National Gricer Accreditation Scheme required?

[Broithe]

It might help to stop instances like this -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-45144054

 

- and other ones where people are "suspected" of terrorism offences.

[Glenderg]

A spotters charter? 

[Mayner]

Post 9/11 some of the American railroads including BNSF  & AMTRAK encourage railfans to register with their citizens safety programmes to report suspicious activity https://pass.amtrak.com/index.aspx. 

Railfans sometimes use their cellphones to report trains with defective equipment to train control or the dispatcher using the railroads emergency phone number, I know of at least one instance where a freight trains were stopped because of a calls from a railfan reporting running gear defects that could potentially result in derailments, that would not be noticeable to the train crew or picked up by a hot box detector.  

[DiveController]

On 8/10/2018 at 3:25 PM, Broithe said:

It might help to stop instances like this -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-45144054

 

- and other ones where people are "suspected" of terrorism offences.

Dimwit! it's amazing how many people resort to social media to ask what to so about suspicious activity, do with their kid's injury, etc. etc. that would seem to be intuitive 

[Broithe]

44 minutes ago, DiveController said:

Dimwit! it's amazing how many people resort to social media to ask what to so about suspicious activity, do with their kid's injury, etc. etc. that would seem to be intuitive 

Intuitive?

I once had the woman nextdoor ring the bell one night and ask me if I knew "the phone number for the ambulance"?

Initially, I thought that it was going to lead to a joke, but it turned out that her daughter, who lived a couple of miles away had just rung her with the same question and she had come round to see if I knew. The old chap who lived nextdoor to the daughter had collapsed and they were at a loss as to how to proceed.

Rather than risk any further delay, I rang and, although it must have sounded like the most bizarre of hoax calls, they attended fairly sharpish and picked up the victim..

These were people who watched Casualty, Holby City, etc., almost religiously.

Never overestimate the public.

[leslie10646]

Hmmmmm - maybe a register of legitimate "trainspotters" - speaking as an unrepentant Gricer and DAA (don't ask!).

Most enthusiasts of my age have done their time in the bushes, mainly stealing up to known gaps in the fences of loco sheds! The more adventurous have police records to prove it - it was a Rite of Passage to have been arrested in East Germany - I know some pillars of the Enthusiast Community with impressive Stasi files (or had, I should say - they've all been burned). 

Personally speaking, my "Record" was in Hungary - it cost me several steam lines, while I remained in Budapest (in my hotel) while they questioned me. My colour slide films came back as Black and White and they confiscated the DIESEL photos!

There must be a lesson there somewhere, but I never did discover what it was.......

[Broithe]

I've never had much trouble in railway situations, but I'm not a regular attender.

Plane-spotting, on the other hand, can be much more 'serious'.

I will confess to having been inside, but only for a couple of hours. I was either side of thirteen at the time and was apprehended at gun-point - in fact, bayonet-point, which I remember thinking seemed rather quaint. My father and I spent a couple of hours in military custody and were released without charges. The time in the cell was certainly less stressful than the time spent being initially searched and questioned by a very twitchy chap with an SLR. His two companions were rather more amenable. The twenty minute journey back to their base, over dirt roads, was very entertaining - with me being 'held hostage' and my father following on his motorbike, being covered by Mr Twitchy lying on the back bench of the Land Rover that by this stage had no floor left, due to the radio batteries leaking during the emergency run to capture us.

It didn't take long to convince the Interrogating Officer that we were not PLO terrorists, when he finally arrived.

I had a few more armed detentions, but only for as long as it took to explain oneself. The one above escalated because they had buggered their radio and so couldn't get guidance on what to do with us, and there were NATO allies in the vicinity who needed to be impressed by the level of security they were being afforded.

[Mayner]

10 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

Hmmmmm - maybe a register of legitimate "trainspotters" - speaking as an unrepentant Gricer and DAA (don't ask!).

Most enthusiasts of my age have done their time in the bushes, mainly stealing up to known gaps in the fences of loco sheds! The more adventurous have police records to prove it - it was a Rite of Passage to have been arrested in East Germany - I know some pillars of the Enthusiast Community with impressive Stasi files (or had, I should say - they've all been burned). 

Personally speaking, my "Record" was in Hungary - it cost me several steam lines, while I remained in Budapest (in my hotel) while they questioned me. My colour slide films came back as Black and White and they confiscated the DIESEL photos!

There must be a lesson there somewhere, but I never did discover what it was.......

A "National Railfans Association" has a distinctly American feel to it a railfans/gricers lobby group like the NRA to defend the gricers constitutional right to bear a camera and go where they like on railroad property.