Saw this online.
[:O] I doubt crack heads would work that hard to get their fix.
I remember an old neighbor had some abandoned track on his property that he cut up with a torch and sold for scrap. Between the gasoline and torch gas, he broke even for all his effort.
Don’t railroads get out of paying property tax on the land once the rails have pulled up??[:-^]
An electric company in South America was trying to run power lines to bring electricity to some remote villages. The villagers kept stealing the new wire and selling it to buy food.[(-D]
I agree with the comment at the end of the story.
If I was a metal recycler, I’d start questioning people who started showing up with rail pieces. And turning info over to police. The average person doesn’t come by such stuff every day. If railroads were recycling they’d as for the big haulers on tractor trailers or rail it in in gondolas themselves.
There’s a big DUH on the part of the recyclers. Or they are in cahoots with the criminals.
Another reason that banks are becoming reluctant to foreclose on those “sub-prime” mortgages is the value of the metal in these buildings. Once a home “goes vacant,” thieves will break in and rip out the copper piping, plumbing fixtures and even electrical cable. These end up at a scrap dealer.
You would have to be a pretty shady character yourself not to recognize this as theft when someone comes in with a load of relatively new pipe and wire every few days.
Very glad to see that some of the crooks have been caught.
Can you imagine if these types of idiots started cutting up mainline rail? Scary, especially considering the active lines in “Dark Territories” (like the Suzy-Q) where there’s no signaling.
I wonder if these guys are actually going to do any jail time and pay restitution…or if the judge will send them to rehab for a few months and then be turned loose?
Jeez that would be crazy, stealing from active lines, but glad to see arrests, i wonder what the sentance is for that?
Man, that sucks. Remember that movie “October sky”. the guysin it took up track to sell for rare metal for their rockets. I hope those guys get caught.