In the past year have taken over 1,300 train pictures including pictures in Union Station in Chicago and all across the US. No one has ever bothered me until Friday, April 21, 2006.
Friday, in a public place, I was threatened with arrest by a Wackenhut security person for taking a picture of a local commuter train (Tri-Rail - Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach). He stated that it was against Federal law, the Homeland security act, to photograph trains. I asked him for a copy of the law and he said to call Tri-Rail at 1-800-874-7245. I called them and they repeated what he stated and said they would call back in an hour with the information. They didn’t call back, perhaps hoping I would go away. A subsequent follow up call didn’t yield any results. Their website www.tri-rail.com, their trains, and their stations do not have posted regulations or signs prohibiting photography.
Then I searched www.trains.com and found a news article (01/04/2006) about the New Jersey transit authority deciding not to try to prohibit photography. A further Internet search at www.firstgov.gov located the New York transit regulations which also allow photography. See www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/rules/rules.htm section 1050.9. There are probably more as there were a lot more hits.
There are Tri-Rail pictures on the Internet at web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Miami/TriRail/, are these illegal? What about the photography pavilions in Folkston, GA on the CSX mainline (this carries freight & Amtrak passenger trains), in North Platt, NE at the worlds largest train yard (UP’s Bailey yard), and there are probably more elsewhere. Are people taking photographs at these pavilions violating the Federal law? What about the web cams and people with camera cell phones? Then there are the aerial pictures on Google Earth showing every bridge, crossing, and switch available to anyone with an Internet connection?
If two major New York/New Jersey transit systems allow anyone to take photographs, how do they do
The first sentence in your second paragraph answers your own question - - - Wackenhut Security. Understand that these folks are the bottom feeders on the security chain…[;)]
That is really a laugh a rinky dink operation like Trirail & U are jeopardizing the security off the USA. That is a American who has allowed his position to go to his head. I heard that you do not even need a hi school diploma to work for W/hut [:D]]
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QUOTE: Originally posted by DMatthes
In the past year have taken over 1,300 train pictures including pictures in Union Station in Chicago and all across the US. No one has ever bothered me until Friday, April 21, 2006.
Friday, in a public place, I was threatened with arrest by a Wackenhut security person for taking a picture of a local commuter train (Tri-Rail - Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach). He stated that it was against Federal law, the Homeland security act, to photograph trains. I asked him for a copy of the law and he said to call Tri-Rail at 1-800-874-7245. I called them and they repeated what he stated and said they would call back in an hour with the information. They didn’t call back, perhaps hoping I would go away. A subsequent follow up call didn’t yield any results. Their website www.tri-rail.com, their trains, and their stations do not have posted regulations or signs prohibiting photography.
Then I searched www.trains.com and found a news article (01/04/2006) about the New Jersey transit authority deciding not to try to prohibit photography. A further Internet search at www.firstgov.gov located the New York transit regulations which also allow photography. See www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/rules/rules.htm section 1050.9. There are probably more as there were a lot more hits.
There are Tri-Rail pictures on the Internet at web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Miami/TriRail/, are these illegal? What about the photography pavilions in Folkston, GA on the CSX mainline (this carries freight & Amtrak passenger trains), in North Platt, NE at the worlds largest train yard (UP’s Bailey yard), and there are probably more elsewhere. Are people taking photographs at these pavilions violating the
Just the name wackenhut sounds like a goofball operation meant to sell pecan rolls at a truck stop. I read a book some time ago about the Pacific Electric full of photographs taken during WW2. In one of the captions the author/photograher related how paranoid
the authorities were about catching anyone taking photos of trains. This guy went to extreme lengths to pursue his hobby and had to resort to creative tactics to do so. He got an orange vest like the type trackwalkers use as his disguise and at one point climbed up on one of the catenary support towers in the middle of the street to get a good shot of some trains when along came a police officer on his beat. Here was the author hanging off the steel support like a squirrel in an orange vest with a camera in his hand. Oops. Guerilla tactics in railfan photograhy-truth is stranger than fiction.
What about small local municpalities that claim to have banned photography of “areas of high terrorist intrest” such as Elm Grove Wisconsin? The village in question is a small suburb of Milwaukee with nothing that interesting in it except the ex-Milwaukee Road line.
I was taking pictures in a public park next to the rail line and two cops, each with a hand on their mace, approached and told me I had to stop, and turn over my film and information to them, and then informed me that this was to ensure that I was not a terrorist. They told me that there was a local law stating that anything the police declared of interest to terrorists was off limits to photograph and that included trains.
Now here’s the thing, it was summer, I have black hair, brown eyes and a pretty deep tan because I was working at a grounds crew that summer and I’ve got a British accent. I’ve been mistaken for other races before, so was this a case of racial profiling? Needless to say I got rather irate about the whole thing, and instead of rewinding my film, I “accidentally” just opened the back of my camera and exposed the film (probably not the smartest thing I’ve ever done but I was rather put out.)
At any rate, about a week later I got a call from the Elm Grove PD saying that I had been cleared of any terrorist actvity but should not take any more pictures of trains in their city.
Always remember to bring a bag of donuts along with to use a a bribe! Maybe just leave one on on the dashboard, so they know.
But seriously,
If I remember this story you posted in another thread, did not the incident happen in 2002? Have you been back there since, or have you called the PD and ask a chief about their policy? Maybe they’ve mellowed a bit since then.
Just curious, because I go there occassionally also.
Call the Wackenbutt office and tell them where ,& when this happen, that guard would probably get fired. Security can not arrest anyone all they can do is call the Police.
Actually no I haven’t been back, but I do see what you’re saying 2002 was an even more paranoid time than today. I’ve since moved downtown though and found some even better photo spots than the one in Elm Grove. One I’m particularly fond of is a public square off the Menomonee River Parkway and Underwood Av in Wauwatosa. The CP main crosses the river there and the lighting is great on a sunny afternoon.
That’s two seriously bored cops… I’d love to drop guys like that in the middle of south central, or someplace equally intimidating. They’d never get out of their car.
I carry around a copy of “The photograpers rights” and that usally shuts em up and they go away grumbling. Photographing trains is NOT a federal offence, if it was, we’d ALL be in federal prison!