[GreenKeys] Telegraph in 2009?

[kf9nz at juno.com]

      Open wire lines on many  RR's used iron line wire fairly often.  
One territory I had used the pole pin pair for a block circuit ( talking
between local stations) that was #8 BWG.  Bare of course.   It often
would hold broken poles up, but it was a bear to splice.  I missed the
original posting to this thread though.

        As for problems with being on RR rights-of-way, and photographing
trains, there are many problems.  Trespassing on RR property has always
been a problem. Theft of copper line wire made my life difficult for
several years.   There were several cases where we had to give up trying
to keep circuits working because it was being stolen faster than we could
replace it.   METRA, the Chicago area commuter rail system has a rule
against photographing on their property - even a station platform if you
are a paying passenger.   If you are not trespassing there is no rule or
law preventing photography.  This is still the USofA in spite of
unconstitutional laws, and you may have to put up with following through
all the way to court and spending time in the greybar hotel in order to
assert your rights.  Lots of articles in "TRAINS" magazine and such over
the last few years.  

Frank


 
On Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:15:25 -0400 Bob McConnell <rmcconne at lightlink.com>
writes:
> Roy Morgan wrote:
> > On Jun 18, 2009, at 8:08 PM, Don Robert House wrote:
> > 
> >> Okay List,  What do you think.
> > ... As you can see in
> >> the second photo, the wire looks like single-conductor strand, 
> about  
> >> 10
> >> AWG solid iron with no insulation.
> > 
> > First, a warning:  Messing about along railroad tracks, especially 
>  
> > ones still in use, can bring very unwanted attention.  I spoke 
> with a  
> > fellow who used to collect wire insulators such as you see in the  
> 
> > picture.  He no longer goes out along abandoned or in-use rail 
> lines  
> > to look for collectible insulators.  Reports are that security 
> people  
> > are especially alert to people who should not be found on rail 
> rights  
> > of way.  This is a real phenomenon since 9-11, the former 
> collector  
> > told me. Apparently you can be on a long-abandoned right of way 
> that  
> > has not seen a train for many decades or even the greater part of 
> a  
> > century, and be hauled off for suspicion of illegal activity.  
> 'Sounds  
> > like it's best to avoid the rails altogether.
> > 
> > Second a guess:  I would expect that the wire is likely not iron 
> but  
> > steel, and perhaps used to be copper clad steel wire and now the  
> 
> > copper is corroded away.  Folks who know will no doubt be heard 
> from  
> > and we'll get a better answer than my guess.
> 
> I read a couple of newsgroups where rail fans post pictures and 
> videos 
> they took of trains, track, stations, etc. They report that security 
> 
> around the rail lines has gotten much tighter since 9-11, to the 
> point 
> where a few of them have been threatened by security. A couple were 
> 
> arrested for trespassing, even though they were on a public highway 
> when 
> they took some pictures. In some cases the "security" personnel were 
> 
> rent-a-cops with delusions of adequacy, but they were still a 
> nuisance. 
> They also make it a point not to post pictures of identifiable 
> freight 
> loads for several weeks after they shoot them.
> 
> Bob McConnell
> N2SPP
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