Copied from TrainOrders.com:

During the month of December burglars broke into the Wabash Valley Railroaders Museum in Terre Haute IN. While they failed to gain entry into the buildings they did make off with the original Pennsylvania Railroad sign with the name "TURNER", which bolted to the side of the Turner Depot!! This tells us it was a "collector" or someone who knew what they were after and went through a lot to get it off the building.

If you should run across this item at a show, swap meet or other wise,
please contact me immediately!

Thanks
Bill Foster
President
Haley Tower Historical & Technical Society
www.haleytower.org
812-236-5940

[TrainOrders has photos posted--the sign is PRR red with yellow frame/lettering.]

This is interesting. (Note that all of the following has been reported on or gleaned from various lists and boards)

The PM 1223 people are hit around Christmas. Then there is this theft in the same time frame in the same part of the country. Two years ago the Strasburg and the B&O Museum were hit within a week or so of each each other. The summer before a private collection, also in Indiana, was hit in a raid that seems to have been well enough organized to remove a cast iron mile post from from a residential basement while the family was out on a Sunday.

Rack you memories fellows, have there been any other similar thefts that anyone can think of. For the moment by similar I mean of significant artifacts from from established collections. I'll start with a time frame of the last ten years. I am not particularly interested here in things such as the EMD Builders plate from the Reading FPs which showed up on E-Bay but of significant and One Of items which have not been seen since.

I believe that there is a gentleman on either this Board or on one or two of the others I watch who is with the MSP and is or has been involved with Operation Lifesaver. If you recognize yourself would you contact me off line please.

GME

If memory serves me correctly, Spencer was hit in the spring of 2003, and lost the air horns off of 2 units.

Almost daily I hear what sounds like a locomotive pass by my home, but the nearby tracks haven't seen a train in years. It's a truck and I always wonder if it's carrying one of the stolen horns. I think I remember SMS in New Jersey lost some a while back too.
Mike

After reading these posts, can there be any doubt as to why "railfans" are often considered undesirable visitors to railroad facilities? -- Ray

This problem seems to get worse every year and it does give honest collectors a bad name. I have been watching for a large number of these items. It has been very bad the past few years like the others have mentioned. I have been contacted by a number of museums to look for certain stolen items. I keep looking, but have only been able to find a few of these items in 43 years of collecting. I will keep trying as I would like to nail down creeps. The word gets out quickly today and these items cannot be marketed by normal means. I only hope that they are not destroyed instead of being returned.

What REALLY defies logic here is this question:

WHAT THE HELL DO THEY PLAN TO DO WITH THIS STUFF?!?!?!?

Any RR collector takes pride in showing off his stuff. I, for instance, have a backyard signal display currently under construction (in winter hibernation right now), and once the gate and flashers are working, I'll be shunting the circut for anyone who wants to see it work!

My point is that once the stuff is stolen, word gets out, and EVERYONE is looking for it. So, if you're the crook that stole it, you obviously CAN'T show it to anyone, and you CAN'T sell it (unless, of course, the buyer is just as shady as you). What's the point of taking it in the first place!?!?!?!?

Sorry...I know it's absurd to rant like this, but like everyone else has said, it's guys like these that give the rest of us a bad name.

C. Ordway

As much as we want to hunt down and inflict pain upon those who steal locomotive horns from railroads and museums, the fact remains that there exists a line of air whistles designed for truckers that deftly mimic a steam whistle or K5LA. Unless you 1) see the horns for yourself (and they often hide bigger air horns from the police) and/or 2) you have identifying marks or numbers identifying the horns as being from your railroad, the burden of proof is still upon you to show that they are stolen and not purchased legitimately from a scrap yard or truck shop.

What I would like to see is a page here on RYPN of stolen article descriptions with decent quality pictures. I go to many swap meets and sales, and if I had a printout of these items, it might help. BTW anyone notice the ad from Pomona Big Boy caretakers about their stolen steam gauge in the latest trains magazine?

Not to mention of course the steam guage for SP&S 700 stolen right out of the office of the Brooklyn Roundhouse.................................................Wooly

In my 57 years association with the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, we have found that people associated with other museums or projects are not above stealing parts that they need from other museums.
I know of one person who bragged that the MOT was "my parts warehouse."
And it is ongoing..

Here we go again. Now we even call it "The theft of the week". Wouldn't it be nice if never happened again. I was in Gorham, New Hampshire a few years back, when someone stole the entire train order bulletin board off the side of the station. Not an easy task and probably required required assistance. It seems that this is a perpetuating phenomena. Does anyone recall any instances of this type of proceeds actually being recovered? If so, please post so at least we can temper these recent events.

What about this builders plate? It is stated on another site that the Loco is at Cass.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 97869&rd=1

Cite the site that said it was at Cass.

I know a noted builders plate collector that has close ties to Cass, and if this is indeed a "hot" GE plate, he'll be able to "bust" them.

Cass DOES have a GE side-rod 45-tonner......... but 45-tonners are all 300-hp, not 400 hp. A GE 400-hp loco has, by definition, to be a 44-tonner.

Unless Cass is hiding a 44-tonner, I'm not inclined to accept that Cass story.

B-B 130/130 by the marking on the plate it is from a 65 ton locomotive (130,000 lbs).

GE marked all there early locomotive with axel arrangement and weight in 1000 pounds.

i.e.: 25 ton switcher is a B 50/50 (2 live axels, 50,000 lbs)
44 tonner is a B-B 88/88 (2 trucks having 2 live axels, weighing 88,000 lbs)
45 tonner is a B-B 90/90 (2 trucks having 2 live axels, weighing 90,000 lbs)

I could list more, but these are the ones I have verifiable info on.

Rich C.