New equipment technology

ADL, are you serious when you said, "according to Newsday?" Are you aware of their credibility and the falsifying of circulation numbers over the years?

I remember when Laocoon, Seer & Priest (what ever happened to him?) leaked the cellphones and the erection of towers, a lot of people thought that was bogus. Kelly is right on the money with what he said about trials using the phones against AWOL trainmen.

Trust me, cameras are coming sooner than you think, despite what Newsday or the gossip you hear in the trainman's room in NYP tell you.

Even a busted clock is right twice a day.
My point is along with some factual information a lot of what you read here is garbage passed along by fools.
Don't believe everything you read, I'll believe it when i see it.
My issue isn't with what you are saying will happen, I know the RR will use every new technology they can to nail their valued employees to a cross, my issue is with people posting things as fact when they aren't facts yet.
RR.net ranks right up there with newsday and the trainmens room rumor mill as a suspect source of credible info.

ADL, I assure you that there will be language of some sort that will deem any sort of vandalism of these cameras under the same umbrella as tampering with a safety device. I doubt A.S. or K.S. will support any of their members in compromising cameras.

Let's not forget the times we live in with heightened terrorism threats. In regards to in car cameras, my guess is they will have face recognition. The railroad is an excellent mode of transportation for criminals, and another line of defense would be to have cameras within the rolling stock to help aid the authorities better pinpoint a suspect of a crime.

But let Alfonso Castillo tell you otherwise.

Who said anything about vandalism?????
I was just saying given the RR's poor track record on how it maintains its equipment it would be no surprise to me if most of the cameras were defective in one way or another after one year lol. Nobody needs to vandalize anything, all they need to do is leave them in the same care of the people who "Maintain" the M3's and let nature take its course. LOL

ADL is right on the money with most of his comments. He has a good handle on the place; he's got it figured out.

But let's remember that the "ol' days" are slipping away. Times are changing. The "collectors' holiday" will be a thing of the past as technology and oppressive discipline by non-craft managers micromanage our every move. Just as many employees had to give up alcohol in the '80's, so will trainmen have to give up their bailing off trains and playing video games while being paid to collect fares.

The cameras are coming, and with them will be a yard of legislation to criminalize all sorts of behaviors associated with them.

And trust that automated fare collection's not the dead issue you seem to believe it to be. It's a broad consensus among those who run the place and the State, that paying huge salaries to punch holes in tickets may not be the most efficient use of taxpayers' money.

I don't have very much figured out, but I have figured out not to put too much weight into what I read on rr.net until I see it with my own two eyes.
"Just show up, do your job and go home and you will have nothing to worry about"
let them waste millions paying people to watch me punch that $3.00 ticket from wyndanch to deer park (if you can get them out of the bathroom).
We get bigger raises then management does anyway, that should tell you who they value more. Soon our base rate will exceed that of management.

The "Collectors Holiday" Refers to a service disruption, where their westbound train did not get to Penn in Time to make an east Bound, so they Missed a Round trip. Most would avoid the stationmasters office, and just call the crew dispatcher, and tell them why they missed a round trip, in case any train was checked. They were covered. Then they made their next round trip. Nothing illegal about it.If the RR cannot get you there in time for your train, its on them, not you. Usually if I missed a trip due to a late train, I would call crew and tell them. Then I would go to the stationmaster and try to get moved up as a Conductor since they usually needed them. Because when I worked as a collector it was usually a relief day anyway. It was a roll of the dice. Sometimes you made out well, Conductor on a one way, other times you pounded rail. All part of the game.

And while we're on the subject of not believing everything you read on this board until and unless it actually happens, does anyone remember a few years back when a well respected member on this board made two predictions:

First, that the investigation of the employee pension scandal would not amount to anything significant,

And second that there would soon be an automated fare collection system in place that would involve fencing off platforms and restricting access the way the NYC Subway does.

Well the first prediction was flat-out wrong. And has anyone seen any signs of the second one yet? I haven't.

Engine 277 wrote:The "Collectors Holiday" Refers to a service disruption, where their westbound train did not get to Penn in Time to make an east Bound, so they Missed a Round trip. Most would avoid the stationmasters office, and just call the crew dispatcher, and tell them why they missed a round trip, in case any train was checked. They were covered. Then they made their next round trip. Nothing illegal about it.If the RR cannot get you there in time for your train, its on them, not you. Usually if I missed a trip due to a late train, I would call crew and tell them. Then I would go to the stationmaster and try to get moved up as a Conductor since they usually needed them. Because when I worked as a collector it was usually a relief day anyway. It was a roll of the dice. Sometimes you made out well, Conductor on a one way, other times you pounded rail. All part of the game.

Collectors Holiday - A train service employee that is apprised of a disruption in service and illegally and knowingly takes advantage of the railroad's ability to track and locate employees; by absenting him or herself from duty without prior permission. This type of behavior is typically prevalent in employees whom are in uniformed train service positions.

Your definition very much sounds like a former member of this forum that was a retired conductor. He no longer posts here because he was arrested by the Railroad Retirement Board, for fraud.

my definition is the truth from experience. Your Definition you just made up like its in a book somewhere. just nonsense. By the way, the RR retirement Board arrested NO ONE. It was other government agencies. Secondly, well over 90 percent of the people who had to re apply got the disability again. Because they had done nothing wrong.

I take offense at your suggestion that the way I handled things was in any way wrong. First, I called the crew, second, I reported to supervision in the stationmasters office. Please explain to me what else I could do in those circumstances? My train was Gone. There was no other way to handle it. Please do not make it sound like anything was done wrong. There is no definition anywhere as to Collectors holiday, it was just a line we used when service was disrupted, and we could not make our trains. Yet you typed it out like it is written somewhere. Nonsense. You have an agenda, and twist the truth to make employees look bad. This is uncalled for.
Same as "Last Train Rules". All that meant was, lets do everything we can to get this train in on time, we only have a few minutes to make our deadhead train home.

"The lady doth protest too much"
- Shakespeare

I smell a locked thread in our future...

ADL6009 wrote:RR.net ranks right up there with newsday and the trainmens room rumor mill as a suspect source of credible info.

I'll leave the decision on what to do with the thread and post with the moderator Liquid Camphor. I already lost a member this month because I intervened too quickly.

I would like to address this snip of a post earlier. Unless something is blatantly false or potentially defamatory we generally don't intervene. It's a discussion forum; unless it's supported by some official documentation, everything here is supposition. I'm not offended by the comment; I just want to clarify our position.

That's more than fair, Jeff. Thanks.

@Engine277 - Where do you get from my last post that I critiqued your course of action? I simply corrected your interpretation of a, "collectors holiday." It's your loss if you're offended by it but we in management know the truth.

The retired conductor I was speaking of was forced into retirement from the LIRR, despite what the naysayers say. The in car cameras would've been excellent for the day he broke up the card game or when he acted unprofessionally to the young boys onboard his train.

I would prefer not to lock this thread, for now. Welcome back Eng277, I still dislike the Mets. Can we be civil in here? The last few posts are not about Technology. So let's get this thread on topic. If not, then it gets locked. Once again, 277, welcome back and hope the land of Lincoln has been kind to you. As for Slippy, you're getting personal. Talk about Tech, not another employee. The Conductor you are referring to was loved by all and a true Legend. We can learn from this master of the craft. Technology gentlemen. No more personal attacks on each other or crafts.