By the way, Take a look at my picture, EJE818. If you can see its at JUS. Great spot!
Watch out with that thinking. In my area, RR Police have authority within 1/2 mile (or so) of any railway property. That includes everything from RR related crimes to enforcing traffic laws.
I can see them having the right to do that. At West Eola, as long as you don’t go past the tresspassing signs or run all over the tracks, you should have no problems. I have seen BNSF tell people who park past the signs to leave, but I have never have had problems and I have never have heard of anyone else having problems there when parking before the signs. As I said earlier, it is a very popular and well known spot. Don’t go to Clyde Yard now either as the only public place to see the yard, Clyde Station, is now closed to the public after Metra shut it down. LaVergne is now the closest place to the yard.
i am not a big picture taker i enjoy looking at others work so i dont have the problems stated here. My thought is maybe in each area where a railfans wants to take pics he or she should contact local authorities first to inquire about taking pics. And if they are told no problem as long as they are on public property try getting some type of e mail or something in writing to show the railroad cops!
Just read through this entire thread, and feel like the main point has been mostly missed (a couple folks saw it).
You were trespassing. Doesn’t matter that you were doing it safely, you were trespassing.
As to the cop’s view that you can’t take pictures from public areas, he was flat out wrong, but it doesn’t matter, because at the time he caught you, you were trespassing.
I’ve been stopped by police a few times. Nine times out of ten, all goes well if you just cooperate and they realize you’re not a threat. I’ve shot the northeast corridor very recently, by the way, in NJ, near NYC, without being questioned. Main thing is this… DON’T TRESPASS. As long as you don’t, the law is on your side. If a cop wants to take you in for photographing from a public area, ask him to call his field supervisor to confirm he has the right to. Fact that you asked him to talk to his field supervisor about what the law is, will make him back down if he actually knows the law, and educate him if he doesn’t.
Boy i’m glad to be a Canadian Railfan! I can’t believe he actually said something with 9-11, 9-11 was a set up by “some businessman guy” and the U.S Government, but it’s like a control thing to them.
And i am a responsible railfan too, i know the boundaries. Where it says “Private Property” do not enter, i do just that. And when i take videos of CPR trains, i am on the other side of a ditch near a public road, so there is nothin they can legally say. Winnipeg is a great place to Railfan, and you can get very close to the tracks without being on CPR or CNR property, Central Manitoba Railway crosses a nature park close to where i live, and i can be 10 feet away and they coulden’t say nothin, unless you were an disrespectful hooligan or something. And always remember to, Stop, Look and Listen!! [angel]
Photos below are taken close to the CN High-Line in Winnipeg, shows how close i can get, without being on Railway property, pretty cool eh!(The smaller pics are from Video stills)[^]
100% wrong and yet another example of cops making up their own laws. I say, do it, let them “arrest” you, then sue BNSF for all you can.
You have rights, and they are as guilty as any other criminal when they unlawfully attempt to take those rights from you.
The west coast is so different people are not so paranoid, I have railfanned all over seattle I have never been questioned, and while i was in Coos Bay I was taking pictures from inside the middle of the yard and one guy from the switch crew just said “be careful” and didn’t seem to care I was in the middle of there yard well inside thier property. I guess thats the difference from between shortlines and Class 1s. They probably knew i was a railfan anyway
BTW: I had no prior permission and im 18.
Try doing that in LA.
There are places that are sorta out of the way and quiet where you can stalk a train, shoot it (Video tape or still camera) and clear the area. My favorite way to shoot a train is when a special is run and there are 20+ railfans all doing the same thing and no one is being hassled.
My favorite way to stalk the wild train is deep inside the bush, where the only police cars you’re gonna see are hi-railers…plus, nice and peaceful out there too.
i supose the best thing anyone could do is just apologise for causing any sort of convenience and move along peacefully, there’s about a million places to take a photo, well i think so anyway.
Funny thing though, 2 weeks ago, i had a small run in with a CPR Police Officer in a blank white truck. He was checking for strikers, cause there is a strike on at the time, and me and my friend were checking out their storage yard, but we were behind the “No Trespassing/CP Rail property” sign, and he just came up and said, don’t go any further, and i said, it’s ok were just lookin, we just noticed that you have some older rolling stock and 40’ boxcars, and he said, oh ok! Well please be on your way, and to call CPR if we noticed anyone trespassing. Nice guy, but they take their property very seriously, especially when there is a stike goin on. Good railfans like me can easily talk their way out.
Here’s a safe view of the CPR relic yard from the Cordite Road
It’s probably a good idea to avoid a particular railroad during a strike or any other sort of labor dispute; labor may think you’re a scab (not unreasonable these days), management may think you’re a saboteur (not completely unreasonable after FEC in the 1960’s).
If you were taking pictures legally, you have nothing for which to apologize. Nor should you.
Sometimes an unmerited apology does a LOT of good.
True. But if it doesn’t work, it isn’t your only option.
I think the only people who would probably get closer to this is the actual railroad workers themselves, oh and of course those guards everyone keeps on mentioning. LOL.[:-^]
Yep, i’m happy with the shots i’ve gotten, i’ve gotten some very nice photos. And… this photo will show you just how close i can get…lol
