Once again, thieves are caught in the Cumberland area, although this time it wasn't the Western Md. Scenic RR........

http://www.times-news.com/archivesearch ... 30338.html

"CUMBERLAND — A citizen monitoring a two-way radio frequency early Friday morning enabled Cumberland Police to arrest three out-of-town youths who allegedly were attempting to steal CSX locomotive train horns.

Police said the citizen was listening to radio traffic about 3:30 a.m. when he heard conversations between individuals who apparently were attempting to remove property from the locomotives stationed along East Offutt Street."

More at the link.

Score one for the good guys!

This reminds me of a time back in the 1970s when the East Broad Top had two standard gauge locomotives in the engine shed at Mt. Union, PA. Law enforcement captured a tool-equipped guy inside the shed.

The late C. Roy Wilburn, EBT's general manager at the time, told me that after arraignment, the would-be thief begged for mercy. He apparently pleaded with Mr. Wilburn to drop charges.

"I'm a school teacher. All I was doing was some research for my students. A conviction would affect my job," the man reportedly said.

Noting that the miscreant had tools in his possession when apprehended, Mr. Wilburn told the guy to face the consequences.

So yes, good guys do win from time to time.

Sloan

My 21-year old son sent me a YouTube video of teenagers that equipped their car with locomotive air horns and had videotaped the reaction of pedestrians and onlookers to a car that literally could blast them out of their shoes. Many pedestrians literally screamed and one even fell.

I don't even want to post the link. But the video is WIDELY circulated, and there's no mention of the underlying issues here (like you can't buy locomotive horns at WalMart). My son, who needless to say is more savvy on railroad issues than most, had no idea that the horns were most likely stolen if they were in an automobile...

In terms of what's driving these thefts, this video is definitely one of them. I'm not sure what can be done to YouTube when they are essentially promoting theft here. I've had success with Operation Lifesaver on combating commercials encouraging risky driving behavior around trains... anybody ever have any success with YouTube?

What is even worse is that there are fire departments now putting 3 and 5 chimers on their apparatus. For those supposedly in the "safety" business, this is a very reckless and unsafe act. I bet they'd cry foul if we started mounting Federal Q2B sirens on our locomotives...

I was watching that "How it's Made" show on Discovery Channel, and they showed Rolls Royces. They have that hood ornament attached to a mechanical arm. When you shut off the car, the hood ornament drops into a locked compartment behind the grill. Perhaps we should mount air horns on a hydraulic lift. Then you can lower the horns into a locked box in the cab... (no, don't ask me where to put all this equipment - I don't know)

"teenagers that equipped their car with locomotive air horns"

This reminds me of when I worked on the 16" gauge Atlanta Zoo Train in the 1990's. I was in my car and enjoying a beautiful spring day with the windows partially down (there was a threat of rain). I was tired of music so I popped one of my steam locomotive tapes into the player. I had the sound on softly so I would not interfere with others - or so I thought.

I was a a stop light and the car to my right was stopped with the windows down. The train tape played a steamer coming by and whistling for a grade crossing. I happened to look to my right and the driver next to me was looking all around. Apparently he could barely hear the tape and was trying to find the train but my tape was low enough that he could not locate where it was coming from.

Since it was in a residential neighborhood no where near a railroad, he wasn't sure what was going on. His expression was priceless.

DvV

It is possible to legally buy horns through scrappers, and there is a subset of railfans who buy and trade them like the old-timers do steam whistles. I will admit that stealing them is probably more common among those not in-the-know.

As for stupid stunts with horns. Does anybody else remember the guy in VA with the custom conversion van with the set of five chimes on the roof? He used to drive the fans nuts because he'd plant himself at the front of the line of chasers and pace whatever steam locomotive was at the head of the excursion, and not let anybody else get in front. I had the pleasure of experiencing that at the Huntington NRHS convention in '91 on the two lane roads down towards Bluefield.

DvV -

Great! And THAT story reminds me of one!

Back around 1950 or so, my folks were moving from northeastern Illinois back to the south side of Chicago. My Dad had a 1940 Mercury coupe and was hauling an open trailer, with all of our furniture and household goods packed into it. There were 5 of us jammed into the Merc, and we were just crossing the C&NW tracks in downtown Des Plaines, when the roar of a speeding locomotive came to our ears. We frantically looked both ways down the main line, expecting to see the steamer about to crash into us. But of course, there was no locomotive. It was then that we looked up to see a sweptbackwing fighter jet roaring across the sky. Jets in those days were still rare. And this one had sure fooled us!

Les

There was a pretty substantial theft of copper HEP cable from WMSR's coach fleet within the last year. I wonder if there is a connection here.

I'm glad to see someone brought to justice for this kind of thing. Hopefully the party or parties that have been stealing traction motor cable, aluminum engine covers, air horns and track material here in NJ will be apprehended soon-

How about a new video of some local riff raff being thrashed by outlaw RR police or pissed off citizen? 30-40 years ago if you got caught at night messing around a RR yard or breaking into RR property you might wake up beat too snot and you wouldn't of run to the police about it {"hey man that guy stole my drugs"}. I am not sorry for saying this, I know we are supposed too act "socially and politically correct" at all times, but enough is enough. Until this country finds is gonads, nobody is going to care enough to follow the "rules of the road".

I was young and real stupid too, being young is not an excuse to get away with murder, theft, rape or any other crime. What mommy and daddy didn't teach you, the world will. Maybe not now because we seem to feel that nobody is really responsible for there actions. Re-invent the wheel, reinstate the hard rock pile, serious community service and educate our society {not only the young} that actions have consequences. Actually thoughts are the beginning of action, but we must start slow with some folks. Cheers, John.

Some months ago a copper thief tried to steal wire from a vacant building in El Monte (about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles). He found out the hard way that the electric service was still "hot" and he wound up getting barbecued. (or as Thomas Edison would have put it, "Westinghoused")

Now that is a Readers Digest story if I ever read one. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. We have all made serious mistakes in life, most of us lived to contemplate our errors. It would be fun too sit down with this fella and ask him about this experience. It must of made an impression I would think? With the future looking like it does, I think armed guards will be almost necessary in the near future. The moral fabric in this country is pretty thin and times will be getting harder soon. Cheers, John.