I have been shot-at so many times in my professional life I won't bore you with the stories.
However, there's one thing to keep in mind when you're out in the bush shooting trains, and it ain't hunters. Marijuana growers and meth lab operators tend to get very nervous about people with cameras. Some time ago, I heard bullets whizzing over my head near Blue Cut in Cajon Pass. Across the tracks, there were biker-types congregating (around those houses between the SP and ATSF tracks) and I figured it was blue light special day at the local meth lab. Sure enough, a few days later, I talked to a friend in the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Dept., who mentioned the place had been the subject of an ongoing investigation for sale and manufacture of methamphetamines. This isn't just a problem in the Golden State. I am told the area south of the Arkansas & Missouri RR. Winslow tunnel is smack dab in the middle of some marijuana gardens and even rr. track workers in that area are worried about going into that area alone. And you can pretty much assume the ENTIRE ex-NWP line in California is the same. Since the California desert is the meth lab capitol of the world, keep this in mind if you're ever planning on some extended railfanning jaunts in the boondocks. If you smell ether, get out! I do not own a gun. Once, when I was really visiting the old Eagle Mountain RR. on a regular basis, I planned to borrow a .44 mag from a friend and load it with snake shot...little .44's that look like shotgun shells, designed to spread and make a handgun more effective against rattlers, of which there were many along the EMRR. A friend with the Forest Service demonstrated that your best weapon against snakes is a long pole (like a monopod) or a shovel. I carried both; encountered snakes and can confirm that both are equally effective. And snake and photog lived to tell the story! --DRB -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs -> Message © SPORRS® 1998 - All Rights Reserved
