Folks,

One of the groups/museums with which I am involved has been receiving a long series of letters.

I will spare specific details, but the letters had, according to the officer that checks the mailbox, been arriving at the rate of several a week (sometimes 2 a day!). They are all handwritten on lined notebook paper, signed with a male name that doesn't match the return address sticker on the envelope, from several states away.

Typical example below:

This individual seems to be singlehandedly keeping the U.S. Postal Service afloat. I think I finally ended up with 40 to 50 letters, functionally identical.

The group in question once owned some rail equipment many years ago, but has since sold or transferred it to other organizations. I wrote back to that effect a while back when the first couple letters appeared, then again after my first letter apparently had no impact.

Now two more have shown up, this time asking, as well as the usual opening sentences, "did you get any new equipment in your storage yard yet". We never mentioned a storage yard, nor do we have one. I'm not sure whether or not our officer is saving all the letters for me, or chucking the redundant ones now.

Is anyone else on here getting a steady stream of letters matching this description? (Please do not discuss the person's name or address in a public forum.)

My spidey sense smells a concerted attempt to case the joint.

More worrisome is the amount. Are you going to be missing traction motor wires? Something worse?

Remember, paranoia is merely a heightened sense of alertness.

I think I'd discuss with police, USPS and DHS.

Concern is valid, but please consider the following two options:

a) a young child is writing you

b) a mentally challenged person.

Both of these mean well, have lots of time on their hands, and just don't know any better.

My son recently sent a typewritten letter to someone asking for information because he found the old typewriter in the closet and became fascinated with it.

We've already assumed a young and/or mentally challenged individual. His spelling is seemingly better than most "internet kooks" although his punctuation is the same (see above example).

The only thing I'm wondering is if he's writing the same letter to every rail museum, every tourist railroad, every NRHS/R&LHS chapter, etc.

Has anyone actually taken the time to write a short, simple letter back? Maybe throw in a pamphlet or tri-fold?

Some years ago, when I was still working for MARC, we began to get flooded for requests for "every timetable, promotional poster, etc" from somebody in the midwest, always citing "for our museum library". After about the 10th letter, we slowed our responding, and his next move was to denounce us to the governor's office. After the fact, which included stopping by the museum when in his neighbornood, we discovered none of our material had ended up at the museum, just on his dealers table at railfan meets...

G.F.Payne
Baltimore, MD

At some point we're torn between answering the guy in sterner tones and the potential that any reply would simply encourage the guy. The officer who picks up the mail regard the issue as somewhere between a joke and a Greek tragedy, but says "At least someone's keeping the Post Office in business!"

If the person you are referring to is in Florida, then yes we have been getting them for well over a year. Sometimes we have gotten 20 letters at one time, sometimes one and then some times several weeks will go by without any.

Early on we sent him a copy of our newsletter, along with a membership application and our merchandise catalog. A week later an "order" came in but with no payment. We we mailed him back a note saying he forgot to include payment. We got back an angry letter from him saying since we sent him a catalog we were obligated to send him the stuff for free! Several weeks later the original style "please write back" letters resumed. The most recent set of 4 identical letters arrived at our PO box several weeks ago.

Our policy since sending him the material is now to ignore them.

Seems like way too much work for a crackhead looking for copper, but who knows...

Meanwhile, maybe somebody should tell him that just about any public library now offers computer access, and he can find the info on the internet. Then point him to Railpictures.net and hope he merrily spends him time looking at "The 10 million best railroad photos on the web!"

Yes, but most libraries in my area have timer software restricting patrons to 30 or 45 minutes at a time. And besides, once he figures out the "contact form"....

Maybe I'll send him to Railroad.net, Bob. >;-D

That sounds good to me Sandy! (BTW, my site is Railroadforums.com, not Railroad.net)

ADM you are not alone.... We have received a ridiculous number of letters from the same individual. You joke about him keeping the USPS afloat, but he really must be spending a small fortune sending letters to all of these groups.

The CRHS has been getting them too. It's always the same questions, always on notebook paper and from FL. We also responded at first, but now they go in the round file. We've had as many as 6 in a weeks time and have probably gotten 60 ish by now.

Well, he can only clog up your forums for 30 minutes at a time at the library
...... (^_^)

Florida, huh? I grew up there and know plenty of rail fans this guy might be. Doesn't shock me at all, I knew plenty of older train buffs who weren't firing on all their cylinders when I lived there. Nothing about the interactions with him sounds new to me, I can easily imagine the guy, probably past retirement age, never had strong social skills, certainly not married, probably on disability of some sort and has no friends at all.
That's the best way to handle it. You could send a letter to him stating that you don't have the manpower to respond to each and every letter and this will be your last response to any of his letters, advise that he's welcome to the museum when it's open and to have a nice day.