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.

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.