I have, several in fact…
LC
Thats me [:D][:D]
Yes. Several, over the years.
I’d rather not talk about them . . .
Old Timer
Yup, seems to happen online more often than face to face…
Adrianspeeder
Yep, how smart does one have to be to realize that a railpile is not a good place to stand, should have let him stand there for a week or so after a stick of rail rolled and trapped his leg.
Randy
Several,
Had one standing in the middle of live tracks with his back to moving equipment…three “hobos” I gave a real fun ride too…a lot of casual trespassers, and a few who knew what they were doing, and why it was wrong.
For the most part, the casual trespassers are doing it on accident, and once you explain that they are trespassing, and putting themselves in danger, then you ask them to move, well, most do.
Some don’t, and I don’t mind on bit calling the gumshoes on them.
I don’t mind them taking all the photos of my railroad they want to, after all, I am kinda proud of the place…but I do mind them when they endanger themselves, which in turn endangers my crew.
We have enough to worry about trying not to get hurt ourselves, or tear anything up; we don’t need the additional hassle of worrying that we might run over a guy with a camera crossing live tracks trying to capture that last remaining Cotton Belt boxcar!
What a lot of these folks don’t get is that their right to politeness ends at the property line, not because we are a bunch of rude jerks, but because most of us have seen up close and real personal what this stuff can do to a person, and none of it is pretty or nice or very photogenic.
Ed
Those people who you thought were “idiots” did you ever think they think exactly the same of you[?][:p][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by Limitedclear
spbed,
Nope, I could care less what they think of me.
But then, I don’t stand in the middle of live yard tracks with my back to moving equipment, taking photographs of a boxcar that is plainly seen from the street next to the yard.
And if someone asked them to move on, and they answered “All I want is to get a few photos”…well, your “want” is putting your life, and the lives of my crew in danger, so they might expect to get a little hassle from me at that point.
I don’t mind fans, I am one myself; I do mind people getting hurt on my watch.
I have taken a guys camera, and gone into the yard to get a photograph of a old, old scale car for him, because he was polite enough to stand on the side of the road, and I noticed him with the camera.
I asked him what he was looking for, he told me. I helped him out.
I have even stopped a shoving movement of old GE C30s we were shipping overseas, so a few fans could get photos of them one last time…
But once you step on property, you legally become my responsibility, whether you want to be or not…the law is very clear on that.
Yup, once I know you are there, be it by invitation or not, you become my responsibility.
If I end up killing or injuring you, I get sued, along with the railroad.
So now I have to stop working, and figure out how to get you out of harms way.
If I ask you to move on, and you decide your “want to” exceeds my authority to make you move, then you have crossed not only the property line, but the common sense and polite rail fan line, which means the next person you talk to will be wearing a badge and carrying a gun, fully intent on issuing you a trespassing citation.
Do it again, or argue with them, and they will arrest you.
Go to the FRA website and look at the death figures…do the math and you will see that trespassing is by far the leading cause of non employee deaths.
That figure does not
Ed is right. I’m a railfan who respects the railroad and the people who run the trains.the goal is to take pictures and leave footprints.Safety of you and others should be first priority.
stay safe
joe
Excellent Post Ed! [tup]
Oh yes, too many.
Yea, actually just two weeks ago I was up on Cajon pass. It was a nice saturday morning and I was on top of one of the many hills around the tracks in the CP Silverwood area. I had been there for several hours taking pictures. Then this car pulls up next to me and this whole family unloads. They barely said hi to me, they just proceded to take over my spot. They could have chosen to go to any number of hills, but no, these idiots had to invade my hill. Then the kids started running around my equiptment and truck. Then they [censored]ed up a shot I had been waiting for all morning. I couldn’t belive how rude these idiots were. Well I don’t own the place so I moved on to another spot. It still makes me mad that my shot got blown though.
I could tell a few others but its too early to be thinking about idiots.
Ditto…
Dan
PS Nice post Ed!
Frightening, isn’t it…
LC
Ed,
Great post! You hit the nail on the head. I drill safety into my 4 y.o sons head, because it also keeps it front and center in my own mind.
For myself I work in the world where we get the call after the accident happens and get to deal with that aspect of the stupidity.
It’s agreat hobby, the only problem is that we are our own worst enemies!
GO RED SOX !---- 5th inning and tied at 2
Thanks Ed. Great post as usual.
mike
Yes…And all he cares about is Amtrak and all he talks about is Amtrak, and he wants to Work for Amtrak, and he seems to have a new Girlfriend every 15 seconds…
His name is Brent, and he is in Kirkwood MO.
Then there is is this other guy who talks to himself alot and never shuts up. Hes also from Kirkwood.
Sure… just look for the guy with the camera leaning over the rail.
There is one guy in particular I will never ever railfan with again. A guy in my another club was railfaning with another guy who feels the same way too, on the CP Galt Subdivision in south western Ontario.
This clown was tresspassing left, right and centre even going into the Woodstock yard through a string of cars (that’s right-he went between the couplers) to get a picture of a SOO line caboose. Yes a SOO Line caboose is really neat but sorry, I don’t want to get into a large pile of you know what because someone can’t control themselves…
Ed - you’re right, as usual.
But a guy put it straight to me a long time ago, when I hadn’t railroaded very long.
“Every time one of those idiots gets killed, it raises the general level of intelligence on the planet. The only trouble is, that it leaves a h**l of a mess for the rest of us to clean up.”
Old Timer