Railroad Police

Joe, if your not on RR property then they really don't have nothing to say. You can basically do that all you want. No offense, but most rail fans don't know what their looking at. The Roadmaster gets the vast majority of that kind of calls. It would be hard for you to understand, getting a call at 2 AM from some fool that heard a funny noise. I would venture 1 in 1000, of that kind of call is anything remotely serious. I know your intent is good, leave it to trained professionals. Believe me railroad jobs are a lot more demanding than you think. KCS was about the worst, most weeks, I averaged 3 night calls and 1 weekend call every week. I worked two years, one summer for KCS.
William Jackson
No offense intended, not all rail fans are unknowledgable about railroads

 

Bill,

You and all the other special agents deserve a pat on the back for doing your job professionally! Regretfully there are a lot of police acadaemy rejects who get a badge and a gun and proceed to play Quick Draw McGraw. While in Irving Mall in Irving,TX back in the late 90s my wife and I observed a security guard in his uniform walking just like QDMcD and my wife commented she wouldn't want to get in that guys way anywhere. He was probably the nicest man one would want to meet but I imigine he had had a lot of encounters with our "well bahaved" youth so mabie wanted all to know not to mess around in his mall. I can understand his thinking.

Just yesterday some unknown trespassor placed a piece of metal in a switch in the Wuerzburg passenger station yard tracks and derailed a switch engine. The engineer wasn't injured other than the shock treatment but even here in Germany this crap is starting to increase. Had one of the high speed trains (OK, Wuerzburg isn't out on the high speed line that runs to Hamburg) or any passenger train for that matter had derailed it would have caused some minor injuries perhaps not to mention the damage to the equipment.

I guess it boils down to the responsible railfans who know how to conduct themselves when around any railroad and if they do see anything that might be a problem to report same but not overkill the situation either. I recall that some employee who works for Kalmbach (Trains, Model Railroader) was responsible for having the Boy Scouts Railroading Badge reinstored. Is this true and I wonder if it has taught the boys how a railroad operates and how to conduct themselves around railroad property as well as everywhere else too for that matter?

Joe Toth

 

Joe, I was not a Special Agent. I worked in the Track as a Roadmaster and in the Operating as a Trainmaster. Most of the calls for problems go to the officer who is the closest to the problem. Generally, the local Police and the railroad Special Agent is called also. During my short time, as Roadmaster for CSX in Miami, they required the Special Agent to go with you if you went out at night. I was always glad to see them, they have training in many areas that most people don't know about. With FEC we used to have a guy in Melbourne, that called in problems, then when you got there, he just wanted to talk with someone on the Railroad. Most rail fans are very nice folks, but some are not. Kinda like Keith said, a few ruin it for all.
William Jackson

 

Sorry Bill,

I still have the cap off of the old tube of airplane glue...should have read your comments properly. Guess I had my head in the caboose stove?

It is hard to believe you need police escourts today when working on the railroad but there are locations that even the police won't visit in broad daylight.

When I switched for the Santa Fe in Dallas in the late 60s/mid-70s we interchanged with the T&P in East Dallas and the area wasn't the safest part of the city then either. We didn't ever require the services of the special agent but at night we kept a sharp eye out for anything that didn't meet our fancy. The situation improved when we started to deliver the cars direct to the T&P yard just up the track from the Age of Steam museum. We carried a caboose since we had to shove across several street crossings and use the air whistle on the caboose platform as well as placing a lighted fusee in the coupler to warn motorists and pedestrians alike.

I always saluted the Frisco steam locos on display at the museum when we rode by! My years employed with the Cotton Belt and Santa Fe in both Dallas and Ft. Worth were really great but I had been raised north of Dallas in a wide place in the road called Farmers Branch. The Frisco ran behind my grandparent's chicken farm through the woods and off to the east across old US 77 (now I-35E) was the Katy's branch to Denton. I sure miss the black and yellow cab units on the freights. Right after Christmas 1961 I witnessed the passing of three brand new GE U25Bs which heralded in the second generation of Mr. D's Machine. They just can't replace the Fs and FAs in black and yellow but now most of us wish the Frisco was still with us regardless of the color scheme worn by the diesels.

There are railfans who miss Penn Central too I am told. Wow!

Joe Toth

 

Joe, it's ok. Rail fans, is a big tent. Some go to great lengths and detail to learn railroading. Some just think they know. Most anything, has value, in that most railroads do not operate the same. Even though they may use the same rules, it may have a different interpretation. Time periods, language and geographic areas keep the hobby a continuous learning process. Being from a railroad family and working 40 years, I am still amazed at the amount of things that I did not know.
William Jackson

 

Howdy Bill,

I wrapped up a 40 year railraod career in 2010. After a three year hitch with the US Army Transportation Corps, I switched for the Cotton Belt and Santa Fe in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and then after a move to Germany with the German Fedeal Railways. Good thing I checked out those screw couplers and buffers up close while attending the USATC school at Ft. Eustus, VA, during the fall of '64! They had a nice collection of foreign equipment to train the GIs on plus those Army 2-8-0s. Those steam-ups every Saturday morning were like John Denver's song, "Almost Heaven!"

Ever hear German spoken with a heavy Texas accent? Believe me, you ARE better off if you haven't!

Joe Toth

 

Joe, that's one of the good things about this site. Everyone has had a different journey and experience with the Railroad.
Bill Jackson

 

Bill, so right you are! I have mentioned on another thread that after my stepfather moved us to Tampa in 1962 I looked up railroads in the Yellow Pages and long and behold there was a Frisco off-line traffic office in Tampa and a short bike ride from where we lived. The old boy who greeted me after I had politely knocked on the door was Ed Bunch. He had hired out with the Frisco in his hometown of Amory, Miss, as a mud hop and then moved up the ladder as a freight agent in Pensicola and then moved on to the traffic dept. and spent the rest of his career in Tampa and Miami off-line traffic offices.

He now lives in the Clearwater area and will turn a young 89 on Sept. 21st. He taught me a lot about the railroad world of rates and tarriffs in those growing up teenage years in Tampa. I maintained a total interest in railroading from his office or hanging out at Tampa Union Station and railfanning the area with my best friend who passed away suddenly in 2006 at age 59 or the ACL's 65 car phostphate trains that ran right through downtown Tampa out to Port Tampa or seeing a Frisco boxcar spotted near TUS on the Texas Team Track (named after TEXACO as they had at one time an unloading facility at the end of track) or all the pretty girls who boarded the passenger trains at the station, it was solid fun to railfan Tampa in the early 60s. Great Memories!

Joe Toth

 

There is a article in the June2012 "Railway Age" on Railroad Police. Page 40.

 

Charlie, I would have that badge looked at by an expert. It may be legitimate, but it is identical to the badge I wore for 10 years as a St. Louis Police Officer. At the top, where it says "St. Louis & San Francisco," we had the words "St. Louis." These were in the same block letters as the word "Police." At the bottom of the state seal was the word "Metropolitan" in small letters. On the bar that says "Railroad" was our four-digit badge number. These parts do not match the metal on the badge, and look newer, which made me suspicious.

I don't say it is a fake, it may very well be legitimate. But if I owned it I would check it out.

 

Does anyone have any information regarding the handguns issued to Frisco Special Agents? My father who lived his adult life in Springfield, but has been deceased for 10 years, purchased a used Smith & Wesson revolver many years ago from an individual there. Dad always said it belonged to a Frisco policeman. There are no RR markings on the revolver indicating such, but I thought I'd check here to see if someone could provide me with any information. Thanks.

 

I received information from Smith & Wesson about the revolver I was inquiring about. It left the factory in 1951, and was shipped to Thomson-Diggs Co (hardware store) in Sacramento, CA. All I need now is for someone to state that Frisco bought all of their Police/Security items from this source, and I'll be happy.