Forwarded from another RR mailing list
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FYI on providing train consist info heads up.......
This is to let everyone know on these list that um moi was just visited
at my residence by two very professional special agents of a well known
railroad company (i.e. starts with a "B"), and inquired into my rather
informative postings of trains posted to what I suspect was the Railspot
list. My postings for the 29th of October were shown to me, along with
my shots of the inside of a ES44DC cab (taken almost a year ago), and
information obtained about me off of PublicData.com.
It turned out that apparently an individual from that railroad company
spotted my observations off the list, with the intention of forwarding
said information to Homeland Security AND the FBI for further
investigation. I can thank my lucky stars that the special agent I spoke
with, knows me and realized that I was only taking photos as a hobby,
therefore this was handled on a one to one basis at the front door of my
apartment (heart beating at this point).
He voiced his railroad's concern about the detail that was posted in my
spottings, such as the origin/destination (i.e. such as IMNLB, etc),
amount of loads, empties, tonnage, and length. He didn't feel the
listings of the engines was a problem, as a description of an engine
would not necessarily give away detailed information about the consist of
a train.
So the crux of the matter, is that there are individuals reading our
posts to the various lists (as if I shouldn't have realize this was
taking place anyway, what with 9/11, etc.), and most likely forwarding
said posts to security at various railroads. Said special agent asked me
if I would pass this possible threat to railroad security on to the lists
that I am subscribed to.
I have made the following decision:
a) All future posts by me will be brief in nature, noting only that I
spotted a train (northbound, southbound, etc),
b) There will be NO indications of consist, type of train, etc and
c) Information will be limited to engines spotted ONLY.
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