The melodramatic introduction to the story, complete with slashing air hoses, was a lead worthy of the high journalistic standards found today at the El Segundo Advertiser.

So, they climb on the train when it is slowing somewhere, then wait and go down and "slash" the air hose between the cars on a moving train and force it into emergency?

Isn't it just a lot easier to wait until the train has slowed down or stopped with a set and turn an angle cock, or just to big hole the train from the EOT device? And isn't that much more common?

It makes me wonder if the guy who wrote this has ever seen an actual air hose or even a rail car close up.

And what would you need to "slash" or even "cut" an air hose? Maybe an adjustable air hose sized bolt cutter that they could also use on security locks?

I guess a few whacks with my bush axe might be able to "slash" into a pressurized air brake hose and could cut it. But I sure ain't going to do that to a pressurized air hose on a moving train down in between the moving cars. I've seen someone knocked senseless from getting too close to a pressurized air hose when it "popped".

Meanwhile who is getting them the kind of secure information on where to find what they are looking for? Dock workers? Would they really know what train a container was loaded on? Or when? This happened at times in the days of boxcars with loads of liquor and cigarettes, all of which were most likely or proven to have been inside jobs.

I'm kind of surprised that with modern surveillance chips, that can be placed in valuable cargoes, and tracked to their location, that more folks aren't getting caught for this these days.