With what appears to be rising concern (possibly paranoia) from some in our hobby about being harassed by the authorities, I just have to know, what exactly do you do when you go out to take pictures of trains?
I personally try to not linger when in urban areas, but take my time in more rural/scenic places. I have only been asked once what I was doing and that was by the NS Police in Chattanooga back in 1996.
I wander if some of us may be engaging in our hobby in a way that could lead to unwanted attention? So I have to know… What do you do? Do you camp out at one spot? Do you look like a local or stick out like a sore thumb? Do you research/scout before hand?
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I pick an area that is pretty much a public space with significant traffic and where nobody is likely to wonder “What the heck is that guy doing”, even though some always will. Sometimes I believe folks think I am a railroad cop (maybe I look like a cop).
About the only problem I’ve ever had railfanning was once when I inadvertently parked on a newly seeded area at the end of a driveway next to a crossing. Generally I try to stay in areas accessable to the public. Kinda hard for someone to tell you that you can’t watch trains from the mall parking lot when it’s right next to the main and you’ve got bags of stuff you just bought from stores in the mall in the back seat. Mall security has bigger fi***o catch…
Well I feel so long as I am not on RR property I can stand wherever I want. I think that is one of our rights our fore fathers gave us. Is that not correct? [:I][:)]
I was recently in WY, ID, UT railfanning & only met nice people who gave me even more info of the operations where I was at. [:I][:)]
Well I feel so long as I am not on RR property I can stand wherever I want. I think that is one of our rights our fore fathers gave us. Is that not correct? [:I][:)]
I was recently in WY, ID, UT railfanning & only met nice people who gave me even more info of the operations where I was at. [:I][:)]
Not in this country you don’t. Paranoya strikes very deep in the minds of everyone in this country anymore. Paranoya runs very deep!
No, paranoia doesn’t “strike very deep in the minds of EVERONE in this country.” I ain’t skeered of NOTHIN’!
To answer the question posed in the thread. I’m also lucky to live in a rural area, and in Flatonia we have a nice Pavilion to watch and photograph from. The railroad personnel never shoot us the finger, or anything like that. We get waves now and then. We even know some of them. If the police don’t know our names, they know who we are, give us a wave and go on.
Let me pose another question-how many of you guys have actually been “hassled” while railfanning. I mean really hassled, not just asked for ID. I’m gonna guess the number is really pretty low.
Mike you think NJT is bad just cross the Ben Fanklin Bridge and go railfaning in south Philly, espeacilly around Greenwhich, the CSX police will nail you even if your not on RR property. Then they will tell you to move or get away, eventhough your on public property. However the Philly cops down there don’t give a darn.
Septa isn’t too bad around my area, they could care less. Norfolk Southern doesn’t give a hoot either, at NS’s Abrams Yard in Norristown they let me walk around the perimiter of the yard and take pictures. I’ve even has conversations with crews that come in there. However, I tend to be inconspicuous or I tend to blend in when it comes to railfaning in general. I don’t act like a nut and draw possible attention to myself.
See, that’s what I am talking about. The media has hyped this up soooo much it creates unfounded fear! So how many have really been harassed? mehrlich, I agree with you that number is probably very low.
Well I live in Indiana, and i was watching trains with my brother. My brother lived next to the NS mainline through southern Indiana. Well one day we are out watching trains, and a big Dash 9 C44W pulls up to the crossing. So we are thinking ok, just a routine stop. NOOOO!!! The conductor came out of the cab walked up to the hill we were on, and started yelling at us, and told us we are violating laws. Now when was watching trains on public property against the law. Believe it or not but this really happened. Please feel free to reply to my statement. Thanks.
The only time I’ve been really “hassled” was the day after the inamous Wisconsin Electric power pole collapse, so I understood why there was a little bit of heightened awareness…that said, if Amtrak #7 hadn’t come at that very moment, I wouldn’t have had my camera out, and would have looked just like any other teenager on a bike ride.
In fact, (granted my 5 yr old son was with me) but we have gone down to one of the mian yards here in Phoenix on dozen occasions and just walked around. Not once has anyone said anything to us. With the exception of waves and howdys. Also we go down in the evenings when it is much slower and less stressful. We always stick to the side walks and parking lots.
But point being, never been hassled. Maybe they are more relaxed out west [:)]
I’m 2 for 3 being hassled. The only good experience I had was several years ago when I was heading north from Norfolk, VA. I suddenly remembered reading about a car ferry in Cape Charles, so I stopped to check it out. I parked as close to the well-marked railroad property as I could. Off in the distance crewman were unloading the ferry, but it was too far to photograph since I didn’t have a camera with a telephoto lens. But an employee who stepped out of the building while I was watching gave me a friendly wave and walked on.
Three years ago I took advantage of being on the job in Wilmington, DE. just walking distance from the Amtrak station. I was hoping to see the Acela for the first time. While I waited I took some shots of a commuter train. Soon I heard a booming voice announce to everyone on the platform (none of whom seem to care what I was doing) that “someone is photographing trains”. Within seconds a police officer appeared with the usual question, “Why are you taking pictures of the train?” Now get this: I’m dressed in the uniform of a state-wide transit system whose buses pull up to their front door dozens of times every day and I have an employee picture id hanging on my belt! Then he made polite noises about possibly having to take my film. No, it’s a digital camera and doesn’t have any. We soon ended up in his little office where he took down my name, address, and employment info, and reviewed the pictures on my camera. One he objected to, so I offered to delete it . Too bad, I didn’t know what I was doing and erased all my pictures.
A couple of months later I was staying at a hotel at Philadelphia International. I was curious about what, for me, was a new rail line that had been built to take people into center city. While watching through the windows of an overhead passenger tunnel, here comes a familiar announcement about “someone is watching the trains”. So I quietly went back to my room.
[:(!] If I had lots of free time and the ability to travel at will just about anywhere I would love to go to spots as have been described here and just wait to be hassled by the cops and then do what two railfans here in metro Chicago did a while back while photographing the new Metra units and who were subsequently hassled by Metra and local police…they simply wrote a big article that was published by the Chicago Tribune and guess what happened?..Metra soon made a public statement that anybody is welcomed to watch and photograph their trains as long as they are not breaking any laws and are on public property when doing so…that must have really frosted the cops who had nothing better to do but hassle these two totally innocent guys. I would really love to do that, but alas, I have no time nor the abiltiy to travel that much (outside of business travel) so I can’t follow through with my dream…but perhaps someone else can and will.