I stumbled onto the Trains photo charter of the Skookum out on the Oregon coast last March and nobody accused me of poaching. I talked to a few of the people who were on the charter and they seemed fine with me being there. It was on the side of a public road so even if they were not fine with it there was nothing they could do about it.
I do not pay much attention to steam so I really had no idea it was running but as I was driving down the coast I saw a bunch of people on a hillside over the tracks so I joined the que and got some nice shots then went on my way down the coast. I did not chase as I really don't care about steam I would have been much happier if the GN F or the cow GP were running. I did stop off and get some pics of them at Garibaldi and I thought they looked much better than the tea pots. But if it had been the F and the Geep I doubt if people would have paid $700 a day for the trip.

I did talk to a friend of mine and he was out chasing the excursion without paying and he said he was called a poacher or a scab several times. He couldn't afford the $700 per day either.

Scott O'Dell