From all the horror stories about police bothering railfans that were posted on this forum I was really concerned about going all the way from Florida to California/Utah/Arizona & Nevada to watch trains as I was afraid that I would be stopped & chased from any train watching spot I chose.
Well if you check up on my website you will see that I saw maybe over 100 or so trains & at NO TIME was I ever bothered or told to move or banned from the where I was. Seeing over 100 trains meant that each one ot the trains engineers I saw could have reported me & they did not. At one place in the Cajon Pass I was like 2.5 miles from where the BNSF has offices & no BNSF engineer reported me when the train reached the BNSF offices. In fact at one time there was a UPRR train stopped at my spot for like 15 minutes because the train in front of it was also stopped & I was not reported. At Cleghorn Rd in the Cajon Pass some California forestry officals warned me to be very, very careful with my cigarette butts because everything was so dried out. Later in the day while I was in Riverside I heard on the radio that some dunderhead had started a brush fire where I was & traffic was stopped on I-15 to put out the fire.
You can easily look into all the trains I saw by clicking on the below listed link.
Yep, it’s always those horor stories that stick in your head. “I went railfanning and absolutely no one bothered me, or even looked at me funny” is just not news to anyone! Then again, that’s what most of us expect when we go railfanning… [:D]
Yes thanks I wonder how much of what is posted about this subject on this subject is actually fact or just made up poo-poo. Imagine over 100 times that I could have been reported & no engineeer did it. All I got was waves, horns & bells. Somebody some months ago posted how dire the situation was in the Cajon Pass to railfan. I just spent maybe 10 hours or more in the pass & was NEVER bother.Makes you wonder where the truth lies. [:o)][:p][:)]
I know it DOES happen, I’ve been approached twice about “what I was doing”, although never by Milwaukee’s finest. I think most of the local cops know better. But I’m sure sometimes it’s just a trainman who’s having a bad day, or watched one too many dumb*** railfans being where they’re not supposed to, or had some kids throwing rocks at the train, or something like that. Or, a “concerned citizen” reports you, and then the police HAVE to check things out. Of course, as always, the key is to be cooperative, move on if need be, and the outcome is usually never reported.
Yes I got I also got reported twice once in Colton CA & the other time I just got unlucky as a UPRR *** was going into the offices in the yard at Grand Island NEB. Each time they took my vitals but did not chase me. Just look from the pix how close I was to some of those moving trains & to not get reported means that at least the engineers on the trains I saw had no concern that I was doing anything but enjoying myself watching the trains go by. You can see how clse I was by looking into my website that I jhave listed for you in this post.
The only time I was bothered was because there was some police activity going on unrelated to the trains and I had my scanner with me. Other than that no problems at all. Those Southern Pacific guys were really cool to us railfans!!