No more malicious than the fence in my yard . . . or the lock on your car.
Wouldn’t the missing rail be more similar to if you dug holes around your property to trip up people who dared to tresspass? Or hooked up a live wire to the chassis of your car stereo to zap anyone who dared to try and steal it?
Correct me if I am wrong…(And that’s what I like about this forum, someone will![:D] ) but the train crews, with the possible exception of local industry switching, dont choose the rails or route on which they travel…they are assigned or dispatched onto a specific route. So its not like they will say, “Hey, lets go this way, it’s a short cut!”, and then run out of track. And i would suggest that in most cases, the places where there are missing rails, the switch or turnout leading to that section has been disabled, or the route is blocked with a mound of dirt, so you couldnt get there anyway. Anyone know of a situation where that is not the case?
J S Green: Read my post on the previous page. Every roadmaster has dealt with the problem at one point or another and has heard all kinds of excuses.
Even had an industry with 60" inch gage problem on track they were told to fix pull spiked switch and tag to get their switch (car delivered)…Wound up getting the track embargoed to get the point across that the track was the industry’s responsibility & financial obligation.(for two months and threats of a lawsuit).
Most incidents are off the main tracks, low speed and small (don’t meet FRA reportable unit of property test). This fortunately keeps people from being hurt, but bruises their egos. Train crews tend to be customer driven and don’t like being badgered by industries with one track minds - this leads to bad judgements.
Interesting forum indeed; let me throw in my two cents here.
When it comes down to railway companies pulling up rails to keep passages/interchange with other railroads from occurring, I’m like WTF? Are they afraid they’ll have their traffic (as well as overall capacity) compromised in some way by a rival rail line or what? I wish I knew but the stunts some folks like NS would plan to pull are phenomenal. The best NS could have done with their interchange w/CERA @ Kokomo, IN would be to leave that one stinking rail alone, period. Same goes to the KBS-TPW intersection as well.
Very simply stated #1 = REMOVE THE TEMPTATION
Very Simply stated #2 = “When you’ve got 'em by the balls, the hearts and minds will soon follow”… - S.I. Hyakawa principle…
also: IF the track is out of service, the roadmaster’s forces do not have to waste precious time and resources filling out the weekly/monthly FRA paperwork inspection forms on the thing. Those funds can be spent on other pressing needs.