This is where you get out and push. And put your back into it!! [:D]
I don’t know guys. It’s probably an urban legend but I seem to recall several years ago before 9/11 some looney tried to hijack a PATH train to Cuba (no, I’m not making this up) and was nearly stricken dumb and blind when he was told it couldn’t fly, it ran on tracks, and then only as far as Newark and couldn’t go any further because the tracks ended.
So hide those reverser handles, boys and girls!
Well, and besides that, where ya gonna take that parked UP train anyway?? It’ll only go as far as the next parked UP train.[}:)][}:)][:-,][banghead]
so the questions are, where do i get one of these handles, and do you think it would be fun do go fer a ride?
Let’s see, if by some chance you get it moving and you show up on the dispatcher board, after you’ve run through the power switch and if there are no opposing movements or movements ahead of you and you can’t quite figure out how to get it stopped, and you manage not to get yourself or anyone else killed, you’ll probably be a guest of the state or, most likely, a guest at one of our fine federal institutions for a long time
You might be able to take her out on the main and park it? Then hold UP hostage as now no more trains can move on there clogged arteries. Should cost them a lot of money each hour. Its a shame you can’t get away as you picked a lousy escape vehicle… LOL [(-D] as allways ENJOY
But rrandb the UP is being held hostage already byt the trains they have on line!! Yes I would pick a better get away vehicle.
Friend of mines wife works for Barjan here in town.(quad cities area) They make stuff for truck stops cb shops etc etc. She sends two pallets by a certain big LTL truck line to SLC. Well they put it on a up train and it took till today(Jan4th) to get there.When were the items shipped you ask?Dec 20th to be there by the 23rd. Needless to say she wasnt happy.
Ok - so I couldn’t pick up that cute little switcher that was just hanging out there for the taking, but, dare I say it in a public forum, what about vandalism? Think boxcar graffiti?
No - all the dirt on the locomotives keeps the graffiti from sticking[:D]
dd
Speaking of graffiti, or “tagging”, as they call it, I think it livens up our railroads. Most every train I see has graffiti on it, and unless it’s covering up necessary information on the freight car I don’t see much wrong with it. I can’t imagine trains any other way. Sure it’s illegal, but some of it is really nice art work. Think of it like this, big industry/boxy ness/metal, versus artistic/colorful/unsymmetrical lines, contrasts well I think. It kind of livens up this old tanker.
http://home.earthlink.net/~kreez8/trainpictures
Honestly, as long as the equipment gets the job done cost effective, I don’t think the railroads care, although come to think of it, the railway bulls will probably toss you in jail.
After reading all the responce to this thread I have but one thing to say.Terrorist paid money to learn to fly a plane.And they learned just the knowledge it took to fly a very large plane into a building.There is more people out there thinking of ways to do crap like this than you or I could probably ever imagine.And believe me,with the experience I have being an engineer on a class 1 railroad.It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out how to move a train.I can climb aboard any engine from any railroad that is a current class 1 locomotive,start it up,shut it down, or move it.Kinda scary ! Things need to change in this country.Don’t let this administration (sorry for the political input)let you think they are doing the best for your nations security.They should be on this one like fleas on a dog.And yes you can lock up a loco.NS loco’s all have a sliding lock on the back door,and a switch lock on the front door.This is a very good question that was brought up.I hope someone out there that’s in the postion to do something about it,is reading it.
I don’t remember all the specifics or exact date, but sometime back in the 1970s someone took a SP switch engine for a ride. It was somewhere out in California and he got caught when he was seen by station agent who was surprised to see a moving locomotive when there was no train due.
Jeff
Trains sitting without crews in the middle of nowhere? (gasp) I don’t seem why it seems so foreign to all the experts on here why class 1’s and regionals would leave trains sit. Gee the reasons are endless. These railroads( well at the one i work on) can’t plan anything and when the hump yard i work out of has a meltdown sometimes we get trains backed for 40-50 miles for a few days and yes they are sitting on double main tracks were a would-be terrorist-prankster could take off with it if they like and run right into the middle ot town with nothing to stop it. Nothing. Not handbrakes they burn off. Isolation swithc, engine run. Oh hiding the reverser in the drawer. mackb4 is right if someone can learn to fly a plane and crash into a building with pretty good results someone can learn how to move a freight train and the just hop off the darn thing and let it do its thing. The railroads and the feds don’t seem to care because no one has done it. The bomb trains we run could wreck havoc in the middle of our state largest city.
That’s what I was thinking too. If they can learn to fly a Boeing, surely they could move a locomotive too. With those cab doors swinging in the wind, it looks pretty inviting. Just have to hope nothing like this ever happens.
With todays security concerns it will only be a matter of time before the railroads will be required by our friends in D.C. to electronically lock the cabs and controlls. The engines will comunicate via cell and/or sat com if they are violated. FEC already uses Sat-com to link engines to home base. You won’t need keys but your company I.D. may have a mag stripe or a bio-engineered detector (i.e. thunbprint or retina scan) to tell them who is on board. If On Star can unlock your car then a dispatcher can shut you down remotely… While none of this is cheap freedom never is. I think collectively as a nation we are worth it. Lets hope in the land that gave us John Wayne " in the long run the bad guys never win" we will address problems before another “plane” incident. We don’t need a “train” incident’ I would hope as resposible railfans if you spot anything out of the ordinary or suspious please contact the rairoad. I’m sure if you are right and there is some one up to no good they will appreciate the call. [2c] AS always ENJOY
Here’s a job for you archivists. TRAINS magazine many many years ago had a humorous article about a guy trying to hijack a train with the crew on board. It was one of those one page papers, that I think was at the very back of the magazine. Maybe someone can find it and post it here.