Rails and Railfans beware!

[JCagle]

I got an email from an engineer tonight that I thought I would share the main content.

If you are a rail or a railfan on Facebook beware of what you post if you are friends with NS. I have recieved word that employees have faced disciplinary action for things that were on their facebook pages. Evidently they have a group of employees that are looking at what is posted on pages.

Railfans- you may not face disciplinary action, but watch what you post to keep from getting the folks that give you heads up and information from getting in trouble. I have seen people posting links to videos that showed them trespassing in places where they frequent as well as other activities that the company may not like. What you post could lead to a visit from a L.E.O. or special agent at a place you frequent.

[Michael Knight]

Yes, bottom line is that if you receive a friend request from "Norfolk Southern," you are probably better off rejecting it. Also, it may not be in your best interest to seek friendship with "Norfolk Southern" either.

The account is being monitored by persons at NS corporate. Since a friend account is actually limited to persons, not entities, the "Norfolk Southern" account may actually violate Facebook's terms of service.

Fan pages, however, work differently; the page administrator can't see any private information on your page. But you are still identifying yourself, and your interest in NS may be investigated.

Be safe and protect your privacy if you value it. Be governed accordingly....

[Backyard]

  YES! I have found, say "other road" members of forums that post the most vulgar things...but that's there problem if they get so drunk...

You have to look at it like a "brotherhood." What info your given is confidential(duh).

This may be off-topic, let me give you a certain insight appropriate for the day...

I hate videos that are within 100 feet of a moving train...especially on the outside of a curve with a train at track speed. You could be killed.

I hate videos made on the opposite side of a crossing at grade from an approaching train, without voluntarily flagging the crossing(red flag held at level, bright orange gloves-on a hand raised, traffic vest). If a car obstructs the train between you and the train at the crossing you could be wiped-out(killed).

Railroading is serious business...if you record a train-crash, you could be accused outright, unless the actual cause is obvious & know that crashes have been staged for filming before, with prosecution(remember the northern mid-west grain cars falling over in front of the photog? They found spikes removed from that location, those railfans went to jail).

When railroads have visitors, they are provided with personal protective equipment(PPE) whilst on railroad property.

It's not your fault what others post, be aware that foreign trains are being bombed...

If a train wreaks, the best thing to do is forward the video to the railroad(but try to make a copy for YouTube of course...).

[lwjabo]

The rule book as anyone who ever worked for any time on the rails but more so for Southern and later NS is a double dege sword. Taking pictures is a no no. Still thousands do it all the time. IF things are right and someone wants you then they use the rules to pin you to the wall. We were cleaning up a derailment. Nothing much but the Altanta TV station kept sending one of there reporters to get something on it. They kept running the reporter off. Some where a guy off duty says to the reporter it simply was nothing and as soon as they picked up a tank call loaded with what amounts to Crisco they would be through. The reporter asks if it could leak. The guy says no it was a solid and if they could get it to be a liquid they would have unloaded it to make the job easer. Well some one saw it and they ran the employee off for talking to a reporter. That is how they did it on the Southern and as I'm retired and they can't get to me I'm telling you the way it is. I don't think it changed in the little over 4 years since I retired. The way the industrys gets the load to be a liquid is it has a steam jacket built in and they adopt it to the car so they can unload it.

[JCagle]

I basically wanted to get the word out to keep anyone from getting put in a bad spot.

Sometimes people do things without thinking. Railfans are especially exposed since they often aren't familiar with every rule and the safety culture of the industry.

Often many railfans don't think about anything but getting the shot.  Its always a good idea to have a way out when shooting and assess the situation. I never have understood the shoot through a crossing idea since the gates come down and get into the frame long before the train.

Everyting comes down to awareness. Be aware of what is around you and what could happen, and also be aware of what you post and who it is availabe to.

[nsgelocos]

One trainmaster told us not to film, but we could take pictures and audio. From as many people as I have talked to, filming is NOT against the federal law. I do think railroads can make rules about filming on or near railroad property. Safety and awareness of what could happen is all you really need when railfanning, whether your are filiming, audio recording, still photo taking, or just sitting and watching.

[jjohns5182]

I think another problem is the railroads don't see how beneficial railfans can be to railroads. In the Graniteville area I take pictures of any trespassers I see and show them to the police when I have opportunity. We've had 5 trespasser killed in my area, I know the railroad detective as well and when I have the opportunity I inform him if I do see anybody setting anything on those tracks. I once called the cops on a group of teenagers who I caught throwing rocks from a railroad at cars going under and pulling up spikes.

Living near Grantieville it's no joke when we've had a serious accident once.

I don't think the railroads often realize that us railfans are more likely to see illegal acts in progress then their railroad police are. I think if more railfans started helping weed out the people who are breaking the law (which normally aren't railfans) then our relations with the railroad would be much better. The fact is most of the people who actually cause trouble aren't railfans. The railroad and local police simply can't see every illegal activity that happens on the tracks.

Us railfans are kind of stereotyped by the actions of all the unethical railfans and non-railfans.

[Kentucky & Indiana Terminal RR]

I deleted them and a couple weeks later it was back on my friends list, had to delete them again.

[MP15NUT]

same, i deleted them, and then the next day came back and asked to be friends.