The New Rules of Railfanning: Don't Trespass, Be Alert, Report Issues

It wouldn’t take you long to find a post or a story, from any of the numerous rail-related websites on the web, that detail some railfan’s run-in with security personnel.  There has been a very discernible change in the attitudes towards railfans and the number of contacts of late and I wanted to find out why.

I gleaned, from one such site, that a Special Agent, from the Union Pacific Railroad, was going to be a guest speaker at the San Bernardino’s National Forest Association’s Off Highway Vehicles Program’s January monthly meeting. (Boy, that’s a mouthful!).

This was interesting to me for two reasons in particular.  The first reason is that a “Special Agent” for a railroad is, in fact, a full-blown police officer and is employed directly by the railroads as opposed to the contract “security” personnel that most railfans encounter.  And the second reason is that THIS particular Special Agent, Mark Youngblood, is one of the agents local to the Southern California area.  Not only is the southwest region “his beat,” but Agent Youngblood has approached many railfans recently, particularly in the Cajon Pass region.

I was told that he was going to give a presentation on Cajon Pass and railroad police work in general.  Not ever having any contact with railroad police officers in the past this was the perfect opportunity to find out what their issues are, from THEIR perspective, and, hopefully, share my thoughts.  (Something I am known to do!)

I made it to the January 13, 2010, meeting, which fortunately, was open to the public, with minutes to spare.  It was being held in a banquet room of a local restaurant.  The place was packed.  I ordered some dinner and waited for Agent Youngblood to take the podium.  Eventually he did just that.  I would like to summarize Agent Youngblood’s presentation so that we all can benefit from him taking his time to meet with us.

My Summation of Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent Mark Youngblood’s Presentation

As you would expect, Agent Youngblood began his presentation by touching on the high points of the celebrated history of the Union Pacific Railroad which is one of the two railroads that built the transcontinental railroad in the 1860’s.

He explained the duties of a railroad special agent and described their powers.  Here are the more salient points:

• Railroad special agents are police officers and are commissioned by one or more states’ agencies as law enforcement officers.  Here in California, at the request of the railroad1, the Governor may grant these officers the powers of a peace officer as dictated in Penal Code 830.33(e).  Also, in California, this authority of these railroad police officers extends throughout the state.
• The UP special agents work a myriad of cases and duties primarily involving trespassing abatement and enforcement, burglaries, train escort details, accident investigations, grade crossing enforcement, and vandalism.
• Special Agent Youngblood define the term right-of-way as:  the furthest extent of service roads on either side of the railroad tracks, to include those cases where they need to go around a rise or cut.  It is not a set distance from the tracks per se.  He indicated that sometimes this may be as few as 20’ wide to 20 miles wide.  (This does present a problem to railfans as the delineation is not always marked.)
• He explained how since the events of September 11, 2001, the railroads began to step-up ensuring that their infrastructure was as protected as possible.  This means a 100% enforcement of trespassing laws.
• Railroad police officers are allowed to “police” the property and lines of any railroads that their employing railroads has track right agreements with.  So that means, here in Southern California, that BNSF and UP special agents can enforce laws on each other’s lines.
• He explain that the most common reason for trespassing that he hears when encountering railfans is “we have been coming here for many years…”  Things are different today.  This isn’t the railroad of your childhood.
• Liability issues and personal safety are also prime motivations to enforce the railroad’s property lines.  He cited several cases where railfans, and the public, had gotten too close to the tracks and a passing train and bad things have happened.  One incident involved a load on lumber on a flat car.  One of the he banding straps that hold the load together had sheared apart and was know hanging about 7 feet off of the train.  As the train passed a fan, the banding nearly cut the man in two!  He cited enough reasons for one to make sure they are far enough away from the tracks to prevent injuries or death; shifted loads and trailers, banding, derailed cars and more.

After his speech, he opened it up to questions.  The audience, all forest volunteers except me and Debra, asked a volume of questions relating to the vehicles the UP Police use to specific case that they were familiar about.  At one point someone has a question about railfans, “are they much of a problem?”  Special Agent Youngblood made an inaudible comment and sneered.  Then he acknowledged that they in fact were.  I saw this as my opportunity to introduce myself to him and the audience.

I raised my hand and he fielded this statement from me:  “Hi, I am Joe Perry.  I am one of those railfans that you are referring to.  Based on the fact that the Union Pacific has such few agents covering such vast areas, my hope would be that the railroad would take a more positive approach towards us railfans because we are out there track side watching what is happening.  In many respects we are another pair of eyes for you guys.  Are you familiar with the BNSF’s Citizens for Rail Security Program?”

He nodded in agreement yet his comment, which unfortunately escapes me, did not reflect that he understood the question.  I decided to let it be since I felt as an outsider and didn’t want to bogart the meeting.  For the uninitiated, here is an excerpt from a BNSF press release that outlines the program:

News Release

BNSF Railway Asks Rail Fans for Cooperation To Keep America’s Rail System Safe

FORT WORTH, TEXAS, June 7, 2006:

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) is recruiting rail fans to help keep BNSF properties safe by reporting suspicious activities and to help prevent possible security breaches.

“Keeping America’s rail transportation network safe from crime and terrorist activity is a high priority for the railroad industry,” says William Heileman, BNSF general director, Police and Protection Solutions. “Every day across the country, rail fans photograph and watch trains as they pass through communities. It seems natural to harness their interest to help keep America’s rail system safe.”

Rail fans can register for the program by going to the Citizens United for Rail Security (CRS) Web site (http://newdomino.bnsf.com/website/crs.nsf/request?open). CRS participants will receive an official identification card along with access to news and information on the BNSF CRS Web site.
To report suspicious activity, CRS members and the public can call (800) 832-5452. The information will be taken by a BNSF representative and routed for appropriate response.

I wasn’t aware if the Union Pacific Railroad had a similar program or adopted this insight at a public level or not.  My hope was that Special Agent Youngblood would advise me if railfans were an acknowledged positive part of the Union Pacific Railroad’s strategy to keep their infrastructure safe and not viewed as a thorn in it’s side.  

This answer was to remain unknown.  I had to leave the meeting earlier so I didn’t get a chance to personally talk with Special Agent Youngblood privately,  something I regret.  I am sure our paths will cross sometime soon again.

I want to thank the Union Pacific Railroad and Special Agent Mark Youngblood for participating in this meeting and taking time to help enlighten the public as to the challenges and effort required to keeping a core element of America’s infrastructure safe.

I also want to thank BNSF for their Citizen’s for Rail Security program and publicly acknowledging that everyone, railfans included, are part of this overall effort.  However, program or no program I am out there watching and I will report anything I see.  The photos and stories will be reported here.  The unusual events, activities, and persons, I will report to the railroads and the authorities.

I have taken away a renewed respsect for railroad police officers and more knowledge which should help me to stay off of railroad property, as we all should, and do my part.  I have included a link to a helpful document called The Photographer’s Rights prepared by Bert P. Krages II, Attorney At Law, which delineates the rights of us photographers.  I recommend everyone read it.

Footnotes:

1.  CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE (SECTION 8226-8227)

8226.  The Governor of the state may, upon the application of any 
railroad company, appoint and commission during his or her pleasure
 one or more persons designated by the company, to serve at the
expense of the company, as police officers, who shall have the powers
and authority of peace officers listed in Section 830.33 of the
Penal Code, after being duly sworn. The company designating these
persons shall be responsible civilly for any abuse of their
authority.

8227.  Every peace officer designated under Section 8226 shall, when
in uniform, wear in plain view a shield bearing the words "railroad
police," and the name of the company for which he or she is
commissioned. When on duty, but not in uniform, the peace officer
shall carry the shield upon his or her person and present it upon
request.

What Happened to Rail Travel and Railroads in America?

My friend is leaving today for a business/pleasure trip to Juarez, Mexico.  (I know what you’re thinking - Juarez?  You mean the toughest city in the world?  Yes, but that’s the business part of the trip and NO it is not THAT kind of business!)  He is not the most comfortable flyer so he approached me about the possibility of taking the train - which, in America, means Amtrak.

Really?  I thought “really?” about someone taking a train ride?  I guess I was surprised.  Do people still do that?  I sat down with my friend and explained the “nuances” of travelling by train on Amtrak today.  (I think we all know that, unfortunately, travelling on Amtrak these days is very Greyhound-esque.)  I encouraged him to secure a roomette so that he might have an opportunity to stretch out in style and really enjoy the trip.  He agreed to do it and I hope the recent storms here in the southwest does not mar his trip.

All of this got me thinking about the decline of railroad acceptance as a first order of passenger transport in the United States.  Once America had hundreds of “named trains” providing first-class transportation across the country.  Trains with names like El Capitan, the California Zephyr, the Super Chief, to name a few.  Today, Amtrak may or may not have services that carry those names but, today, those names certainly do not carry the “service” they once did.

I was doing some research on the subject because I thought it would make for an interesting blog post and might serve to illicit memories of some of the readers of this blog to a by-gone era when things, at least in this respect, where a lot better.   I came across this Op-Ed article from the New York Times by Paul Kennedy.  Mr Kennedy is a Dilworth Professor of History and director of International Security Studies at Yale University.  While it doesn’t necessarily reflect the service levels of trains it does follow a similar thread by discussing the lack of acceptance of passenger rail travel today by most Americans.   It also gives us Americans an idea of where the rest of the world is on the subject.  Therefore, I am passing it along and recommending that you give it a read. 

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

A Trainspotter’s Guide to the Future of the World

By PAUL KENNEDY

Published: January 5, 2010

America’s preference for highways and airports over modern rail transportation will make the country increasingly look so 20th-century.

Oh, the Lessons That I Have Learned!

Unreal, heck even surreal at times.

The last week has been one heck of a ride.  I thought I went out, as I have done countless times in the past, to enjoy a chase and beautiful scenery with Deb but it became so much more.  So what, it was a very long train, one the likes of I have never seen in thirty plus years of paying attention.  Turns out it was a monster.  But it was a monster in more than just size.  It’s very existence changed me and my world in unimaginable ways.  And yes, you are partly responsible for it too.  Let me explain.

The “chase” itself was typical.  The results, of course, weren’t.  I had not posted any of my videos from previous trips onto the web for others to consume.  This train was different and I know that there were people, fans and the general public alike, that would have liked to have been able to see it go by.  (I think we all enjoy watching a train pass - more on than later.)  So I intended, at the onset, to make sure to get a stationary video of the train passing.  If you have read my previous posts then you know that I took that opportunity at Fingal, CA.  I thought the video came out nice, despite the fact that I shot it in portrait mode instead of landscape, so I created an account on YouTube and posted the video so that fans and you might get to see the historic train.

It turns out that somehow the media got wind of the train and it’s monster length and that’s when things got crazy.    I was first contacted by NBC News in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday evening, January 13, 2010.  They had seen the video on YouTube and wanted to run it on the 11PM news that night.  Wow, that’s cool, I thought.  Heck, who wouldn’t want their video shown on a major news network?  Well, it turns out that railfans don’t.  I didn’t know that at the time.  

No sooner had I finished my phone call with the producer from NBC then I received an email from a reporter with the Los Angeles Times.  (Do these guys work in the same office or have some secret Twitter arrangement?)  He had seen the video and said it was the cleanest he saw and wanted to discuss it with me and perhaps link to it on the Times website.  It was a crazy few minutes for sure.

At least the Times reporter took the time to talk to me about the experience and how I came to shoot the video.  Clearly he wanted more than just a graphic to showcase HIS story.  He was interested in MY story, however, I was caught up in the moment and didn’t realize what was about to happen.

NBC aired the video, as they said they wanted to do, however, their “story, ” in my opinion was not complete reporting.  They opted to stress the wait time one would experience at a grade crossing and the politicians “concerns” over the train instead of the whole reason Union Pacific ran the test train or the significance of it.  I was dismayed.  I learned at the point that while I gave consent to NBC to use my video it was still their “story.”  I wished I had been given an opportunity to provide input to the story.

I subsequently found out that the LA Times had also run an article on the train that very same day by the very same reporter.  I became concerned.  I read the article and felt that the Times reporter, which also mentioned the “political” concerns predominately, did at least give both sides to the story and apparently was willing to do more research, hence the email to me.

After the NBC news segment aired, the “noise” about the test train and my video elevated.  You see, at this point I was being associated, since it was my video, with the viewpoint of the mass media on the subject and worth of the train.  This was not my intent.  In fact, my views are almost diametric to those of the “politicians” and some of the general public on the subject.

Here’s my stance:

• Railroads are VITAL to our nation’s economy and infrastructure.
• Railroads, and train crews specifically, DO NOT want to block crossings for any reasons, if at all possible.
• Emergency vehicles are being blocked every day in the US by even the smallest of trains today.  (I bet that motorists block more fire engines and paramedics than trains do annually.)
• Stopping distance of train is determined by tonnage and speed of the train NOT the LENGTH of a train.
• Railroads have a vested interested in ensuring that the trains they move over their lines are safe.  They do not want to create any situation that might cause a stoppage in movement of trains over their territories.  That would be bad for business.
• The railroads are in the railroad business.  Wouldn’t they know how and why to do this?  If increasing capacity and/or reducing costs is an end result, isn’t that good for shareholders and aren’t they becoming more economically viable which is good for us all?
• People are in that much of a hurry that they can’t wait a few more minutes at a grade crossing so that they can get on to the freeways which are already gridlocked?  The grade crossings are the joint responsibility of the municipalities in concert with railroad approval.  The city has the right to build an over/underpass if they deem it necessary.  The grade crossing complaints should go to the city councils not the railroads.  The railroads have been around for a very, very, very long time in comparison to local streets and such.  Also, don’t commuters already plan their routes based on traffic patterns and avoid certain stretches of surface streets or freeways at certain times of the day because of congestion already?
• There are concerns about the length of such a train when the crew has to walk the train to determine the extent of any issue should the need arise which caused the crew to stop the train.  Obviously this would need to be addressed.
• While there are also concerns about the reduction in number of crew starts and I respect those concerns but I am in no position of offer an opinion.  (Yep, that is perhaps a first!)

Based on the aforementioned points, it should be apparent why I had issues with the media propping up their stories with my footage.  In the railfan circles I learned of another individual who had his video used, in the exact same manner, by a competing station here in Los Angeles all without his consent!  

Now I began to worry about the end result of the LA Times inquiry about using my material and story in their next article about the “Monster Train.”  Historically, us railfans have been portrayed in the mainstream media as complete morons who never got over the model trains we had as kids.  I was determined to help shape this next article, if I could.

Fortunately, it turned out that the Times reporter, Rich Connell,  was a good reporter and did his investigation and followed where it led him.  Over the course of that week we had numerous emails and phone calls about the train and me.  Perhaps my nudging helped but I sense that it propably was not entirely necessary in this case.  

As a previous blog post indicates, I had no prior knowledge of Rich’s article “going to press.”  It appeared online first and then in the print edition the next day.  The only way I discovered it was the number of hits on my website went through the roof.  My heart skipped a beat.  (Which is not good due to a quadruple bypass and seven stents that adorn my life sustaining organ!)  The article was published.

I read the article.  Wow.  Very good.  Better than I thought it would be.  It was about me and my “adventure.”  Cool.  It did mention the “other” items but in a realistic and tempered way.  Outstanding!  What a relief.

I have to take my hat off to you Rich.  You wrote an insightful and good article.  And it is not just me saying so.  Read the comments on my Guestbook page or the posts on the main railroad board and you will see the “community” of railfans applaud the article.  You have done us proud.  Thank you Rich and thanks to Mark Boster for making me look half-way handsome!

So I learned this from it all:

• Understand the context in which your material will be presented.
• Politicians don’t know what they are talking about, mostly.
• There are good reporters out there who want to tell the WHOLE story and not just get ratings.
• My right side is my better side!

Overall I am grateful for it all because not only did I learn a lot about myself and the way the media functions, I also got to meet so many people like you.  I received a lot emails and comments during the last few days and I am overwhelmed by the positive comments and response, in general, to my efforts to host chasingsteel.com.  I appreciate the fact that you have taken your time to visit and read my rants, such at this.  I am also humbled by the stories you all have shared with me and the great things you have said to inspire me.

OK, I realize there is one more thing I learned:

There are a lot of good and constructive folks in this world.  Heck, even some of them are not railfans!  Who knew? ;-)