Join the discussion on the following article:
Indiana newspaper apologizes for rail yard trespassing incident
Where were the team’s coaches? Wonder if they even knew about this?
Excellent handling by Officer Mahan and CSX! Bravo!
East Chicago? The rail yard is probably the safest location in the entire suburb, relatively speaking.
You can always count on self proclaimed newspaper “journalists” to find new and improved ways to ignore private property and their photographers to show how much the newspapers are part of the elite ruling class, exempt from the law. After all, laws are only for the people, not the socialists.
If railroads were really serious about security, they would take a page from the trucking industry and install high voltage electric fences with remote cameras and guards at the entrances. Does the electric fence work? Don’t know. No criminal ever stuck around long enough to give an interview after getting fried by the fence.
This incident shows that having a degree from a university does not make you more intelligent. In fact, all a university degree does is prove the holder of the paper at minimum, drank beer and partied during those years. If you throw enough money at a school, eventually one of them will give you a piece of paper with some worthless writing on it. Something to keep in mind the next time a self proclaimed journalist starts getting all high and mighty.
Finally, the Peoples Republic Of California ranking first in trespassing and grade crossing fatalities should surprise nobody, despite not having the most yards or grade crossings. How do you think Governor Moonbeam managed to get elected without resorting to Chicago style voting schemes?
So as I understand it a team of football players trespasses in the yard and it was not realized until photographs appeared in the local paper?! Yet, many bring only a camera trackside and the police appear!
This is just another instance of no real security on the nation’s rail. Graffiti vandals and now football teams get a pass while photographers continue to be harassed.
Was watching a show on the Weather Channel last night and they were trespassing as well. They were talking about upside rainbows and how the light and atmosphere conditions cause the strange effect, and for some bizarre reason thought that steel rails would help illustrate their point. So the viewer see’s a train go by led by a modern BNSF locomotive and then the woman narrator walks out on the track with the cameraman for some shots.
The politics of this site is getting old.
Seems a lot more planned out than it is being reported as, with everyone wearing Hard Hats, and having Tools/Equipment, that is seeming Brand New, so not just found laying around…
Well, it wasn’t the football team’s idea. The newspaper photographer posed the players on the equipment. Still, the whole elaborate shoot apparently went undetected until the photos appeared in the paper. So, yeah, security was pretty lacked.
Not sure where this current fad of posing on RR tracks or equipment is coming from. It’s been going on for a while now, and is complicating the railfan/railroad relationship.
Note to Mr Guse: read and understand Rule M before sounding off.
Unfortunately a Gary Indiana teen just lost his life trying to beat the train…
Once again the news media shows it’s ignorance when it comes to railroading. Couldn’t any reporter notice any No Trespassing signs? Surely them must have been posted at spots where they are conspicuous. Once again, Goosie is spouting his usual socialist non-sense.
I belong to another forum for a different hobby and discovered that someone had posted a few pictures of a wedding party taken on railroad tracks. The pictures contained the name of the photographer. I made a post about this being illegal and I got blasted big time for even “daring” to question the taking of the pictures. They made claims that the railroad tracks were not used, that the tracks were in the public domain (compared to a Walmart parking lot), that state law overruled the private property rights, they had been doing this forever, the RR co. should post signs and put up fences…etc. One even said that he takes his young son with him, they walk along the RR tracks, pick up spikes, and make interesting things out of them. All-in-all, it was quite an education for me into how/what people think of RR property. The other part of this is that I reported this to the Operation LifeSaver chapter for the state that this occurred in - they sent me a thank you note for telling them - that was it. They would not or could not do anything about it - I thought they could contact the photographer. And the other part - I was looking at contacting the RR police - there is really no way to do that as there is no info posted other than calling an 800 number. They want to know the nearest crossing and the number posted on the signs at that crossing. Without, they can do nothing. I thought not too long ago, RR companies were pushing contacting anyone doing this (photographers for instances) and at the very least notifying them of this being illegal and that they could be prosecuted for doing it.
It seems the photographer and their assistant erred in not getting permission first. The team, including coaching staff, would have expected newspaper to have gotten all the necessary permissions for the photo shoot they were invited to participate in. When all the props (hard hats, tools, reflective vests, etc.) are there, it appears that everything was properly planned. As for the railroad, seeing a large group in an area where their is not imminent danger, the person may have thought they missed the notice of non-employees on the property or, seeing the safety equipment, may not have recognized that the photo shoot was not escorted by appropriate personnel.
This is not limited to rail operations either. You may be surprised where you could go if you show up with a hard hard hat, safety glasses, and appropriate shoes for the environment. The more you look like a “suit,” the less likely someone will be to challenge you. If your acting like you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, You may never be challenged.
Fortunately an accident or tragedy did not come of this poor decision. I would hope that CSX would make a positive public relations effort with/through the media, instead of charging the players, the newspaper, and its staff with trespassing.
There are many tresspassing problems here in California. And the cities turn a blind eye to many of it. the city of Davis told the UP that they could not build a fence around their Davis yard because people who lived on the south side needed a short cut to down town. The people who were cutting across said that it was to dangeries to walk on the streets because of no side walk. Davis said that they were not going to put in a sidewalk in that area because outside of their main area(this is the poor area of davis). UP said up yours are put in the fence. Davis is a stuck up college town.
So, after a train, GOD forbid, hits the kids, who will be blamed, the railroad who’s PRIVATE PROPERTY they were on or the newspaper reported on it or the school that didn’t know about this. Or the unknown person who left the new equipment for the students to use for these photos? Calling Detectives Briscoe and Curtis!
Railroads are private property…PERIOD. A non railroad person does no recognize the hidden dangers in railroading. A couple of weeks ago I watched a piece produced by NBC News about a couples concern and and evacuation plan should a train carrying hazardous material in DOT-111 cars derail near their home. Did NBC get permission from Canadian National to film on their property, and, for the homeowner to be interviewed on their property? I hope so and, if not, NBC and the homeowner are guilty of trespass.
The newspaper should give CSX some free space for public service advertisements about rail safety