Gary S Wrote:I then asked him if he saw me taking photos of a railroad bridge, would he stop and question me. He said, without hesitation, "Absolutely." He then explained that with all the refineries here on the Gulf Coast, and with much of the chemicals being transported by rail, all law enforcement agencies down here have been instructed to check out all activities such as this. He said it certainly wasn't against the law to take photos, but they were obligated to check it out.

And perhaps they should. It shouldn't matter what you look like, what you were wearing, or that you acted like a model railroader. If they have a reasonable threat, then there should be nothing wrong with them politely investigating everyone hanging around railroad bridges, so long as it is not stretching law enforcement recourses. A few years back, we had someone sabotage and Amtrak train here in Arizona. The train crashed, and nobody was ever caught. They shouldn't just assume everyone watching trains is a railroad enthusiast.

I am more surprised the sheriff's deputy did not want to check out your layout

Gary, I totally understand that you were not trespassing. I hope I didn't imply that you were. I merely was trying to explain it from both sides at the same time. Sometimes these situations are rather funny, other times they are not. Not long ago I was contacted about two males video taping operations at East Conway (NS Conway Terminal, Conway, PA). The caller, a new trainmaster, gave a good description of the two men and the green Dodge pickup they were driving. I was not far off so I responded but could not find the subjects. I called him back and he stated he could still see the actors. I continued the search but again could not find them. I called him back and he told me I was right in front of them. Turns out they were standing the the bed of the truck, shooting video of trains. But, they truck was parked in the ice cream stand parking lot across the street. They were certainly NOT on railroad property. Here is a case of a person reporting suspicious activity but not understanding the laws. The T/M did what he felt was best but thought that taking pictures was the violation. Of course it is not, and they were not trespassing, so they could take all the video/pictures they want. Just another misunderstanding of what is and what isn't these days.

Railcop, you didn't imply that I was trespassing, but I just wanted to state, one more time, for eveyrone else's sake, that I wasn't trespassing.