Another reason to keep your cabs locked. http://www.walmart.com/ip/K-E-SAFETY-KE ... 4/40827176

For the folks who lack the skill and facilities to machine their own piece. The key to security is identifying the appropriate level of security for the purpose.

You have got to be kidding!

And how is this not a threat to national security?

Robert

And they're out-of-stock already!

I won't post a link but googling brought a lot of hits BUT....

one site notes...

I wonder how many reverser keys show up at swap meets. Regarding another aspect of "key security", when was the last time a railroad used traditional switch locks? There was an old story about a Southern Pacific switcher that was stationed at San Fernando CA. back when there was enough local business to require an assigned engine. The station was only attended during the day, and the engine crew would drive to the site when needed. The cab of the switcher (probably an SW-1500) was secured with an SP switch lock. A local railfan, who had obtained an SP switch key, found that he could unlock the cab, and knew enough about locomotives to fire it up. He'd wait until late at night, and do a bit of "joy riding". The rest of the story probably belongs in the "Railfanning" section.

Reverser keys show up at various shows regularly.....I picked up one for our operation at a show.
You find switch keys often too.
Most of the shortlines I have worked on use switch locks for industry gates, etc.....as well as for switches. I know of one that only recently switched over exclusively to the newer CSX locks, they finally got rid of a bunch of old seaboard and ACL locks.
Most of those shortlines used simple masterlock pad locks, all keyed to one key so the employees can easily access cabs......of course, that won't stop a determined thief. If your cab windows don't lock, they can still get in thru there. I've seen radios get stolen that way...

The original link to Walmart is click bait. Follow it and you will be deluged with ads from Walmart for all their other great K E Safety products.

No, it's really not "click bait". Click bait is a link with a deceptive text or photo, often "You won't believe what happened next!" or some babe in in a bikini. Often when you click it, you feel tricked, as the story is stupid and/or the photo is irrelevant to the story.

This is simply a link to the Walmart e-commerce website. Yes, they sell stuff there, big surprise. Yes, there are links at the bottom saying "customers also bought" or "you might also like", same as you find on most store websites.

Nothing deceptive about it, just typical marketing. Same as you'd find at any online shopping website. For that matter, the same as you'd find at the store, where you have to walk past end caps of Frosted Sugar-O's to get to the milk and eggs.

I know someone who works for BNSF and he recently showed me one of these (looked exactly like the photo) and said he'd gotten it from WalMart. I didn't believe him until just now.
Just because something is listed for sale somewhere, doesn't mean that anyone in the public can just walk in and buy them. For example, there are several government web sites listing where you can buy, for example, all the same gear that a Air Force F-22 pilot would use to fly his fighter plane. But if you really go deep into the site, you'll find you need a GSA credit card (which is easily tracked back to the person who used it, I used to have one in the Army and buying stuff was a pain with it).

So this item is listed on the Walmart site. But, please note that it is not available at any stores within 50 miles of me (metro Minneapolis) and it can't be shipped, either. If I really wanted this thing, how would I get it under those circumstances?

Click-bait, Walmart style.

I've got a brass reverser. It works, but I consider it strictly a display piece that I'd like to get polished eventually. Years ago, CSX was fairly lax about reversers, if a train wasn't going to be left all that long we just pulled the handle and left it either on the console, or put it in the electrical cabinet where the battery knife switch is. I don't know how they are about it nowadays. Of course we also pulled a few other switches to make it difficult for a non-railroader to figure out how to get it to move. Other railroads also have crews pull off the automatic brake handle when leaving a train unattended.

Like Dinwitty, I did a search as well. Most of the sellers listed the item as either out of stock or no longer available, the rest gave the info that it's only for sale to railroad companies. Makes me wonder if someone got wise to the security issues and pulled them off the shelves.

Was looking at ebay a number of years ago. Lo and behold, there is a current version of the UP switch key up for auction. There were actually quite a few of them for sale.

I called UP RMCC (risk management) on the company phone and told them the situation and the auction number.

It was no time (that same day) and that auction was gone... and all auctions with switch keys of any sort. I'd say Ebay was very receptive to UP's concerns.

My thought was I didn't want to be running down the main line and find myself lined onto a diverging route into a immovable object.

Collateral damage was that they ended auctions with the actual obsolete brass keys...

I haven't looked lately to see if folks have managed to sneak them back on...

As far as reversers... I don't know how dangerous it would be to have those out in public hands...

Perhaps the real problem here is that you can't legislate all human behaviours.....
No matter how much you ban something,control it, try to stop distribution, etc there will always be someone selling and others buying or doing, etc...
A good example is prohibition.... alcohol becomes "controlled", illegal, etc...but people still drank, still bought and still sold it.
The same idea applies to everything from gun control to safety rules....
The reality is that it is impossible to stop the sale of various items...
Requiring people to take full personal responsibility, with stiff penalties for actions resulting in incidents or damage, etc is about the only way to curb the possibility that some person off the street would use switch keys, reverser keys, etc to cause trouble on any railroad.