Around here a regular news story everyday is “How unsafe our railroads are”. We are up to the point where they are going to start building huge fences along rail lines next to highways on the grounds that somebody is going to blow up all the chemical cars there. These have been there for years and suddenly it’s not safe. Speaking not just from a railfan point of view, as this limits once interesting areas for us to see and watch railroads serve major industries, but just in general it seems they want to turn the whole state into some kind of walled off fortress. They want freight yards to be all closed in and inaccesible too. Security is one thing, but this kind of stuff would disturb me even if I wasn’t a train watcher. It’s not that people don’t want to feel safer, but sometimes I just wonder where does it all end?
It ends when the fear mongering ends. Right now, fear mongering is good politics. If you can do a better job of instilling fear into voters than your opponent, you will get elected. All a politician has to do is stay on top of what the voters are fearing today.
Fear mongering is also good business. Think of the millions, nay billions, of dollars that have been spent so far in the name of “security”. We have become a nation that expects our government to take care of us so that we don’t have to be responsible for our own lives.
Aargh. Enough, or I’ll go on for days. [soapbox]
The recent blossoming of Cyclone fences around various yards is probably as much due to liability and vandalism issues as anything else. While I’m not too thrilled by the fence at Clearing Yard near Cicero Avenue, I can understand the need for its existence.
it seems to me it would very costly and plus that you would have to leave the tracks clear of fencing so that would leave gaps that anyone could get in I look at it this way if someone wants to get in they will find a way a fence isn’t going to stop a terrorist I have to agree a lot of this seems to be overkill I also vollunteer for the Coast Guard and now they do all these background checks and fingerprints and some of it is rather intrusive
Rich
People have forgotten that there is an inherent risk in being free.
Me? I dont call 911, I call 1911. [;)]
Chris
Colt APCs make neat little holes going in…and great big holes coming out!
Seriously, a lot of the fencing is to keep the vandals and tresspassers out…but if you look closely, you most likely will find gaps left in the fence, to funnel the tresspasser out in a given area when they try and leave.
We have a fence all around our north yard, and stratigeic openings in it to force anyone who is trying to get out to exit at a given point…makes the gumshoes job easy, all they have to cover are the exit points instead of the entire yard…along with closed circut montiors they can pretty much keep most folks out as well as nabbing those leaving.
IMHO your initial post would make a pretty good draft for a letter to your local newspaper and TV stations. Tactfully let them know what your “creds” are, too.
I think it’s the obligation of citizens to be well-informed. A free press and free people depend on at least part of their audience shouting “crap” when crap[V] is being dished out. As long as you’re polite.
PS: I have some journalism in my past. E-mail me if you’d like to bounce your ideas off me. - al.