http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCFhKaFcuVjrJfc9G7MvbahOMyhwD9EP6HHG0
Yeah, had they been badly mangled or killed in the process, I would have no sympathy for them…Stupid Mexicans, Stupid crooks!
They must have done a little research or had some prior knowledge, because I doubt that some random guys would know that they could stop a train buy cutting the brake line.
It would seem that they had info about which rail cars held the merchandise they wanted to steal. Probably it was in vans or containers from a shipper and some of their help alerted the thieves. This all indicates a rather well organized operation rather than some locals hoping to get lucky.
No stupidity here at all. These folks go in knowing which container(s) they’re looking for (anybody for some inside help somewhere?), how to stop the train, and about how long it will take for someone to reach them under normal circumstances.
It is likely a very organized operation - very little happenstance involved.
Imagine if they pulled that on a monster train such as that test train from a couple of months back - it might well take the conductor an hour to walk back to the point of the problem, by which time the thieves would probably be on their merry way, perhaps even closing the container back up (maybe even replacing the seal) so there’s little indication of hanky-panky until the container reaches a terminal where it will be handled…
A couple hundred big screen TV’s sold on the black market at half the retail price would yield $200K. Not bad for an hour’s work…
Larry is right on target. A container train (for the sake of arguement has 280 containers (per the CSX ad) so one could extrapolate a BNSF train ( a 10,000 footer) could conceiveably have 560 (or more). With so many choices to choose from- figure which one has tennis shoes, appliances, TV’s, or hardware in it. The thieves have to be extremely lucky, OOOOORRRR have inside information. You can bet the RR police are knee deep in to their investigation, along with the FBI, and anybody else who even remotely, will have juristiction in something like theft from a train.
Living fairly close to the TRANSCON over the last year I have seen lots of container trains go by, and so far I have only seen two containers with the doors flapping going East. I’d guess it happen more than is reported
Seems like alot of work…if these guys are so clever then why can’t they use their brains to make a good living legally?..Answer…because they are parasites that prey on the hard work of others…
The secret of what these guys know or knew is also dependent on the term “cut the brake line”. As railfans and railroaders we automatically assume they turned an angle cock or otherwise dumped the air. Anyother way of doing it would have been stupid because they could have gotten badly hurt once the inside line was tapped. So, yeah, they were informed about commodity, car, where train would be stopped, how to cut the air so that the brake system was compromised and the train unable to move (my assumption is that they pulled the coupler pin so that the train would part upon an attempted start thus giving them plenty of time to take what they could and make getaway before the crew knew the airline was broken) and know how much time it would take for the two men on the head end to find the break in the trainline, 100 car lengths behind the headend is quite a time consuming walk after reailizing the problem and calling it in and getting instruction…I bet the robbers had from the time the train stopped to the discovery of the parting plus at least 30 minutes to get what they wanted and get away!
Stealing TVs from Walmart might be easier…hey…let them do the unloading and THEN steal it…or better yet…get a job and earn an honest living (the scavengers)…
Inside job or at least a job with insider help sounds likely. I wonder what Phoebe Vet would have from a law enforcement opinion?
The crew know immediately when the train line has been opened to the atmosphere…no matter the cause and inspection of the train takes place as soon as the Conductor get his ‘train inspection gear’ together, a matter of seconds, and starts walking to find where the trainline break has occurred. The time available to the thieves is a function of how long it takes to walk from the head end to the point of their attack, unless the thieves have compromised the brake line at a location different than their attack location.
I think most crews on board container trains are aware of thieves, and some will even avoid stopping their train if they can, just to avoid the risk of thieves hitting it. In something like this, I’m bet the conductor almost had to have had a bad feelign of this when he went to check out where the break was, as it would have been obvious there was one since the train line would never recharge. And what happens if said conductor meets up with thieves? Thieves who are likely armed, while the conductor ain’t, because he ain’t allowed to carry weapons? Then you hear about a fatality in addition to the mess, and the thieves have more time to rip off the train before people start realizing what’s going on.
Good point, BaltACD. And . . . knowing the territory and the likely cause - who would be surprised if the conductor was maybe a little less than completely zealous about getting back there too quickly to face odds of X to 1 against him, lest he become another victim of the crime . . . How much of a hurry would you be in ?
- Paul North.
I am sure they try to keep moving when laden with valuable containers. Hopefully this will encourage the railroads to plan more carefully and keep the trains rolling. A stopped train makes no money and, now it might even lose money. Even Butch Cassidy figured this out.
This must be an “inside” job for them to find the high value containers.
“Cutting the brake line” is probably a euphemism given by (or given to) the reporter to let people understand what was happening. Besides, if too many people knew you could keep a train stopped by turning an anglecock, there might be a rash of such things going on. Believe me, the street parasites have known that little trick for as long as I’ve been on the railroad. I had to go back and look for brake problems the second day I worked–and nowadays the stack trains don’t even go up that line unescorted.
Larry,
I do believe you are right in your estimation. We don’t see that happen much here in Michigan so we are a bit oblivious to it.
How to best stop that kind of thing is left to better minds than mine.
If only these thieves were killed or seriously injured, then could qualify for the Darwin Awards. This is stupidity at its best.
WHAT?!?!? You expect them to actually__----work for a living__?[:-,][(-D]
'course----that actually is assuming that they do have usable skills[:-^]
Lets be PC about this. (for the liberals on here)
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They are only robbing the trains that Americans can not be bothered to rob.
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They are not illegal crooks they are undocumented robbers.
Pete
BNSF train crews are not permitted to “carry” on duty. This policy, to me, is stupid. In addition to the ladrones, thar be lots of b’ars out there, especially in Maria’s Pass! .357s, minimum, should be issued; .454s preferably!
Hays