Trespassing Refresher

by Steve Eshom on January 26, 2010

Trespassing Refresher

Aaron prepares for a photograph outside of the right of way.

As all railfans know trespassing on railroad property is not an accepted practice.  From time to time its good to have refresher about this and Joe Perry of chasingsteel.com got that refresher a few weeks ago.  Joe had the opportunity to attend a session on the role of the special agent put on by the Union Pacific in San Bernardino.  I recommend dogcaught readers take a few moments to read Joe’s summary of the presentation as I think it gives a good insight to the railroad and special agent’s point of view and offers a refresher on trespassing.

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Tagged as: photo, photography, railfan, railroad, train, trespassing

  • Lon

    Railroad cops can be fickle. I’ve parked places for years with railroad cops just ignoring me, then one day they stop and threaten to cite me for trespassing, even when I’m just pulled off to the side of the road because they think I’m “scoping” out the railyard next to the highway. I’ve also been told I’m on railroad property and threatened with a citation when I see other people using that same property all the time and railroad personnel, including railroad cops, just ignore them. Including the time period after I’ve been warned.

    I’m sure many readers of this blog try very hard not to trespass and to be safe. Especially if someone in their chain of command doesn’t like railfans and complains about your presence, the cop may be forced to ask you to move. Personally, I’m becoming very frustrated at the Vancouver depot because railroad personnel park in the public parking lot and leave their cars for months, sometimes years, yet when railfans park on BNSF property because there’s no space in the public parking areas, we can get cited.

  • http://steveeshom.com Steve Eshom

    I’m not sure how to handle the on and off enforcement in gray areas (where its not clear if you are trespassing or not). I have been listening to what you and other railfans say about where enforcement has occurred. If I absolutely have to have photo from one of those spots I’ll drop in quickly when I know a subject is going to be present, take my photo, and leave. Otherwise I just keep to public areas and those where I know I’m not attracting attention.

    Vancouver depot and the crew van parking is troubling. For right now I’ll say that I totally disagree with them parking the vans and their personal vehicles in the area designated for Amtrak patrons. I think the reasons for my disagreement (outside of my own selfish reason) are obvious.

  • http://www.traingeek.ca Steve Boyko

    Until I moved to Winnipeg I never met a railway police officer. Since then I have met two.

    One works for CP and I met him at a crossing. I was standing on the public side of the barrier and was waiting for a train to come. He stopped, commented that I was OK where I was but cautioned me not to walk beside the ROW (I know), and asked if I had noticed the crossing gate was malfunctioning. I hadn’t, but promised to phone it in if it did malfunction after the next train. The gate did malfunction so I called the number on the gate and left the details with them.

    I met a CN police officer when I was railfanning and saw some kids throwing stones at a train. I called CN and reported it, and supplied my photos to them. The CN police met with me and took my statement, and followed up several weeks later to tell me what happened in their investigation. It turns out that the kids were from a local school, so CN met with the principal and the kids’ parents, and the kids had to write letters of apology. I was impressed by their professionalism and dedication to the job.

    So far so good. I do my best not to knowingly trespass so I hope I never have a bad experience with railway police. I know it happens but I also think a lot of it is brought on by the railfan themselves doing things they know they should not do.

  • http://steveeshom.com Steve Eshom

    Great stories Steve! These stories go to show that a respectful relationship can exist between railfans and the railroad’s officers. I’ve been approached several times myself and the officers were very understanding of what I was doing. Generally they took my information and reminded me to not be on the tracks. Never have the officers said anything about the fact I was taking photographs. They understood I was on public property and I had just as much right to be there as anybody else. Like you say, don’t trespass and you won’t have issues.

  • Schwanz

    Steve, not to call the kettle black or anyting, but your number 2 shot for DINA is a major tresspassing shot. I find it much less a problem to not discuss the subject if your are going to do it. (Which I do, so I just don’t call anybody on it unless they post these kind of posts) :)

  • http://steveeshom.com Steve Eshom

    For my DINA number 2 photo I did cross the tracks at a location that is not a public crossing. The refresher Joe published is just as applicable to me as it is anyone else.

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