I was notified today that the Antique brass railroad lock I had listed On E-Bay was removed . This was explained to me as Necessary for National Security, I recieved an E-mail from E-bay stating I had Accidently Violated their policy regarding the listing of Transportation items. I have sold locks over the years on E- Bay ,Bid Pay ,craigs list ,tag sales, Model railroad shows. Now Its To dangerous to sell them. I hope to save some other Railroad Collectors the time by advising them that the 100 year old lock you have in your position is still in use on many of todays Modern rail Lines, So be careful WHO you sell to and Help protect the transportation Industry
Ebay can be kinda wacky because they apparently use word searches to spot “problem” listings, often with no regard to context. As a guitar player I’ve seen people list a guitar as having an “imitation tortoise shell pickguard” (i.e., made of plastic in a brownish red ‘tortoise shell’ pattern) and had the listing pulled because Ebay told them that they couldn’t sell anything made from an “endangered species”.
[soapbox]
i guess plastic is becoming an endangered species [:)]
Ebay is going to become an endangered species. They have agreed with the IRS to issue 1099’s for all their sellers, which will go over like a - [insert your favorite cliche simile here ].
[:^)]
A couple of years ago I was told at a railroad collectible show that “the authorities” had expressed concern about the selling of switch keys, presumably because the key probably still works existing locks.
I suppose major mischief could be worked if something that should be unlocked became locked and vice versa. It may sound silly to us, but 9 / 11 has changed everything … yeah, it sure would have been nice if those flight schools had noticed that all those middle eastern flight students showed so much interest in learning to fly a plane, but none in learning how to land it … seemed a small thing at the time.
Dave Nelson
IIRC every railroad rulebook I ever saw contains words to the effect that all employees must protect the property of the railroad company. That means an employee can lose his job for allowing you to possess a lock or key. I have been playing choo-choo since the 1950s and it has ALWAYS been a big no-no to go near railroad property with a switch key in your pocket.
It has always been a violation of ebay rules to sell military or transit uniforms, even patches or badges, if they are currently in use by the agency.
Actually I never heard of a railroader losing his job over a railfan owning a switch lock,switch key switch lock,cross bucks etc since there is so many outlets for these items.
You can go to any military outlet store and buy unit patches,combat ribbons,uniforms,boots,training aides etc.
The Government sells these things at auction.
I tried relisting it and they took it off again, crazy america
Its funny because the Government sells Uniforms Patches Etc.Crazy
Actually, there’s more to it. In some cases the railroad has someone that watches ebay. I read about this the other day with some CSX timetables etc. and ebay gave in a had the person take them off.
They also watch for employees selling stolen equipment.
Just one more excellent reason to never use Ebay.