Locomotive Vandalism & Theft

Trainlawyer · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:01 pm

This is a thread that I would rather not start, however the economic consequences of these actions speak ill for the longevity of the FA involved and possibly for the other two units. I understand that since this was written the AHRS has confirmed the theft of traction motor cables on 603

GME

Quote:

8/22/2007
To: NJSLRRA, OL Mail List, RR PDs
From: M.E. ALLEN
Re: Locomotive Damage

1. Theft of Engine Parts

1.1. At sometime prior to 10 AM on Saturday, July 14th, person or persons unknown gained access to the engine room of Amsterdam Leasing (ALGX) 7221, an Alco C-420 stored at 784 Piney Hollow Road in Winslow NJ and removed 12 cylinder head covers and 12 Fuel Rack covers from a 251 Engine.

1.2. Several days later 12 cylinder head covers from an Alco 244 engine were reported missing from Anthracite Railroad Historical Society (ARRX) 603 a former Long Island Railroad power car converted from an Alco FA stored at the same location. Investigation also revealed that 11 of the 12 engine base access port covers were removed from 603.
Visual inspection of the cylinder heads in both units indicated that the various parts were probably removed from both units in the same general time frame.

2. Theft of Traction Motor Cables

2.1. At some time between 4pm on Wednesday, August 8th, and 3 pm on Wednesday, August 15th, person or persons unknown again entered 7221 and, using appropriate tools, removed the rear covers of the electrical cabinet. They then removed the clamps holding all of the traction motor leads and control cables inside the carbody and removed the cables. The cables were cut only where the removal of a clamp or a bolt was not feasible.

2.2. Cables were also cut on ALGX 583, an EMD / ATSF CF7 at the same location. In this instance thieves did not access the carbody but merely cut accessible segments out of the leads to the number 2 and 3 traction motors.

The cable ends on 7221 and 583 appear to have been cut with the same type of tool.

Any person having information on these incidents please contact the undersigned or Detective Pizzico at the Winslow Township Police Department 609-561-3300 spizzico@winslowtownship.com or the undersigned at 908-359-9235 or 616-218-3212 wrallenassoc@earthlink.net.

/s/Michael E. Allen

Robin Warren · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:36 pm **Posts:** 139

I am afraid you will see more of this in the next year and beyond. The price for scrap metal (especially copper) has gone through the roof. Here in Bonham area thieves made off with copper wire from a vacant manufacturing building. What beats me is that the circuits were live. Maybe a couple hundred dollars for at least 2 hours of hard labor with the possibility of getting fried! As with lightning, the best preventative measure is insurance.

superheater · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:54 pm **Posts:** 2606

Would NOT be insurance. To an insurer, these are nuisance claims, because of the low value relative to fixed cost administrative effort.

And to the insured, it's an inefficient use of premium dollars. Insurance should always be bought for large exposure, infrequent probability risks, but not for "small" risks, which is, in the vernacular referred to as "trading dollars". Moreover, most P&C contracts require "reasonable" vigilance over the insured item. Otherwise claims can be denied or coverages cancelled-especially if there is a pattern of excessive claims. "reasonable" is of course a relative term. Its different in Montana than a large urban area with a high crime rate.

Moreover, thieves are thieves because they are LAZY. You don't need Fort Knox to protect your stuff, you need a puzzle or something annoying. Ever wonder about "junkyard dogs"? Effectively prevents theft, which is as old as humanity-change the risk/reward function and you much improve your security.

The very fact that the "take" was relatively low reward/high effort suggests that it was a target of opportunity.

Unfortunately, it could also be suggestive of somebody intimately familiar with locomotive components, who understood their value, location. Obviously they didn't get fried, so why not?

I thought people had learned from the "jewelry" thefts of a couple of years ago.

G. W. Laepple · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1182

Target of opportunity, indeed. About a dozen years ago, I was inspecting a line of stored SW-900 switchers in Conrail's Altoona yard and discovered the main electrical cables beneath the running boards had been neatly removed from every one of 'em. And this theft occured in an area patrolled by railroad police, with extremely active main line tracks to one side and a busy street on the other. Looking around a little more, I discovered that just about every locomotive stored on the two or three tracks had lost any visible cable.

Alan Walker · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 5:51 pm

The only way to combat this type of theft is security. The amount of the money spent should be determined by the value of the items to be protected. Unfortunately, the value of certain metals will only insure that thefts continue due to the relatively lax laws regarding the dealing of recycled metals.

Stationary Steam · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 9:13 pm

I would hardly call those thefts low dollar. Have you priced copper cable recently?

HOD Bill · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:39 pm

Yep...new cable is going to cost a lot more than what the "crack heads" get for the scrap!

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:49 pm

Parallel warning/reminder to those who may not know/remember:

An awful lot of earlier diesels used copper piping for their air lines.

Take it from someone who had to help replace stolen air piping on a B&O E8....... one that also had power saws taken to the generators.

Trainlawyer · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:42 am

G. W. Laepple wrote:

Target of opportunity, indeed. About a dozen years ago, I was inspecting a line of stored SW-900 switchers in Conrail's Altoona yard and discovered the main electrical cables beneath the running boards had been neatly removed from every one of 'em. And this theft occured in an area patrolled by railroad police, with extremely active main line tracks to one side and a busy street on the other. Looking around a little more, I discovered that just about every locomotive stored on the two or three tracks had lost any visible cable.

That would lend some credence to the idea that whoever did the job did not look out of place while he was doing it. A battered yellow Ford or Chevy Truck driven by a guy in a hard hat could go almost anywhere on Conrail and not get challenged.

Insurance alone will not do it. The premiums and deductible which were quoted here were high enough that there would have been no effective recovery. Even though I realize that that it is both politically incorrect and socially unacceptable, (and I am not only not recommending this course of action, I would hate to have to mount a defense if somebody actually did it) my visceral leaning is more toward barbed wire and a shotgun or two.

Brother Mitchell's point is well taken. There is quite a bit of valuable material in old equipment and the level of the financial loss in a preserved unit is not the scrap value of the material or even the replacement cost of the material but the actual cost of the material and the work to restore the unit to the condition it was in before the theft. There are few volunteer organizations which have the resources to do the type of work involved here in house.

There are two slight updates on the original episode for me to relay.

The first is that traction motor and generator cables were removed from ARRX 603.

The second is that a senior mechanical officer with quite a bit of experience in working with ALCOs took a look at the scene and he is of the professional opinion that the cables were not removed not by a scrapper who merely saw the engines as an easy target, but by someone who was experienced in working on similar units. (See paragraph 1)

GME