Rail Thieves


That really pisses me off. I hope karma really comes back to bite them in the ass. I could only imagine if someone did that on the main, with about 80 full tankers going 70 MPH...it would be a catastrophe. And I bet they are stupid enough to take it to a scrap yard to sell if they are stupid enough to cut a section of rail out. Ignorance these days....
 
Too bad it didn't end like the Darwin Awards guys who tried to steal supports from a high-voltage electrical tower... seriously, what the hell? The acetylene for the torch probably cost more than the scrap price of the rail, if they even found a buyer.
 
Im willing to bet that torch was stolen. And haha yeah wouldnt that of been sweet if when the rail was cut all the pent up pressure in the rail would have exploded free and broken some bones. I hope the conductor and engineer of that train find the guys that did it and whoop some ass lol
 
Idiots at their finest. Common sense is becoming an uncommon thing these days. Not only do they endanger their own lives, they endanger the lives of everybody around them. It's sad to see these kinds of things happening today.
 
If you read the comments on that page, the people commenting don't seem to be any more intelligent.
 
and the whole "lets blame this theft on poverty which we blame the president for so lets blame the president for this theft" thing. Seriously?
 
My favorite part:

Walsh said due to the unwieldy nature of the steel rails, he suspects the thieves probably did not intend bringing it directly to a scrap yard, but instead likely have the means to melt it down themselves.
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Ummm, how're they going to do that? On their kitchen stove? In their backyard blast furnace?

How?
 
They may have taken the rails for heavy reinforcement of something -- or as rebar maybe. I agree, shot 'em on sight. Grafitti clowns too while you're at it.

Let's see is homeland security makes their capture a high priority. I sure would.
 
Dollie's Dad said:
My favorite part:



Ummm, how're they going to do that? On their kitchen stove? In their backyard blast furnace?

How?
Click to expand...

Prolly try and melt it down on the same stove they make their crack over.

I dont understand what they did with the rail. 1800lbs is to much for almost all pickups, not to mention two 8ft sections wont fit in the bed of a truck very well. If it was only 2 people, they wouldnt be able to dead lift and then carry 450lbs each. Even 4 people is 225lbs per person.

There are old sections of rail along any right of way, just keep walking. I would have rather seen them do that than do something asenine like this. If they had picked up the old section of rail at least they werent endangering anyone but themselves.
 
Re: "it would have taken two or more people to lift each 900-pound segment"


Yes, that was also my favorite part.
The two guys are about to lift the section of rail when idiot one says to idiot 2, "No, wait. You lift it at the end and I'll lift it in the middle."
 
It would seem to be the work of some fairly knowledgable, yet deranged, individuals as not everyone is running around with an Oxyacetelene tourch set up and how many really even know how to use them with this proficency or the equipment to haul the cut section of rail off?

As I recall the article said the section of rail weighed 900 lbs which isn't the easiest for two guys to move. Not the easiest to lift & load even into a pickup bed I doubt without the proper tools? I can remember quite a number of year back being in body building class at college and and dead lifting 350lbs. I was glued to the ground, No Way was I going to move around with even that weight.


The terrorist comment may not be all that far off as this could have been a test run to see just how long it took to do this dastardly deed so possibly the next time it would be on the main line!??

I doubt it's the work of a couple of druggies but will be interesting to see what's discovered. If we're told the truth by the media?
 
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I don't buy the "terrorist dry run" nonsense. You'd have to be one stupid terrorist to think you need to go to such lengths as complete rail removal to derail a train. And why take the rail with you?
 
yup I saw that in a report last week sometime. The price of steel has really gone up and thieves are taken it from everywhere. I get reports of vehicles that were broken down on the side of the road and when the owner comes back in the morning to repair it, the cars is gone and scrapped already. Taking rails is a new low, they could have really hurt someone doing that. I hope they are caught
 
Thieves typically aren't the smartest people around. Clearly there are better places to get 'free steel' that don't require as much labor or processing before you can get money from it.

But, if someone that needed steel for the steel and not to resell it they'd likely have all the required tools and vehicles for making use of it. They just need to figure out the fastest way to collect it. Rail is a dense load of steel. So if they can drive alongside a section of track and pick up several thousand pounds of steel in a couple hours I bet it would pay off.

On a related note, the office building I was working in had a two foot section of copper pipe stolen off of the air conditioning unit. Probably sells for $10 - $20? I honestly don't know what that's worth. But to get it fixed costs about $400. That's the stuff that's really annoying. I can't imagine the repair costs for the track and locomotive. Easily into the thousands, if not tens of thousands. Almost makes me wonder if the A/C repair guy went around breaking a bunch of units to drum up business.

Rather than stealing metals they should open a "low cost demolition" service. Hire out for destruction and removal of stuff. "Yeah, we'll haul it off for you. And get paid for it!"
 
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