour” of a cab however,I never take pictures nor will I ever go public with with names.
Now its been 27 years I will share my “throttle” time.As a brakeman I often spoke of becoming a engineer…Well the old engineer I was working with gave me throttle time while coming out of a hollow with 44 cars of Eastern Kentucky’s finest.He stood behind me and gave me instructions.It was a thrill I never will forget.The conductor and the other brakeman looked the other way…Of course we violated several railroad safety rules as well as union work rules.
Henry, speak for yourself and not for me when you talk of folks having paranoia…I simply wish to continue to enjoy my favorite non-family related pass-time of railfanning without the potential of being associated (even indirectly) with somebody who has clearly not used common sense when posting pictures of himself in a Metra cab on his My-Space web site…and by doing so potentially jeopardizing the enjoyment most of the rest of us get by hanging out near stations and other railroad sites. This has nothing at all to do with paranoia, unless you feel the need be paranoid yourself for some reason. SOOOO, speak entirely for yourself and not at all for me, buddy! And while I am responding to your post, be careful who you call an IDIOT as that kind of abuse of this forum can get you booted off pretty quickly…got it?
But your post reflects parnoia by indicating you wanting to keep clear of him. No, I don’t plan on railfanning any different. But railroaders, especillay at METRA, are going to be suspicious of fans and at least more careful if not react in totally negative ways to railfans for a while. And some railfans my feel a little more reluctant to approach railroaders than they have before.
I am with eolafan on this one. I don’t mind hanging about with other fans, but I am real quick to clear the area once an obnoxious one shows up. I have had a couple of experiences that have taught me to just be as far away as possible from the “know it all” foamer types when they show up. Paranoid? Nah, not at all, I just like to call it “aggravation avoidance”.
One would think that this kid should have known enough to keep his mouth shut, and his camera turned off while he was being given these favors. It a different time, his stories and photos would probably have gone no farther than his friends and family, and nobody would be the wiser. However, in this day and age, when people feel the need to post every mundane activity they engage in on a website, blogspace, or social networking page, the whole world can know about it in minutes, and people that would normally not be in the loop, are in the loop, and that’s a bad thing on many levels…
Not paranoia, henry6 – more like disgust. This kid better not hope he runs into us railfans soon – he may be awarded a knot on his head.
Why suspicious of railfans? Any railfan who approaches a Metra engineer for a cab ride these days would have to be a complete fool. The engineers made the decision to let the kid come on board and run the train. It’s not like the kid forced them to let him run the train at gunpoint. Makes me wonder, though, if any money changed hands for the rides.
Jim, I think you’re safe in your usual haunts. The follow-up article seems to confirm my suspicion that this engineer is a Metra (as opposed to a UP or BNSF) employee; River Grove is on the Milwaukee West line.
And the railfan wonders why other railfans hate him.
Perhaps the “steering clear of him” was ambiguous as to the reason. I think “shunning” him would be a better choice of words. No paranoia there, just contempt, or, as PZ says, disgust. But you probably needn’t worry–this guy isn’t going to do much bragging for a while, I suspect.
see…this only goes to reinforce my arguments that i made mention of the growing tention between railroaders and rail fans… the one thing in this whole tread that i roll my eyes at is that some people on here are tossing the 3 engineers in question under the bus for giveing cab rides…but yet i am willing to bet that if these same people where given the same chance for a cab ride…they would jump at the chance without wasting a second to think about it… yes it is true the engineer rolled the dice when he/she (didnt read the artical for the details to know the sex of the engineers in question) and got snake eyes on a bad bet of a big mouth that blabed about it… but so is the one that opened his mouth when i know they knew that they wernt suppost to be in the cab in the first place… its bad enough that we railroaders have to deal with the stress of the job and the gistop tactics of managment just to catch us busting work rules (read a rule book from cover to cover and you will find out that to follow it to the letter you will never get out of the office let alone turn a wheel) now like i made mention befor we have to watch our backs with big mouth rail fans and the argment i made in the NS thread about the fan that got bent out of shape over a railroad employee yelling at him about taking pics and getting “offended” becouse he had is feelings hurt… its bad enough that the carriers hold our livelyhoods in there hands…now we have rail fans holding it in there hands to for any number of reasons makes a very stronge arugment for why alot of railroaders dislike railfans… and the numbers are only likely to grow…
Like many railfans I have also had a few cab rides, but fortunately I had the good sense not to take pictures from the cab, and not to brag about those few rides. Then, they didn’t have My Space, You Tube or even computers so as long as I didn’t brag about the ride, management didn’t see what happened at the time, or nobody got hurt there were no consequences. My guess is the Federal Railroad Administration will get involved in this incident so the engineers, and perhaps the young man, will face further consequences. I don’t think this incident will affect railfans too much.
csx engineer,I reported a broken rail to the dispatcher last year which I was promptly thanked not only by the DS but by the track foreman as well when he showed up…
CSX engineer, rail fans have always and will always do anything they can to cozy up to an engineer hoping to get a cab ride. Therefore it is up to the engineer – whose livelihood is at stake and who we’d lik
CSX engineer, rail fans have always and will always do anything they can to cozy up to an engineer hoping to get a cab ride. Therefore it is up to the engineer – whose livelihoo
Needless to say, the word of incidents such as this kid getting his ride and posting the evidence get around the railroad rank and file very quick. The kid claims he won’t be the last to get such a ride. Maybe so, but I can guarantee you that anyone wanting a ride is going to have to look long and hard to find an engineer willing to risk his job to accomidate such a request. Maybe one in the tens of thousands? Good luck.
I mean, who could blame an engineer for telling a “railfan” to get the blank outa here. Filpping burgers at Mickey D’s pays a lot less than than T&E service.
This idiot kid won’t affect my railfanning, but he does personify the lack of discretion that seems to be the norm among younger people these days. His attempt to justify what he did sounds like any teenager trying to weasel out of the punishment he’s about to receive for his latest boneheaded stunt, except that he’s telling it in public instead of only to his father. There also seems to be a desire among the younger set to claim their Warholian 15 minutes of fame.
Which is now so easy to do, thanks to YouTube, etc.
I caught a cab ride a while back - even took a picture or two of the train for the engineer, using his camera. Didn’t expect it, didn’t ask for it, thanked all profusely (and was even given a ride back to my vehicle). There might have been a touch of “professional courtesy” involved - those involved knew I volunteer on a railroad. But that still doesn’t make it right in light of the rules.
Kids like this don’t seem to understand that actions can have consequences. As most of us know all too well, even a ‘good’ action can end up having undesireable results.