NS sent me a response last night to my e-mail. Apparently they saw fit to post it on Trainorders.com where I’m now being put down as an irresponsible railfan. Here is what they sent followed by the truth.
Dear Mr. Wagner:
Thank you for your e-mail and bringing Saturday’s incident to our attention. We have looked into the matter and clearly there was a misunderstanding between you and one of our employees, which was regrettable. The employee is relatively new, and was not fully aware of the company’s position on photography and scanners. She has since been counseled on these matters. If any blame is to be assigned, it should be on our training programs, and we are in the process of correcting that.
Unfortunately, while you were at the McDougal Street crossing, a train approached and activated the warning device. When this occurred, you chose to remain between the tracks and the dropped crossing gate to continue to take some pictures. There was at least one moment when you were fouling the tracks while the train approached. At this point, our employee’s concern was not about pictures or scanners, but for your safety and the safety of the train crew. This was certainly a contributing factor to the tone of the situation. To put a positive spin on this, perhaps we can chalk this up to a learning experience for everyone involved.
With regard to photography in general, on the corporate level Norfolk Southern understands that you have the right to photograph our trains - as long as you are not violating any laws in the process. But there is a challenge for us in railroad public relations and for railfans (who are willing to acknowledge the following facts): the great majority of our employees view being the subjects of photographs as an invasion of their privacy - and some of those employees are very protective of their privacy. In short, they don’t want their pictures taken. Additionally, people standing in close proximity
NS did not slander you on the internet. You’re the one who chose to post their e-mail to you on the internet as another one of your sympathy ploys. Dude, it’s time for you to get a life. Quit the whining and get over what happened the other day.
It seems to me there are two and perhaps three or more sides to this story and perhaps each side is “coloring” or putting a particular spin on their version of events to support their individual variation of the events. Whatever is the actual truth, this has been blown WAY out of proportion by all involved and it is my suggestion that all parties simply let it die and get on with either railroading (NS) or railfanning (you).
I also don’t see any slander in the letter you posted. The main point they tried to make is to have you see the situation through the eyes of the train crew. Railroads exist to perform a transportation service, so really, you’re photographing somebody on the job. Think of how you feel if strangers were wandering around your office/lab/shop taking pictures of everything, including you.
you were the one that chose to post your initial letter all over the internets. You could have kept the situation private b/t you and NS, but you chose to do it in public. Why? I don’t know. Sympathy? Who knows, but you did.
So NS has responded in kind by posting their response to the public. You were the one that was throwing around accusations to begin with, so Mr. Husband saw fit to put in his side of the issue. Now why don’t you move on? THe more you beat this horse, the worse it is going to be for all involved.
What I’m referring to (I guess slander isn’t the right term) is their making me out to be an irresponsible railfan when there was no train there as they say. Somebody at NS, either the person who e-mailed me or the employee who gave me the hassle on Saturday, is not being honest and is trying to shift the blame of what happened to me. I’ve been completely honest regarding what I experienced. I don’t know why they can’t be the same.
