When i was railroading in the 70s and 80s on my time off i would visit towers around my home.The “operators” would almost always invite myself and my kids up with him. Since i was a rail we could talk shop also. Now post 911 you can get interogated even on public property at trackside. And there are only a handful of towers left. Back in the 50s my grandfather knew the engineer of one of NYC 20 centurys. He was allowed in the cab for a ride, that would not happen now the hogger would get fired or unpaid vacation.The times they are a changin!
yep very sad and true
Paranoia has taken over, there is only one answer, stay off railroad property, stay AWAY from railroad property, your best bet is to abandon railfanning as you are not only up against the railroads, you are against the policies of the police, the state and federal Governments and almost everyone connected with transportation in the U.S. And if you still insist on lurking around railroad property, remember the old Indian superstition: When walking through your neighbors mellon patch, don’t bend over and tie your shoe.
I don’t know many people who trespass in the first place…
But I’m glad you’re not in charge with that kind of defeatist fearful attitude. On top of that, we shouldn’t fear our government. There was a reason our Founding Fathers established our rights. I’ve can go on about your post, but it doesn’t belong on this forum…
Railfan free, stay safe, and don’t trespass.
Here in Milwaukee it’s hit or miss depending on what part of town or suburb you’re in.
Milwaukee: Stay off railroad property and you’ll be fine, city cops have bigger things to worry about than you. The Department of Homeland Security may come and take your info but if you don’t do anything illegal they don’t care either.
Wauwatosa: Seriously, nobody cares here I’ve never been asked a single question and I’ve been taking pictures here for years. In the Village, there’s a city mountainbiking course that actually goes onto the ballast next to the CP main, hundreds of people use it every day. Also the little square at the base of the villiage right across from the Noodles & Company is one of the greatest railfaning places in the Milwaukee area, great action, park benches, great light, and it’s city property so nobody can ask you to leave.
Brookfield: People here are paranoid, if you have a camera and have skin or hair darker than the girl on the Swiss Miss package, you’re going to get the police called, no matter if you’re even on your own property! A good friend of mine is from India, a big railfan and takes pictures from his own back yard, he’s gotten visits nearly half a dozen times just this spring.
Elm Grove: The cops here have actually told me that they have some local law on the book that bans photography of trains. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I had a roll of film confiscated in the summer of 2002. I wasn’t on railroad property, instead I was in a city park, go figure.
West Allis: The only problems I’ve ever had here were from Elm Grove police who constantly go into Allis to try and pad their ticket quotas. One time last year I was testing out my new digital at a grade crossing and an Elm Grove cop threatened a loitering ticket. As I was talking to her, a West Allis cop showed up and very politely told her to take a hike and appologized to me for the other cop.
Cheers!
~METRO
Davd_ : Try reading in this forum and in Model Railroading forum : “Railfanning- was I in the wrong?” seems there are few other misconstrued, defeatist, fearful, attitudes with a lot of stories.
…and don’t ever take the aluminum foil off your head!!!