Your Latest Worry: Locomotive Stolen Piece By Piece in India

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2022 12:57 pm

Via Trains.com:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ ... 185376.ece

Quote:

An entire diesel engine was stolen part by part from a railway yard in Bihar's Begusarai district, police said on Friday.

The thieves dug a tunnel to the yard and started stealing parts, slowly doing away with the entire engine that was brought there for repairs, they said.

"Last week, a case was registered at the Barauni police station for the theft of a diesel engine brought for repairs to the Garhara yard. In the course of the investigation, three people were arrested," said P.S. Dubey, Inspector of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Muzaffarpur.

Based on the information given by them during interrogation, searches were conducted at a scrap godown in the Prabhat Nagar area of Muzaffarpur district and 13 sacks full of train parts were found, he said.

A search was on for the owner of the scrap godown, Mr. Dubey added.

Recovered items include engine parts, wheels of vintage train engines and railway parts made of heavy iron.

"They had dug a tunnel to the railway yard and through it, they used to carry the locomotive parts and other items in sacks," said Mr. Dubey.

The gang was also involved in unbolting steel bridges and stealing their parts, he said.

Also of relevance:"How to steal an iron bridge":
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ ... 389045.ece

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2492

In India, scamming and theft is not just a job, it's become an industry.

QJdriver · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:04 pm

This has gone on for more than 30 years in Guatemala and El Salvador. The looting of the former International Railways of Central America property has mostly been theft of track material and bridges. Some of these bridges are high steel trestles, which takes a bit of doing for impoverished peasants. The governments of those countries legally loot the rolling stock, stores, and scrap piles so they can sell off "scrap" and buy weapons. Some employees have also been known to swipe brass parts to sell, and I suspect there was a plot to steal a diesel locomotive one part at a time, but I CAN'T PROVE IT.

Today there are still 17km of active railroad in El Salvador, including the yards in San Salvador. In Guatemala there is a small standard gauge yard serving the customs house just south of the Mexican border, and an effort to establish a commuter service in Guatemala City, as well as museums there and in Zacapa, with the former division point of Escuintla being fenced and gaurded. Otherwise, the great narrow gauge which once reached from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Mexico to the Gulf of Fonseca, is mostly no more.

GTW Dude · **Joined:** Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:46 pm **Posts:** 150

I can't help but think about the song "One Piece at a Time" while reading this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErKI0zWgjg

My question is how do you manage to smuggle that amount of parts from a locomotive shop, especially those of considerable size and weight through a manmade tunnel which had to be SOMEWHERE nearby and large enough to fit said parts. Somehow, nobody walks in one day and notices something off or considerably large missing like I don't know, A PRIME MOVER perhaps?

There has to be more to this story...

superheater · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:54 pm **Posts:** 2605

Kelly Anderson wrote:

Seems like it would be less work and more lucrative to just get jobs...

You have indeed hit the nail on the head. One of the things I learned in my brief tour of the fiscal side of corrections was how patient and plotting criminals can be in executing a crime.

When a new staff member comes on board; the inmates immediately begin systematically evaluating that person for any visible weakness. Do they present themselves confidently? Are they isolated from other staff members? How do they dress, walk, speak? If they identify an exploitable weakness, be assured that an attempt will be made to compromise the staff member. The easiest compromise is fraternization, when a weak staff member is persuaded to accept "a secret".

The typical compromise takes a year and a half to effect. Why don't they put this much effort into a job? At least that way they could get a date with a member of the opposite sex on Saturday.

It's like the people that "tag" freight cars. Some of them are really talented, you wonder why the hell theydon't go down to Michael's and by a canvas and some paints. They can't be more than all those stupid spray cans needed to cover a 100T hopper.

Kind of reminds me of Johnny Cash's One Piece at a Time although considerably compressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErKI0zWgjg

nedsn3 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:28 pm

That kind of thing doesn't just happen in India or Guatemala, but here in the good 'ol USA too. I knew of an incident which happened at a large Army Depot. They were storing a number (maybe 10 or so) of very big Cat powered generators, set aside for National emergencies. The brand new and expensive generators had been in storage for 5 or so years when some emergency occurred which made them needed. But they couldn't be found? Turned out an employee was slowly torching parts off of them and had destroyed and removed all ten. I won't name the depot.