stash Wrote:
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> The photos posted were taken from a public street.
> If the crew is so concerned about anyone looking
> at them, they possibly need disguises. I'd say
> they need to get over it or get another job.

Ah, yes. This was one of the subjects that always intrigured me whenever it would come up on Trainorders, similar to the if-railroaders-hate-their-jobs-so-much-why-don't-they-quit threads.

What seems to be lost on a lot of railbuffs is that train crews and individual employees are merely complying with whatever instructions they've been given by their employers. For example, Union Pacific has a written policy explaining what employees are required to do whenever persons are observed on or near the right-of-way. That includes being on public property that's close to the railroad. People taking pictures are included in the instructions, and the term "railfans" is specifically mentioned. It's something that employees can be tested on by managers, and a failure can result in discipline. Discipline can result in lost time, thus lost earnings, and since discipline is cumulative, a relatively minor offense can have a negative effect on any subsequent discipline. So given all that, railbuffs shouldn't be shocked when they're approached about something they're doing, or take a pissy attitude about it, but many seem to. I guess it's part of a I'm-gonna-continue-to-take-pictures-of-trains-wherever-I-want-until-you-pry-my-camera-out-of-my-cold-dead-hand mentality.

That said, I don't have any knowledge about what NOCR's or the Port of Richmond's policy is concerning situations such as the one described by the originator of this thread, but it seems likely that there is something, given what happened. While it's not clear (to me, at least) that the train crew was actually the one responsible for instigating the contact that was made, I can certainly understand it if they were. Since NOCR is a non-union operation, their employees don't have a griveance process. If they don't comply with whatever they're instructed to do, they can suddenly find themselves in the position of needing to "get another job" as suggested by Stash. That's probably not something they'd be interested in risking having to do over a situation such as this. I'm sure I wouldn't.

Taking pictures of trains around an industrial complex (and that's really what this facility is) increases the possibilty of the photographer being contacted. Try it around a refinery and see what happens.