bad Day at 42nd St

FWIW, my son and I spent four days in the tri-state area last week photographing trains on every rail system except PATH. The only encounter we had was at Babylon on the LIRR when a local police officer drove up to where we were standing after we photographed a train of M-7's from street level and asked what we were doing. We explained that we were rail buffs and he said that was Ok, that he just had to check since there was heightened security after the OBL killing. We had no issues at all on the subway, although we probably didn't spend more than 15 or 20 minutes at any one station.

As information:

An acquaintance of mine is a subway operator (and railfan) in NYC. He has informed me (and other railfans we both know) that as of last week, all subway crews are to immediately call in ANYBODY seen taking photos of any kind in the subways to police. It's apparently the MTA's reaction to the Iowa switch-tampering incident.

What happened in Iowa? This is the first I've heard.

Head-end View wrote:What happened in Iowa? This is the first I've heard.

It was all over the news early last week. A freight crew somewhere in Iowa stopping to switch an industry found a switch had been tampered with. Because it was a route also used by Amtrak, Homeland Security went on a full court press in the media, with Amtrak and other transit police forces responding with stepped up patrols on trains and in stations.

I don't suppose anyone can describe what "tampered with" means, can they? Was it a railfan trying to collect another railroad lock for his collection? Bored local teenagers bent on vandalism and incipient mayhem? A split switch with a crowbar wedged between the points with a flag attached inscribed with "death to to the great American Satan". Tampered with is a vague and nebulous term that could mean anything and nothing. Granted any tampering with a switch anywhere is cause for concern, though, depending on what happened with the switch, calling in Homeland Security could be over doing it and seems only distantly related to photography on the subway system. Yes, I know. we must all be vigilant and if we see something unusual report it, or them, to the authorities.

kevikens wrote:I don't suppose anyone can describe what "tampered with" means, can they? Was it a railfan trying to collect another railroad lock for his collection? Bored local teenagers bent on vandalism and incipient mayhem? A split switch with a crowbar wedged between the points with a flag attached inscribed with "death to to the great American Satan". Tampered with is a vague and nebulous term that could mean anything and nothing. Granted any tampering with a switch anywhere is cause for concern, though, depending on what happened with the switch, calling in Homeland Security could be over doing it and seems only distantly related to photography on the subway system. Yes, I know. we must all be vigilant and if we see something unusual report it, or them, to the authorities.

All of the reports did not specify beyond the phrase "tampered with". And of course, the stepping up of patrols on trains and in stations does not help with where that type of incident happened. I have more problems running over vandal-caused debris several times a week on the railroad I work over, some of which can potentially cause more destruction than any terror-related motive.

And yes, I agree with your comment totally.

Silverliner II wrote:As information:

An acquaintance of mine is a subway operator (and railfan) in NYC. He has informed me (and other railfans we both know) that as of last week, all subway crews are to immediately call in ANYBODY seen taking photos of any kind in the subways to police. It's apparently the MTA's reaction to the Iowa switch-tampering incident.

Well then I got away with it on the 21st taking photos of Jackson Heights - Roosevelt Avenue taking photos. Of course paranoia department since apparently photographing subways is of equal violation to tampering with a switch. :|

Roadgeek Adam wrote:

Silverliner II wrote:As information:

An acquaintance of mine is a subway operator (and railfan) in NYC. He has informed me (and other railfans we both know) that as of last week, all subway crews are to immediately call in ANYBODY seen taking photos of any kind in the subways to police. It's apparently the MTA's reaction to the Iowa switch-tampering incident.

Well then I got away with it on the 21st taking photos of Jackson Heights - Roosevelt Avenue taking photos. Of course paranoia department since apparently photographing subways is of equal violation to tampering with a switch. :|

I figure it will all blow over and they'll be back to normal paranoia instead of full hysteria again in a month or so...

Silverliner II wrote:

Roadgeek Adam wrote:

Silverliner II wrote:As information:

An acquaintance of mine is a subway operator (and railfan) in NYC. He has informed me (and other railfans we both know) that as of last week, all subway crews are to immediately call in ANYBODY seen taking photos of any kind in the subways to police. It's apparently the MTA's reaction to the Iowa switch-tampering incident.

Well then I got away with it on the 21st taking photos of Jackson Heights - Roosevelt Avenue taking photos. Of course paranoia department since apparently photographing subways is of equal violation to tampering with a switch. :|

I figure it will all blow over and they'll be back to normal paranoia instead of full hysteria again in a month or so...

Yeah and I still have to take my shoes off at the airport. :|

Silverliner II wrote:I have more problems running over vandal-caused debris several times a week on the railroad I work over, some of which can potentially cause more destruction than any terror-related motive.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but I remember back in the '70s back in the early days of Amtrak, we would (at track speed) hit shopping carts that were put on the tracks...

n2cbo wrote:

Silverliner II wrote:I have more problems running over vandal-caused debris several times a week on the railroad I work over, some of which can potentially cause more destruction than any terror-related motive.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but I remember back in the '70s back in the early days of Amtrak, we would (at track speed) hit shopping carts that were put on the tracks...

Just did that a few hours ago with my train. It's a nail biting few moments when you hope the shredded debris doesn't snag an air hose....especially with a monster freight like today...

The Iowa incident was absolutely a deliberately tampered switch ...

Report was, switch partially thrown, and a black bag tied over the mast/indicators so the crew couldn't see it's position.

Luckily it got run through in reverse first (so no derailment), and that crew called it in.

They didn't actually know it was tampered - they called it in because they couldn't see the switch position. When it got looked at, they then realized what happened.

The culprits cut the locks off to be able to throw the handle.

Had the first train through come from the other direction, it would have derailed.

litz wrote:The Iowa incident was absolutely a deliberately tampered switch ...

Report was, switch partially thrown, and a black bag tied over the mast/indicators so the crew couldn't see it's position.

Luckily it got run through in reverse first (so no derailment), and that crew called it in.

They didn't actually know it was tampered - they called it in because they couldn't see the switch position. When it got looked at, they then realized what happened.

The culprits cut the locks off to be able to throw the handle.

Had the first train through come from the other direction, it would have derailed.

Sounds like it wasn't an electric-lock switch. Had it been, and signaled territory was involved, the Iowa incident may have had a slightly different ending (it may not have been run through, since the crew would likely have been running at Restricted speed...)