@JfromJersey They run the Lakewood government. Cops aren’t allowed to “defy” them on anything they do. They were out inspecting the train after the incident but nothing about the people climbing on the back of the train.
@R&DB It’s not just Brooklyn they move down from. They move in from Israel too. The areas where there’s no trains so they don’t know what a train is.
@Pennrail42 Yes, this was a problem under Conrail. Although during the early shared assets days it was much worse as Lakewood was occupied by nasty gangs before the Israelis moved in. The Bloods, Crips, MS-13, and a few Puerto Rican groups. Such groups would often rob the train of lumber and cut air hoses on the cars.
The Israelis see the train as something which exists solely to inconvenience and bother them, so very few treat the railroad with any respect. Towards the end of Conrail being down here, the younger ones will often use the cars as a moving jungle gym. Those over the age of 18 show extreme confusion on how to cross at railroad crossings. The selfish ones think the train has to stop for them!
Conrail tried many times with several methods to try and solve this problem and almost every single one failed. Methods that did work would work for maybe 6 months max. In 2014-2015, area and railroad police ran a long sting operation to try and stop the madness. (They told everyone in town that was what Operation Lifesaver was)
Now C&D runs the line and is nowhere near as tolerant of this activity, and has been at odds with the locals almost since day one over them messing with the train. The locals have, for some strange reason, interpreted this as a retaliation against them. (?!?!?!?!) Hence the vile behavior reported earlier.
The trouble always happens between County Line Road and Seventh Street, and appears to always involve a particular group of young teenagers…
