photorailfan wrote:Remote cameras? I would have never thought of that. I guess 4 years does make a difference. Thanks for the info. The reason why i went there was out of curiosity because of what i read in a book. The HOT SPOTS book. You might know what i'm talking about. I think it's time to update it. Scratch it off the list.
Yes ... remote cameras. I'm not at liberty to discuss where they may be, or any other details, but over the past couple years the Department of Homeland Security has worked with the railroads to step up monitoring of certain shipments and/or locations ... including the use of remote cameras.
That's how some guy who worked for Amtrak soon found himself confronted by NS Special agents near Croxton earlier this summer. He was taking photos outside the yard on a step ladder so he could shoot 21M at CP Croxton without looking through the fence. The problem was, he was wearing a hard hat and dressed like he was trying to fit in too much (dressed more like a rail employee than a railfan), and it caught the attention of NS's special agents. Soon he was having to answer questions about who he was and what he was doing. He was not issued a summons, but he was stopped and questioned because he was in view of the cameras, and his attire was unusual for a railfan (especially the hard hat).
Had he stuck to more public locations, and not looked like he was trying to pass himself off as an employee, he would have never been stopped.
Many of those books were written in the days when CR (and even NS right after the split) didn't pay much attention to railfans. Now they do.