Railroad Threats

[BnOEngr]

Many of you have been to several different railroads all over the area and the country over the years, and have posted the results or summaries of what you saw and heard on those ventures. Have any of you ever had photos, comments or videos, that you posted on line, cause angst with the subject you presented?

To give an example, have any of you that posted stuff about the Maumee & Western over the years, be it photos, videos or talk that may have been less than flattering, ever have Spencer Wendelin or one of his representatives contact you and order you to remove the posting because it made them look bad?

Just curious as to how widespread this phenomenon may be.

[AARR]

Yes, several times. They're all long stories but I will try to summarize a few that come to mind:

Posted an observation about empty gondola's on the DCRR. Received a call from CN police who said they were working on behalf of ADBF and that they had pictures of me tresspassing. I called their bluff (I saw the gondola's from the I94 overpass not by tresspassing . Found out later they reported me to TSA as person of interest .

Posted speculation about how the CN purchase of WC lines in MI's UP would affect customers. I did not think it would go well (I am happy to report I was wrong I received several angry emails from Soo Line Historical Society that my post angered a few CN executives and they were going to take it out on the Soo historical guys. That's when I changed my Username here.

Posted speculation about how TSBY would be impacted if the sand pits at Yuma closed. That generated an angry message to our fearless leader, ~Z~ (I think this was the board I posted that .

There's more but that's enough. You get the picture...

Funny thing is we used to have a Politics, Religion, and Extreme thread that I was very active in. Even though there were many many disagreements the only angry pm's I would get were from someone who has been banhammered from here.

So the moral of this is bring back P, R & E but delete observations & speculations

[SD80MAC]

I don't have any problems with speculation for the most part, but I know there are some on here who have stepped on other peoples toes more than once in regards to their "speculation". Some things are better just left unsaid.

[Saturnalia]

Yes, several times. They're all long stories but I will try to summarize a few that come to mind:

So the moral of this is bring back P, R & E but delete observations & speculations

Is your dream job to be a Wall St commodity speculator?

[TrainWatcher]

I agree with SD80MAC. I have been places and seen a lot of amazing things and you really have to step back and go "Is this appropriate to post on a public forum if I choose to?". Photos, stories, and what not. I have also been talked to on a few occasions by railroad police acting on a report from a train crew or other information, still being on public property of course, and never had any trouble with them or any railroad executives I have met. There is a time and a place for everything.

[J T]

Yes, several times. They're all long stories but I will try to summarize a few that come to mind:

Posted an observation about empty gondola's on the DCRR. Received a call from CN police who said they were working on behalf of ADBF and that they had pictures of me tresspassing. I called their bluff (I saw the gondola's from the I94 overpass not by tresspassing . Found out later they reported me to TSA as person of interest

You should have told whomever you spoke with that you were going to report THEM to the TSA. Turn the tables! Stick it to The Man!

[AARR]

You should have told whomever you spoke with that you were going to report THEM to the TSA. Turn the tables! Stick it to The Man!

I got a message to them

I'm a trouble maker

[Y@]

I was chasing a train last year and at one point the train had stopped to meet another train. While I was waiting for the train to move again, I was parked in a public lot next to the head end of the train because it was the only place I could park at the time. While minding my own business, not even looking up at the train, the conductor came out and approached me telling me to "get the f**k away from his train" and that he was calling the local cops and that I would be arrested if I shot their train again. I won't go into detail about who/what/where/when, but I will say that he is no longer employed by that railroad.

Oh, and I shot that train two more times before the light went away... Funny thing was, the engineer waved to me almost every time and even gave me a horn show once.

[Jochs]

I was chasing a train last year and at one point the train had stopped to meet another train. While I was waiting for the train to move again, I was parked in a public lot next to the head end of the train because it was the only place I could park at the time. While minding my own business, not even looking up at the train, the conductor came out and approached me telling me to "get the f**k away from his train" and that he was calling the local cops and that I would be arrested if I shot their train again. I won't go into detail about who/what/where/when, but I will say that he is no longer employed by that railroad.

Oh, and I shot that train two more times before the light went away... Funny thing was, the engineer waved to me almost every time and even gave me a horn show once.

I don't think you can be arrested from public property.

This reminds me of a train crew who was ornery on CSX around 1993 in Hannah IN I believe...they said not to take their picture but I took a pic of the train anyways...the engineer held up a piece of cardboard to hide his face...I should have thanked him for covering his face so I wouldn't break my camera.

[Y@]

There's no way I would have been arrested.

[midland sub]

Gotta love the engineer waved and blew the horn. Glad he got canned. There's an idiot down in my neck of woods that likes to run his mouth on the radio. He won't last long for G&W.

I had the supposed Ohio Central one and only police officer send me a threatening email for taking a pic of the OC F units they sold to CP back in 2006 from the employee parking lot in Newark. Blah, blah, blah back......

I was chasing a train last year and at one point the train had stopped to meet another train. While I was waiting for the train to move again, I was parked in a public lot next to the head end of the train because it was the only place I could park at the time. While minding my own business, not even looking up at the train, the conductor came out and approached me telling me to "get the f**k away from his train" and that he was calling the local cops and that I would be arrested if I shot their train again. I won't go into detail about who/what/where/when, but I will say that he is no longer employed by that railroad.

Oh, and I shot that train two more times before the light went away... Funny thing was, the engineer waved to me almost every time and even gave me a horn show once.

[CSX_CO]

Many of you have been to several different railroads all over the area and the country over the years, and have posted the results or summaries of what you saw and heard on those ventures. Have any of you ever had photos, comments or videos, that you posted on line, cause angst with the subject you presented?

Thread is getting away from the intent of the poster. I would say as long as that your observations or photographs are a true representation of what you saw, then it is those threatening other action that have something to hide. It is not illegal to post what you see. Perhaps those with the problem need to look at what their doing, rather than trying to stamp out those who report it?

I am reminded at work that if we see something unsafe occurring, or something that could cause damage to life or property, we're supposed to report it to the correct official. When in doubt, take the safe course. If I see my neighbors house on fire, as a good citizen I have a duty to report it to the fire department. If you see something questionable going on, you should report it. Good ethics dictate that.

Practice Safe CSX

[M.D.Bentley]

You would be surprised if you knew how many railroad officials take the time to read railroad forums. NOBODY likes bad PR or bad rumors. They like to keep those things in house. I too have had encounters with railroad bosses that would say " Hey lets not mention this online tonite " and I work on the railroad! COMMON sense should rule.

[12Bridge]

The problem is the "new" generation of railfan lacks common sense, due to several reasons, and what they see on youtube is one of them...

[Michael]

That is a depressing thought that railroad police troll these forums. I guess that puts an end to the "Confessions of a railfan" thread I want to do

[CAT345C]

That is a depressing thought that railroad police troll these forums. I guess that puts an end to the "Confessions of a railfan" thread I want to do

But its true a lot of higher ups patrol this forum

[MDH]

Many of you have been to several different railroads all over the area and the country over the years, and have posted the results or summaries of what you saw and heard on those ventures. Have any of you ever had photos, comments or videos, that you posted on line, cause angst with the subject you presented?

Thread is getting away from the intent of the poster. I would say as long as that your observations or photographs are a true representation of what you saw, then it is those threatening other action that have something to hide. It is not illegal to post what you see. Perhaps those with the problem need to look at what their doing, rather than trying to stamp out those who report it?

I am reminded at work that if we see something unsafe occurring, or something that could cause damage to life or property, we're supposed to report it to the correct official. When in doubt, take the safe course. If I see my neighbors house on fire, as a good citizen I have a duty to report it to the fire department. If you see something questionable going on, you should report it. Good ethics dictate that.

Practice Safe CSX

+1 CSX_CO

I don't have a lot to add to this other than:

1) I haven't really had much in the way of "backlash" to anything I've posted online from subject railroads, etc.

2) I do exercise a fair amount of discretion about what I do post, particularly when it comes to individuals (I'm not out to get people in trouble or fired) but when it comes to publicly observable behavior of organizations (companies, museums, etc.) there's nothing whatsoever illegal or wrong about reporting what you observe. Speculation isn't problematic unless it is directly slanderous in the legal sense.

As a humorous side note, along the lines of some of the other stories on this thread (but not related to the original topic) a certain magazine editor and I were called in once by a shortline crew in Lima for being somewhere that I think was city property. However, their description of us and the vehicle we were in was so bad if a cop was standing next to us he probably would have asked us if we saw anyone matching the description and then gone off to find them! Never was sure whether the bad description was intentional or not...

Michael

[alittlevanwerty]

We set up today at Mckibben St to catch the Abrams tanks head south. The unmarked MP suv was following as usuall, beeped and said no pictures of the tanks. I didn't argue, just drove south to Cridersville and got my video. Had they seen me in Cridersville I would have gone south to Wapak. I was on the sidewalk.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

We set up today at Mckibben St to catch the Abrams tanks head south. The unmarked MP suv was following as usuall, beeped and said no pictures of the tanks. I didn't argue, just drove south to Cridersville and got my video. Had they seen me in Cridersville I would have gone south to Wapak. I was on the sidewalk.

Must be something special about those tanks.

[BnOEngr]

So I'm guessing from the over 1900 users on here, and only one has posted an appropriate response to what I was asking for, that the issue is more of an isolated instance.

I guess some people in the industry are just more sensitive to negativity than most.