Mind my own P’s and Q’s and leave the other person alone. If they want to risk getting caught tresspassing or risking their own life, then that’s their problem. I’m not about to jeopardize myself to cover their ass.
If he was close to where I was, I’d say something. I dont need the Police or security coming out to chase him away and then put me into the mix. Granted, I would be very polite about it and a gentleman. If he pops an attitude so be it, at least I said my peice. I am of the school fo thoguht that is too much is wrong with this world because people dont say anything an assume someone else will fix it.
Granted all scenarios could be different so some consideration would be used before I said something.
My reaction to “unsafe” railfans is the same as my reaction to “unsafe” pedestrians who cross intersections when the traffic signals indicate “Don’t Walk.” I only become involved with the pedestrian if he or she is in immediate danger of being injured. For example, if I see a speeding car that the pedestrian doesn’t see, I’ll warn the pedestrian. However if there is no speeding car or some other immediate danger, I won’t take it upon myself to advise the pedestrian that he or she should not cross intersections when the traffic signals indicate “Don’t Walk.” So if I observed a railfan who was in immediate danger of being injured, I would do what I could to prevent that from happening. However if the railfan was just acting differently than I would act and I saw no immediate danger in the situation, I wouldn’t become involved in the situation.
As I have stated before we “adults” need to set a proper example.hard steel and ballast give very few a second chance.A lady once went around me and downed gates to beat a train and she had 3 kids in the back.I took pictures and sent them to the local law enforcement.I don’t know if she got fines or not but i hope they gave her a wake up call.
Dayton’s Bluff in St. Paul, between Pigs Eye & Hoffman Yards and the old St. Paul Union Depot, used to be a great photo spot. Numerous railroad books on lines operating in the Twin Cities had photographs taken there - many on the MOW equipment park near the cantenary signals right off Warner Rd. CNW, ROCK, BN, NP, GN, SOO, MILW, CGW, etc., etc. had been recorded there.
We could park there near the curb, stay a good 60 ft. from the tracks and watch trains all day and nobody would say a word.
I started seeing one idiot who’d park his car near the platform on which the CP signal box was mounted, and he’d climb up onto the platform itself to take pictures. After the second time I saw him there, I stopped-over on the way to a hockey game at the Xcel Energy Center. The CP had posted NO TRESPASSING signs around that parking area and noone was around and I’ve not seen anyone there since. Nice.
We had a couple of guys the other day who, judging by the cameras, must have been filming for the purpose of marketing their tapes. They must have some great tapes since the one clown was taping a going away shot on the shadow side of the train while looking into the sun. Anyway, this putz was on the shoulder of a live track in CTC territory. No train was going to come in behind him, but he had no way of knowing that because he didn’t have the Form B or Track & Time information. All sorts of us nearby and the guy went on taping like he owned the place. I tell you, I see stuff like that and I want to explode. If that fool had gotten hurt I/we probably would have gotten in trouble…
If you’re goona take pictures be CAREFUL. Think a little bit about what you’re doing.
I recently spent several hours visiting with Joe and Matt in Deshler. There were a number of fans there. The only unsafe/illegal act i saw was a local walking his dog down the N-S main and across the two E-W mains…
Later he returned by the same route. Probably does it every day and sees nothing wrong with it.
I have been out to Rochelle on a couple of occasions, and I have noted a few unsafe railfans there, including one guy who was standing in between the two UP mains to get a photo of an oncoming train. It’s people like that who ruin it for the rest of us.
If I ever seen that I’d get my cell phone & call the local police. You never know if he’s just a curious railfan or a thief. Plus some of the equipment could hurt the person as he/she could easily get crushed or badly injured.
Thats just me though.
We had a problem with people spray painting obscenities on engienes parked on the sideline & breaking windows. Never seen any reckless rail fans. Just idiots on the road speeding up to be the train.
If it’s people just taking pictures I’d say something & if their in dangerous territory would alert the authorities
The thing that’s most madening to me about the “unsafe railfan” is the fact that the railroads and definitely their lawyers won’t distinguish the actions of one idiot with the rest of us. They’ll look at railfans as a whole as dangerous trespassers and before you know it we’ll all be banished even though most of us as responsible people did nothing wrong. It only takes one moron to ruin it for everyone. If I see someone doing something stupid, I’m saying something. If he has a problem with it, tough. I’ll go over his head if I have to. Whatever happens, I’m not going to ultimately take my chances that he’ll get away with it when the downside is that I may lose the priviledge of doing something I like.
This day and age it’s better to just mind your business and let the railroad or the police handle it. It could save you from getting your butt kicked or these days, getting shot. As for the railroads running everybody off, they don’t want anybody on their property in the first place no matter what they’re doing. The railroads cannot banish you from public property. Better to just mind your own business. The world is full of morons, let nature take it’s course. Besides, nobody likes a nosey stranger telling them whats best for them.
I make a point of shooting photos and/or video of the person and their actions. I have so many photos of trespassers on FEC to create an albumn. I’m tempted to post them on my site.
I was at Palmer, MA a while ago, and a bunch of the railfans were crossing the tracks near a blind curve where trains run at high speeds; this photo shows one walking past the NECR job pulling cars across the diamond. The speed sign on the CSX main clearly shows 60 MPH! (I’m not sure what trains that is for, normally it would be a passenger train speed sign, but I saw an intermodel train that looked like it was going a whole lot faster than 30 MPH… There was definetely no trains coming on the CSX main at that time, but there were people doing this at other times.
So what happens in the event of a railfan gettin seriously injured or killed while you’re nearby? You witnessed it, and what happens if you didnt say anything to the guy? If the cops show up im sure they’ll ask you why you didnt say anything to the dude or why you didnt report him before it happened. Since you were a witness there is a strong possiblity that since you were near him you could have prevented something from happeneing. Honestly if I see and idiot just bein an idiot tryin to tempt fate or somethin Id bolt from the scene. If the dude gets hit then its his own fault, Im not goin to be the one who has to tell someone to use common sense…i mean its common sense I dont know why some people have a problem understanding it.
Depends on the situation what I might do, I’ve done everything from asking someone to move to letting them do their thing hoping for the best. I am a firm believer that ignorance should hurt.
