The other day my dad and I were railfanning on a branch line on the edge of a town a few miles away, there’s only minimal traffic on it and one major industry nearby, it’s right by the main road out of town, so there are cars that see you when they pass by. There was a couple of gons with scrap rail being loaded by a front end loader and a railroad hi rail truck that was privately owned. We were over there taking pictures and to my surprise a cop came and PASSED RIGHT ON BY. He didn’t run us off! I was so pleased that he didn’t say anything, I wish more cops would be this considerate.
unless there are complaints in the area about it, railfans are not a major issue. Problems like what I heard is happening near Relay MD, with a gentleman calling police on every person who watches the Thomas Viaduct and “Writes something down” (Which I’d think would be a lot of people) are becoming common though
I had a cop specifically ask me if a certain train went by yet. Must have been a railfan.
Traingeek087,
It’s good you have a great place to railfan. The police or the railroad won’t raise a fuss unless you’re walking along the track or crossing it, and since you were with your dad and not alone probably didn’t raise an eyebrow. A BNSF special agent I knew, now retired, got suspicious when he saw unsupervised kids around the tracks.
Keep on railfannin’ [:D]
Take care,
Russell
I had the police check me out a couple of time right after 9/11 because someone called them, the first time it was the local railroad officer that came to check me out and he told me to stop looking like a suspisious person and we had a good laugh. The second time a State Trooper check me out. He was polite about it and told me that someone had called them. Did not even check my ID. We even talked for a while how the country had changed.
I have had various police cars go by me while I was railfaning and not one has even stopped. Localy my car is know to most of the police because they always see it parked at the same spot.
I have even had the City police stop and ask me if I saw someone go by or in the area.
well It was very nice of him not to say anything and let us take photos, you don’t see that too much now a days, especially with security threats and all.
Most cops have better things to do than hassle folks not committing a crime in front of them. Like hassling folks who ARE committing a crime in front of them, for example.
In my county, deputies will respond to trespass complaints on private (including railroad) property. This usually involves hunters who don’t ask permission to enter a farmer’s property. With the exception of a clearly posted “No Trespassing” signed yard, the NS around here is pretty much buried in deep woods. Railfans (including myself) pretty much obey the signs.
Erik
That happend to me once,I was watching trains here in Blair when someone called me in when a Blair officer and a County sheriff pulled up and was Questioning me,I heard one of the officers tell the other “He watches trains” Other than I never get bothered by anyone. just me myself and the trains I watch.
This was good to here, and this is how it should be. The problem may be, as Train Hearted Guy suggested, some paranoid who has nothing better to do calls the police about a suspicious person photographing trains - from public property no less - on a little used branch line so they have to investigate.
So far I have personally not had any problems with being hassled by the police the many times I have been out photographing trains in different places so my car would not be known as if I had gone to one place repeatedly. A few weeks ago I was set up right behind the police station in Orange, VA waiting for the westbound Cardinal; nobody even bothered me.
Two weeks ago a friend and I were photographing NJ Transit’s new River Line light rail line from public property in Riverside, NJ. The battery on my camcorder went dead, and I went back to the car to get another one. While I was gone a cop came up to my friend, and asked him what he was doing, what he was photographing, etc; he even asked my friend for his for ID, and he ran an ID check on him. He even asked about me. I do not think that was necessary. What harm could come from photographing the NJ Transit’s light rail cars in Riverside, NJ? Ironically, an hour later we were in Camden, NJ photographing the light rail in Camden’s streets. I photographed an eastbound PATCO Lindenwold train crossing the Ben Franklin Bridge from a public parking lot, and nobody even cared.
Well I usually railfan in the same spots and I have seen about 10 cops, 2 Wyoming Highway Patrol, 2 Sweetwater County Sherrif deputies, and 6 Rock Springs city cops. i have had 6 of those cops stop. All RS city cops becasue unlike Coloumbus Ga where erikthered is from, RS city cops do have time to go around hassleing people. All our cops are young and inexperienced and they are just dying to shoot somone. And since the new sheriff deputized them they are patroling outside city limits!! At one point in tim they were writing tickets from RS to halfway to Farson(40 miles away) its a bunch of bullcrap. I just wi***hat they would worry more about the crime rather than innocent people who aren’t bothering anything.
How do they know you’re an innocent person not bothering anybody if they don’t stop to question you? They questioned, determined you were a railfan and not a terrorist and you were allowed to go on your way… sound like they did their job…
The only time I’ve ever been hastled with was in Galesburg, I was standing in the old roundhouse site and the BNSF police cane and gave me a written warning. I WAS tresspassing and knew it but before the BNSF merger it was ok. They were polite about it and knew i wasnt causing any harm but they had a job to do. Now I do have premission to be on a shortline here in town and it was given to me by the CEO, and I have a card to prove it if I’m ever asked about it. Kinda nice to have . Long live the rock…
I have been most fortunate on my railfanning trips to have been left alone by the police. At two of the locations I’ve been to recently, Tuscola IL and Centralia IL, I’ve had police drive right by without stoping where I was watching the tracks My hats off to the Tuscola and Centralia IL PD! [:)]
What makes you think that?
As I have stated before, I listen to the scanner in the evenings - fire and police. I am hearing more and more that people - Joe Citizen - is calling in reporting on “suspicious activity” - the kids are sitting on a porch unsupervised, the man is walking down my sidewalk and he is a stranger to the area (we are a town of 225K!), and several, two people sitting in a car for about 10 min.
I can see having really suspicious activity investigated, but it is becoming a barrage of suspicious activity and I have never heard it turn out to amount to anything! We are using our police officers to go on numerous calls of “my 4 year old is out of control” (an actual call) and diverting their time from real problems!
So if they are “investigating” you there is a good possibiliy one of your fellow citizens called you in and reported you! Security is one thing, but we are really becoming a nation of busybodies!
[|(]
The only encounter I have had with the RR police was when I stopped in view of two tracks to eat my lunch under the shade of a tree. I had pulled off of the street to get to the tree. He and his partner pulled up on both sides of me and asked what I was doing, and I politely answered that I was just looking for a shady spot to eat and showed him my half eaten sandwich. He told me I was still on RR property (I thought I was on city property) and that I should leave. They took off as I started my car, and I don’t think they even noticed if I left or not. I just went to the other side of the street and finished eating while watching two trains go by.
Hey Mookie
I think that some people should do what Hank Jr. said.
Being, “Mind your own business!!”
People are just nosy and I think also that they want that 15 minutes of fame if they can get it.
They tell us to live our lives like we did before 9/11. We try but Mr. Nosybutt has to be right there watching everything you do, and reporting it all as “suspicious activity”.
The terrorists out there are not stupid enough to be right out in the middle of us all with the fear of being caught. They know what they are going to do. And I have said before that a terrorists does not have to leave home to find anything out. Watch Discovery, A&E, and even surf the internet. They don’t need to be out there when they have all these forms of information readily handy to them.
As for my town(Population est. 3000;Salute), I have personally spoke to a police officer about taking photos. He said that as long as I am not on the RR property they wouldn’t say anything(and they haven’t). They also know what I do. They may think I am foolish for doing it, but they know. No problems here.
Did you know that on the NS webpage they tell you that you can photograph their trains. Just so long as you are not on their property. Here is the section from their website:
Visiting NS property
Visits to Norfolk Southern property by journalists and photographers can be arranged provided there is considerable need. Advance notice is required. Visitors must sign a waiver and be accompanied by an operations officer.
It is permissible to photograph Norfolk Southern trains and operations from vantage points that are well away from railroad property. Trespassing on railroad property is a serious offense — one that could expose the trespasser to potential danger.
Well, I guess its time for me to add my 2 cents. I am a deputy sheriff and have been for 11 years now. As most people have already said, and contrary to popular belief, WE DO have much better things to do than bother railfans, and most of the time it is easy to detect by sight someone who is suspicious vs. railfans just for looking for nervous behavior as we are trained to look for from the very beginning of our jobs. Being a railfan myself, I enjoy “meeting” other railfans and often do speak to them when I do come across them during the course of my duties, not to “harass” but just to strike up some friendly conversation. As in any job, there are rude law enforcement officers who do thrill on throwing around authority, but much more in the majority there are genuine polite law enforcement officers who really are interested in what you are doing whether the officer appreciates trains or knows nothing about them. I am employed by a relatively small department and am the only deputy who really appreciates and studies trains. And one other thing, if the railroad does report suspicious activity even though it may be railfans, every law enforcement agency that I know of will send a unit to check on it but needless to say, I am sure we all appreciate that in the troubled waters we in the United States have been through the past 3 years. Have fun!
I think you all would have to live here for a while to understand them and it is just the RS city cops and no others.
Like I said before,I have no problem, Hell Everybody know me. I walked right out in front of a cop in broad daylight with my scanner radio in my hand watching RR crews do their job,and I never get bothered. Of corse not to that tomrrow will be that way…You never know.