New York man gets up to three years in prison for trying to steal railroad locomotive
Wednesday April 06, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) A man obsessed with trains was sentenced Wednesday to up to three years in prison for trying to steal a Long Island Railroad locomotive.
Darius McCollum, 39, pleaded guilty in February to attempted grand larceny. The charge stemmed from his 20th arrest for illegally posing as a subway motorman and other transit workers.
Wearing an orange reflector vest and hard hat, McCollum entered an LIRR yard last year posing as a safety consultant and asked representatives of a locomotive company how to operate a new type of engine, prosecutors said.
McCollum left the train yard when his identity was questioned. He later was found with stolen keys, including one for the new locomotive, prosecutors said.
Supporters of McCollum have claimed his obsession stems from Asperger’s syndrome, a social disorder similar to autism. He first made headlines at age 15 when he commandeered a subway train.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
So what’s the big deal? My neighbors don’t mind driving around the Missabe Yellowstone I’ve got parked on the street in front of my house. Asparagus Syndrome, my Aunt Ethel!
Tom [soapbox]
Tom W if you have not already done so I hope someday you can get to the very fine railroad museum in Duluth MN. They have a Yellowstone indoors next to a huge Milwaukee Road boxcab electric. The cab on that Yellowstone seems the size of a living room! And they have much else besides to enjoy.
Dave Nelson
maybe somebody can get him into model RRing instead of his life in railroad crime… 1:1 scale is really hard to get into a garage to hide it from the cops…Chuck
meh, I hog my Big Boy to work everyday, I had a heckuvatime dealing with the county laying track but they finally accepted it, kids seem to love getting rides in it, should I start a museum?
on another note, I read an old story about some kiddo in an old Railroad mag who got into a loco and engineered off, he was taken in on stealing a locomotive, but the judge couldnt claim it was stolen because it never left the railroad property…
(Let me try this Again!) I just finished washing and waxing my AC-10 SP Cab-Forward and just put it in my Looong Garage! Nieghbors are complaining of excessive smoke though. [:D]. I’ll just stick to HO and N for now!!!
