Oh, boy, you have touched a nerve with me. Sorry, you friggin' stealth railfans, but I gotta disagree with your trespassing in railroad yards and other off-limits property owned by the railroads just so that you can shoot some train photos. What part of the word "No" don't you understand when the sign says, "No Traspassing"? What, do you not respect the wishes of others, or are you just above the law? Are your railfan photos so damn important to you that you forget the rights of others, and might possibly put yourself into peril of arrest or injury? The railroads have a lot of reasons besides the possibility of your injury and their liability as to why they do not want you on their property. Yet you weenies continue to sneak into these railroad places where you are not welcome, and are breaking the law as well as earning a bad reputation for every rail entusiast.
It is just this kind of railfan disrespect, 8th grade mentality and irresponsible behavior that have pitted the railroads against railfans. Heck, because railfans have earned a bad name for themselves and are so disliked among many peofessional railroaders, some railroads even hate their employees who are railfans. These railfan- employees have to become "closet railfans" who are afraid for their jobs if the bosses find out their hidden secret identity. I was just told that the Norfolk Southern recently fired six railfan-employees for stealing things for their own personal collections of railroad items. While there is a big difference between stealing company property and trespassing on company property to shoot photos, both actions show that some railfans cannot to be trusted when one's back is turned. I fully appreciate your rationale behind wanting to shoot train photos, as I like to shoot train photos, too. I also like to photograph military planes, but you do not see me sneaking into some air force base dressed as a colonel so that I can get closer to an F-16 or a Blackbird for my photos. I do know a guy (now deceased) who dressed in steel mill attire and walked in with the morning shift at an Ohio steel mill in order to shoot photos of some rare diesel in the plant. Rushing in with a crowd of other workers at the clockhouse at the front gate, he just grabbed some guy's timecard off the rack and clocked-in, carrying his camera gear in his lunch pail. He hid out for the day, got his photos, and hid out again until it was quitting time. On the way out with dozens of rushing workers, he grabbed another guy's timecard and clocked out, and nobody knew what he had done. Pretty slick, but awfully stupid. I guess that I am so adamant about railfan trespassers and understand the railroads' dislike for them because I used to work for Chessie and CSX in their public relations and corporate communications departments, and have heard too many stories from coworkers out on line of road about all of the problems that they had with railfans. Sure, I know that not every railfan is a thief, and not every railfan will climb to the roof of a shop building to shoot their train photos, but the railroads have to draw a line somewhere. CSXT has fenced-off its Huntington (WV) loco shop and Raceland (KY) car shops and has 24-hour security at its gates--no outsiders get in without a pass and an escort from someone working inside these yards. This was done to prevent theft of company property and injury of people who had no business being there, which includes railfans. No matter how careful you are on railroad property you still might be injured, and it will be the railroad that will be dragged into court and who will have to pay you, your survivors and your attorney, no matter who is at fault. There also will be trouble for the railroads from the FRA and the news media. The railroads do not want to have to deal with these avoidable problems. No matter how good your intentions or how careful you promise to be, you still have no business in a railroad yard. I just wish that railfans respected the railroads more than they say they do and would not trespass in railroad yards. You are giving all of us non-trespassing railroad photographers, and those law-abiding railfans, a really bad name. Wise-up, guys. Grow-up, children. John B. Corns "I AM NOT A RAILFAN" _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs -> Message © SPORRS® 1998 - All Rights Reserved
