Watch out railfans!

I was thumbing through an issue of TIME magzine in the doctor's office and i found this article in the May 24th issue. The title was
HOBBYIST OR TERRORIST? TIME followed John Almedia on a railfanning trip and he talked about hes been arrested because he was reported to 911 dispachers as an arab looking man. Even though hes irish catholic. He said he gets arrested once a month or more for taking pictures of trains and railroad equmpment. Just wondering if anyone read the article. And all I have to say is this country is becomming more and more paranoid about everything. I can just see it now, my parents recieving a call from the police saying their 16 year old son is a suspected terrorist for taking a picture of a nice CSX SD40-2. So sad.Grand Trunk Rules-if I could only live near a GT line.

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RE: Watch out railfans!, CARex, Jun-28-04, 07:48 PM, (1) RE: Watch out railfans!, sinclair97, Jun-28-04, 08:07 PM, (2) RE: Watch out railfans!, markhyams, Jun-29-04, 11:20 PM, (3) RE: Watch out railfans!, njtrains, Jun-30-04, 08:51 AM, (4) RE: Watch out railfans!, GrandTrunkFan, Jun-30-04, 03:31 PM, (5) RE: Watch out railfans!, njtrains, Jun-30-04, 03:33 PM, (6) RE: Watch out railfans!, Mousy, Jun-30-04, 04:32 PM, (7) RE: Watch out railfans!, r_claxton, Jun-30-04, 08:48 PM, (8) RE: Watch out railfans!, GrandTrunkFan, Jun-30-04, 10:22 PM, (9) RE: Watch out railfans!, lfriddle, Jul-01-04, 06:34 PM, (10)

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Kind of a bummer huh?
I was in a business park today and decided to take some track/ballast shots at a nearby crossing.
Kept looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was looking at me…, suspiciously.

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-28-04 AT 08:09 PM (EST)

Over here in the UK I do some sound recordings, but trying to record trains and stations today is a nightmare. And in spite of asking for a lousy five minutes recording time, I have been escorted out of London's Oxford Street underground station for supposedly being a nuisance. The irony is you have to run the gauntlet of beggars and buskers (the latter having PA systems that now literally deafen you), and even when you get on the tube train, out come eastern European Gypsies with the obligatory baby harassing you for cash.Even when I have had permission to sound record at the very end of some station platform, a police helicopter circles around me incessantly. Terrorists have made the world an unbearable place to live in.Please don't let me put you off coming to London, but don't come on a Saturday unless you are absolutely sure that you are not claustrophobic and positively enjoy moving at one inch per hour cheek by jowl in a seething mass. And when you are at a cash point and someone says (pointing to the ground by your feet)is that £10 note yours...Mike

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This thread has a link to the article plus some more discussion. The article is old enough now so that you have to be a Time subscriber to read it, but there is a brief synopsis if you click.http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID1/8470.html

Moffat Road Tabernash to Phippsburg
All track complete
Currently working on Mtracks

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That stinks, I will have to think twice about photographing any NYS&W trains in my town.

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-30-04 AT 03:32 PM (EST)

Well, I got questioned today by a Lake Odessa cop. Theyre doing their job for sure.

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Did he understand what you were doing?

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There was a big article about this klind of stuff in the April 2003 issue of TRAINS.

SD40-2: the best locomotive EMD ever made!
______________________________________________
Fort Worth Locomotive Shops
ENG & WAG Technician & Lighting Engineer

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Train watching is getting more and more harder to do in privacy. I was sitting by the tracks yesterday when a darn track truck (Hi-Rail) pulled up and asked what I was doing. I was truthfull and co-operative and said I was train watching. The driver of the truck told me that he would forget what he saw, that I was in a dangerous spot (really I wasn't). He then proceeded to ask how many trains I had seen, and I replied 2. He was surprised that the drivers of the trains didn't report me to the CN Police.I think the drivers of the trains are much nicer to railfans than the track inspectors (no offence to them).Either way, I am dissapointed that I am scared to go back to that location and now I have to find a new spot.(Mile 38.6 of CN's Bala Sub. - Ontario, Canada)

rclaxton
CN York Sub Route Project
Summer 2004

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Got these neat shots before being questioned.

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http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/User_files/40e383754df33056.html

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I think it all depends on where you are at the time. A few months back I spent most of the day on two overpasses overlooking the yard here in Van Buren with my camera and a clip board. I was making detailed pictures and drawings of the yard before putting it in my prototypical route. I was passed by dozens of police cars and the UP railroad police drove by a couple of times. No one ever stopped. Most waved as they went by. The only person to ask me what I was doing was a guy I go to church with. The next Sunday he asked what in the world was I doing standing on the overpass all day.Larry

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