Western Railroad Discussion > Railfan from Rochelle,IL Arrested

Folks:

I seen in posts on MN Rail and Illini Rail a railfan from Rochelle, IL, Dan Ferrari(sic?), was arrested for trying to steal a builders plate off a UP unit that was on display in Rochelle during Lincoln Highway Days there.

IMO, another black eye for our hobby!!!

DK

If indeed this person is guilty as charged, I submit that he is not a railfan. I would not downgrade the term by calling him that. He is a crook, plain and simple.

Regards,
Burlington John

Here Here, not a fan

May he rest in peace for the MAXIMUM sentence!
JB

What would this person or anybody for that matter want to steal or posess a builders plate? Are they that valuable or exciting?

Yes. You will find almost no display loco has it's plates. Nor anything else that can be removed easily (or even semi-easily), parts were stripped for collections, by scrappers, etc., etc. The fact is plates are like many other kinds of relics. There aren't any more. Which doesn't justify either stealing them or casting new replicas and passing them as real. Bear in mind that the traditional cast plate is a whole lot more interesting (to some folks) than a simple photo etched piece of stainless steel with an adhesive back.

As far as I am concerned, builders plates only interest me in their original mounting. This same epidemic occurred back in the mid 70's to all of the BN Alcos. Only difference, those motors were still in service at the time. No excuse for such vandalism.

Idots. Thats what they are. Idots.

While I have nothing aganst builders plate collectors... I must ask. PLEASE GET THEM LEGALLY. Dont take them off active units and dont steal them from anywhere else.

whats an idot???????

Chessie_8563 wrote:
>
> Idots. Thats what they are. Idots.
>
> While I have nothing aganst builders plate collectors... I must
> ask. PLEASE GET THEM LEGALLY. Dont take them off active units
> and dont steal them from anywhere else.

IDObigboy wrote:
>
> whats an idot???????
>
Illinois Department of Transportation, but I'm pretty sure they aren't concerned with the unauthorized aquisition of builders plates.

On a side note. The conductor who set that engine out at Rochelle (who incidentally is also a railfan) was saying that they hadn't even secured it or cut away from it and people (fans I would quess, but I don't know for sure) were all over that engine. Not very safe and they somewhat hindered that crew in the performance of their duties (not a lot, but a little). It would have been far safer to wait until they had cut away and returned to the mainline. Again this is what I was told, I didn't see anything for myself.

Have fun, play safe.

CB

"On a side note. The conductor who set that engine out at Rochelle (who incidentally is also a railfan) was saying that they hadn't even secured it or cut away from it and people (fans I would quess, but I don't know for sure) were all over that engine. Not very safe and they somewhat hindered that crew in the performance of their duties (not a lot, but a little). It would have been far safer to wait until they had cut away and returned to the mainline. Again this is what I was told, I didn't see anything for myself."

Marvelous, I don't wonder at all why we are not wanted around. The name of the "gentleman" in question would be nice to broadcast to the world.

I'm glad he was caught and hope he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I agree, maybe he should be identified in TRAINS magazine (or the like) & hopefully publicly embarrassed & blackballed.

Pure thievery.

The UP was confused on this note. The engine (UP 4378) was brought in on Thursday night on the 199 Del Monte Track. The UP then brought it down to the depot area on the Friday night. We (volunteers) had it all planned out what to do with the trainmaster, but the crews are always the last ones to find out. The engine was not touched until Saturday morning, where we roped it off with caution tape so everyone would be safe. We did not have a problem all weekend, except the builder plate incident, which was returned to UP and they thanked us very much for catching the guy. The crews were calling it in as foamers all over the engine with the doors all open. And the special agent got the message as fans crawling all over the ZLAAP, which was the train that called the engine in. So we weren't all over it before they got back to their train.

Matt

Do new engines still have cast builders plates? Or are they just decals or stickers?

chris

I purchased a new EMD plate, and it is stamped aluminum with four attachment holes for rivets. Pretty heavy, for what it is...

Hear, Hear, Idots! (Unless you're calling your dog... then, "Here, Here" is correct!) :-) Let's hope that the responsible actions of the volunteers at Rochelle off-set the irresponsible action of the thief in UP's view...

You guys are way too funny. Oh course it was a foamer who took the builders plate. Who else in their right mind would want one?

Why not just cruxify him on the nearest signal mast of telephone pole.
Once again, I say you guys are way too funny. He is not the first, nor the last that will continue to give railfans a bad rap. What would "blackballing" the guy have to do with anything? What, does the railfan Grand Pooba cast you out of the circle or something?

CSX_Hoghead wrote:
>
> You guys are way too funny. Oh course it was a foamer who took
> the builders plate. Who else in their right mind would want one?

Why... an Idot, of course.... <g>

CSX_Hoghead wrote:
>
> Why not just cruxify him on the nearest signal mast of
> telephone pole.
> Once again, I say you guys are way too funny. He is not the
> first, nor the last that will continue to give railfans a bad
> rap. What would "blackballing" the guy have to do with
> anything? What, does the railfan Grand Pooba cast you out of
> the circle or something?

I think it involves some sort of ceremony where the accused has their vest stripped of all RR patches and their tongue cut out so that they cannot call another NS unit a "catfish" ever again... <g>