Western Railroad Discussion > UP brings PSR to shopping

In an effort to streamline shopping for everyone UP now offers trackside shopping.  Why deal with busy shopping malls and mask  requirements when all you have to do is stand by a UP mainline and watch for the open containers.  Due to the supply chain issues it's a bit of a grab bag as to what's available on the train.  In this case the items available were: Container 1  Valentine day greeting cards, Container 2 Tires, with samples conveniently placed on the well car, and Container 3 Seasonal furnishings....  All 3 of these containers were on the same train and the photos were taken in near Niland, Ca. on the Yuma subdivision this past Saturday.  

 

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Try calling it in to Union Pacific.  They will seem unconcerned, like your telling them the color of the ballast, and will almost always state "the crew failed to close the doors".  I stopped calling it in to them.  BNSF on the other hand always seems concerned and wants as many details as possible.

well if the train stopped talk to the crew

One could look at that as a safety concern. If the train were stopped for a meet and that door was swung out the passing train could hit it potentially resulting in injury. Product falling out of that container could also cause a derailment. Pretty pathetic UP doesn't care when that situation could cause bigger problems later. 

Last month called both BNSF and UP and it seem they don’t care any more.
Did not hear the DS calling the trains about the open doors.
In the passed they were more interested about the open doors and would hear the DS calling the train.
Dennis

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for some examples. Seeing.,..

Posted from Android

How would the train crew even access the doors to close them.  Need a ladder to get up there. 

As has been mentioned before, go back to the older style well cars that had a bulkhead up at the second level.  It prevented doors from opening while enroute.  

i have seen bnsf intermodal trains out here on the seligman sub for years and i have never seen an open container/trailer.

interesting............

66

 

BNSF6400 Wrote:
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> Try calling it in to Union Pacific.  They will
> seem unconcerned, like your telling them the color
> of the ballast, and will almost always state "the
> crew failed to close the doors".  I stopped
> calling it in to them.  BNSF on the other hand
> always seems concerned and wants as many details
> as possible.

It's been over a year, but I've called in open doors on UP at Mortmar, west of Niland pictured here.  The DS would come on the radio right away to stop the train, and an employee was able to close the door on a top deck container.  I'll see what happens next time I call one in.

mapboy

BNSF6400 Wrote:
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> Try calling it in to Union Pacific.  They will seem unconcerned, like your telling them the color of the ballast, and will almost always state "the crew failed to close the doors".  I stopped
> calling it in to them. 
>
I would record the call and send the audio to the left, right, and center media.

SAAP Wrote:
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> BNSF6400 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Try calling it in to Union Pacific.  They
> will seem unconcerned, like your telling them the
> color of the ballast, and will almost always
> state "the crew failed to close the doors".  I
> stopped
> > calling it in to them. 
> >
> I would record the call and send the audio to the
> left, right, and center media.

Isn't it against the law to record a phone call without notifying the other party?

HotWater Wrote:

> Isn't it against the law to record a phone call
> without notifying the other party?

Pretty much every call I make to a company these days has a voice notice saying the call may be recorded. I assume that if this is announcement is made then you can record it too.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Tires?  What do they have in a P265/60R18?
/Ted

Not in most states.  Most state law reads that if at least one person that is a party to the call knows that it is being recorded, that is sufficient.  So, if you record a call that you make--it's legal--you are one person and you are a party to the call.  Most state's law do not require a person recording a call to notify the other party(ies) to the call that it is being recorded.  

No complaints about the thieves who are doing this? They are the prime cause. If my house is burglarized is it my fault? even if I have alarms and cameras?
Over the years I have noticed more and more opposition to railroads on this railroad discussion.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Precision Scheduled Robbery

I keep coming back to there's got to be a better way to secure the doors.  Anything from cars with prevent the doors from being opened once loaded to better locking mechanisms on the container that are immune to crowbars and bolt-cutters.  I'm all for lock up as many of the thieves as you can, but you're never going to get them all.  Making the system more intrinsicly secure and their efforts are less profitable (better locking) and more risky (more cops) is the only way this is going to stop.

#ThisIsTheWay
#CommonSense
#RailroadsPortsMarineshippingReform
#SadlyTooCheapToChangeOrReform
#PeopleStealingRailroading

NDHolmes Wrote:
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> Precision Scheduled Robbery
>
> I keep coming back to there's got to be a better
> way to secure the doors.  Anything from cars with
> prevent the doors from being opened once loaded to
> better locking mechanisms on the container that
> are immune to crowbars and bolt-cutters.

NDHolmes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I keep coming back to there's got to be a better
> way to secure the doors.  Anything from cars with
> prevent the doors from being opened once loaded to
> better locking mechanisms on the container that
> are immune to crowbars and bolt-cutters.  

We rented a container last summer and it had a steel box over the lock area that prevented it from being cut. If we lost the key it would require a blow torch to take off.

Paint up a container with an Xbox logo and watch how quickly the theives pry open that container. That is the bait.  Put some low cost battery powered GPS units inside some electronics in the container so they can be tracked where they go. We had this tiny unit that ran about $20 a month and enough power to last weeks. It reported its location every 45 seconds. If they are lucky they might track it to a warehouse where the goods are taken by gangs.



 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

NDHolmes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Precision Scheduled Robbery
>
> I keep coming back to there's got to be a better
> way to secure the doors.  Anything from cars with
> prevent the doors from being opened once loaded to
> better locking mechanisms on the container that
> are immune to crowbars and bolt-cutters.  I'm all
> for lock up as many of the thieves as you can, but
> you're never going to get them all.  Making the
> system more intrinsicly secure and their efforts
> are less profitable (better locking) and more
> risky (more cops) is the only way this is going to
> stop.

There ARE multiple ways to ensure that a bolt cutters, wire cable snips, or even hand held battery operated grinders won't open container (or trailer doors).  They are expensive to buy, time consuming to install (1 minute, maybe), and even more time consuming to remove. 

While a CSX Intermodal employee in West Springfield, MA, I encountered a good number of 'war locks' at the outgate that had to be removed before the trucker could leave the property. War-Lok web site  We had a special, war lock provided (CSX purchased) tool to remove them.  The tool was heavy and not so easy to use.  Given that on a chassis, the lock rod handles and war lock were slightly above shoulder-height for this 6-footer.  From time the trucker came into the office until they were rolling was consistently under a minute without a war lock, over 5 minutes with a war lock.  Thankfully, West Springfield was a comparatively 'small' ramp that the added outgate delay for a war lock didn't cause a significant line of truckers waiting to outgate their loads.

Given todays' giant backlog of containers at larger inland ramps (think Chicago), if 5% of the containers had war locks or similar theft-deterrent devices on them, how quickly would those out gates end up having hour-long tie ups simply to outgate a load?

Who picks up the tab to buy the war locks?  Who decides whether or not to put a war lock on a load?  I don't have answers to either question.

MojaveBill Wrote:
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> No complaints about the thieves who are doing
> this? They are the prime cause. If my house is
> burglarized is it my fault? even if I have alarms
> and cameras?
> Over the years I have noticed more and more
> opposition to railroads on this railroad
> discussion.

The thieves are the constant. We all know they're there, whether or not they should be (they shouldn't, but they are). The question is, who's problem are they?