It turns out that the teens were charged and arested by railroad police, as they blew the horn a couple of times, along with reving up the engine, on the idling train. The police said they were unsure if the teens were trying to move the train, but it didn’t happen. I think they were just messing around, it’s a darn good thing they didn’t get that train moving that might of been a real cotastrophie.
I personally think the kids got what they deserved, maybe this will teach them a lesson. I also think that this may be one of the reasons why leaving an idleing locomotive unattended can be somewhat dangerous. I am surprised the crew didn’t lock up the locomotive. Or myabe they did and the kids broke in.
I am sure that the kids’ parents will think that it is the RRs fault for leaving the door unlocked. Probably sue the RR for the emotional trauma that the kids endured.
I think I would have rather faced the cops as opposed to what my father might have done if he found out, but this is a different generation.
A bit scary if you think about it, anybody with a bit of brains could probably figure out how to get a locomotive in gear (reverser or not) and then who knows what they can do…
For those teens to even rev up the engine there is a couple of things you have to do besides have the reverser. Either the teens knew what they were doing or the train crew that secured the train did not properly secure it.
Here is a story out of North Platte Nebraska about some guys that worked out of North Platte for U.P. and decided to move a BNSF train that had been parked.
Most likely all that will happen is they’ll get momsy and dadsy to foot the bill and pay their fine and they’ll go do it again. Sadly too many parents thinks it’s either big business or the governments job to raise their kids and will somehow find a way to blame the railroad for “not making their trains secure enough”. This time nothing happened but who’s to say next time will be different.
Sadly it’s because of imbicilies like them that we railfans get hassled by the cops or railroad security when we’re out watching trains. Because of stupid kids with lawsuit happy negligent parents.
Sarah is probably out working on the railroad, but here is the 1st paragraph of the article as reported on Trains News Wire on the 10th.
[quote]
[NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — Three teens who climbed aboard an idling freight train were arrested Monday night on the New York, Susquehanna & Western in North Bergen, N.J., according to a story from The Jersey Journal’s NJ.com Web site.
/quote]
I, too, would like to hear how this incident is wrapped up.
I don’t want to be misunderstood, this incident is not the railroad’s fault, and the teens are (hoepfully) getting what they deserve. But I am amazed at how often BNSF leaves trains idling and unattended, sometimes for hours, just outside of town in this area. Recently UP left a train unattended and idining for 2 days on a siding just a few miles away. I certainly hope thay have effective ways of securing these, but it doesn’t seem like a good practice to me. AGAIN, this is no invitation to anyone to be messing with these trains, nor am I excusing the actions of these teens or others like them. Just a simple observation on my part.
I read this article. Talk about stupid. They gave no reason for their actions. Were these guys just doing stupid things or did they have some “reason” for their actions?