Just had somebody slice off 4 traction motor leads off of one our our Alco switchers which was stored at Linton, Oregon for the past two months. Really doesn't seem to be that much copper in one foot of tracion motor lead to make it worthwhile....

LNWX 110
loco@hoghead.com

> Really doesn't seem to be
> that much copper in one foot of tracion
> motor lead to make it worthwhile....

Immediately check any scrap yards in the area ... prolley $.35/lb if they take the insulation off. Maybe you will get lucky.

lamontdc@adelphia.net

A few years ago some lost soul sleeping under our turntable discovered Nirvana just above his head, the conduit for the wiring to the turntable controls. He managed to steal enough wire for a couple of bottles of Thunderbird.

Copper theft is a real problem for stored locomotives in unsecured areas.

dsrc512@sd.value.net

> A few years ago some lost soul sleeping
> under our turntable discovered Nirvana just
> above his head, the conduit for the wiring
> to the turntable controls. He managed to
> steal enough wire for a couple of bottles of
> Thunderbird.

> Copper theft is a real problem for stored
> locomotives in unsecured areas.

Yet another reason to make friendly with your local scrapyard owners!


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

I've seen a concrete block wall on a building under construction pulled down to get at the copper pipe! Folks that do this must be more intent stealing something than getting their hands on money in the most efficient manner. We've all but quit using copper pipe in our buildings for this very reason. You put it in one day, it's gone the next.

Some of these copper thieves will go to incredible lengths. There was an electric dump car that IRM acquired that was stored somewhere in Philadelphia when it was hit. The thieves went after the copper in the traction motors - they actually cut one of the truck frames in half with a cutting torch and torched apart the motor casings to get at the copper. After doing this to one truck they apparently decided the other truck wasn't worth the trouble, but the truck they hit was completely destroyed.

Frank Hicks

fullparallel@wideopenwest.com

TVRM was targeted by thieves with similiar MO's years ago. They got into a boxcar that had traction motors stored inside it and were cutting the copper wiring off the motors. Fortunately a crewman noticed the open car door and local law enforcement caught the thieves red-handed with additional stolen materials.

awalker2002@comcast.net

> Fortunately a crewman noticed the
> open car door and local law enforcement
> caught the thieves red-handed with
> additional stolen materials.

About 10 years ago, the railroads in Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas were hit by thieves who were stealing the copper telephone and signal lines right off the poles along the right of way. At least some justice was done when one of the thieves tried to cut into a live 2,300 volt line along the UP and was killed.

Of course, his survivors sued the railroad for wrongful death, citing failure to mark the line properly and failure to post signs about the dangers, and failure to prevent the individual from injuring himself while stealing railroad property.

Justice in some other countries: you steal, they cut off a hand.

Would work for me!

retsquid@tvec.net

That's why I like this country


lamontdc@adelphia.net

Here in Texas, positive ID must be recorded by scrap dealers for all purchases that they make. As there are fewer scrap buyers than pawn shops it is easier to alert scrap buyers about unusual items. When this law was passed theft of materials for scrap sale went down dramatically.

If your state does not have this requirement, contact your local state rep.

BTW, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, it seems that the aluminum bleachers go missing from time to time. Sometimes they get returned by local scrap dealers as they are marked.
Thieves are thieves, they just have a different mind set than the rest of us.

pkurilecz@yahoo.com

> I've seen a concrete block wall on a
> building under construction pulled down to
> get at the copper pipe! Folks that do this
> must be more intent stealing something than
> getting their hands on money in the most
> efficient manner. We've all but quit using
> copper pipe in our buildings for this very
> reason. You put it in one day, it's gone the
> next.
This post reminds me of the time I went to check out the beautiful and relatively-modern CNJ hump tower at the by-then-torn-up Ashley yard a few years ago. EVERY BIT of metal was taken from that otherwise intact building! I just shook my head and walked away.

schwartzsj@juno.com

> Yet another reason to make friendly with
> your local scrapyard owners!
HAH! Are you kidding? scrapyard owners are the greatest at "see no evil, hear no evil". They don't care where stuff came from, they just buy it as cheap as they can get away with. Wouldn't you get suspicious when someone brings in a pickup truck load of tie plates, or rail cut up in 3' sections? Apparently not here in Pennsylvania! It's happened here in two cases where I was involved. Both great stories in themselves.

schwartzsj@juno.com

The Phelps Dodge and Asarco both ship copper anodes for refinning. They weigh about 700 to 850 lbs apiece and are shipped on flat cars. A couple of enterprising railroad employees decided to gain some extra income by loading a pickup truck with anodes. The first one loaded ok so they went after another. The additional weight caused the back tires to blow out simultaniously, leaving the thieves in a pickel. They are nolonger employees of the railroad and the copper company got their copper back.

EPSW271@aol.com

A scrapyard owner might NOT question a reasonable story, they don't make all that much on it anyway.

But how about an antique store owner (in little wahington, Pa) who never thought to question 2 teens' story that they found 18 steam whistles, including a 7" Lunkenheimer 3 chime (all in very good condition), in the trunk of a car at a junkyard? - THAT little "mistake" (and some others in his bookkeeping) cost him his shop and about 5 years of freedom.