Theft Recovery Tracking Device

Air tag battery only lasts about two years at best.

Does an air tag work inside a metal locomotive?

I'd spend the money on security cameras in your home instead. Unless you're worried about them disappearing at a club or train show setting while running.

I would be more concerned that your agent thinks your collection might be targeted at all.

In today's electronics-laden locos, that would be a tight fit.  Discreetly hidden among a whole bunch of trains being shipped from York, however... Hmm!  This time, let's give the FBI or someone's local police, something to go on! 

Seems like a lot of hassle for very little return.  If I were a club I might do it on a trailer hauling and storing equipment but for individual locomotives in a personal collection I wouldn't think that's warranted.  I agree with others to do more to secure the home with cameras and maybe an alarm system.

Assuming that the battery is good and the airtag works inside a metal locomotive, what would realistically be done with the information?  For example, if the airtag shows that a stolen item is at a particular location, will the police care?  Will you knock on the door and confront the person?  If you find the stolen item at a meet, how will you prove that it's yours?

Another option is to use an invisible marker that is readable under UV light to mark your items - can't track them, but if you find it at a meet you can identify it.

I'm with the folks who've suggested using airtags in shipments, trailers, equipment at shows, etc.

I figure my alarm system, secure doors, and living in a gated community is enough to protect my stuff at home.  While it would be cool to take some really neat stuff to the modular shows, I don't take any $2,000 locomotives to modular shows for that very reason.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Assuming that the battery is good and the airtag works inside a metal locomotive, what would realistically be done with the information?  For example, if the airtag shows that a stolen item is at a particular location, will the police care?  Will you knock on the door and confront the person?  If you find the stolen item at a meet, how will you prove that it's yours?

Well, if it has your Airtag inside, it seems pretty clearly you could prove it was yours!

I'll vote for the security alarm first and cameras second.  A professional is coming in no matter what you have also knowing they have at least 10-15 minutes of shopping time.  However, they are looking for cash, guns, jewelry or silver etc. - not bulky trains.  No alarm - some have been brave enough to back in a truck and take all.

If air tags work, you don't need to put one in each piece you own. More than likely, you only need 1 or 2 to put in your higher valued engines. Even if all your train stuff is stolen, chances are you'd discover it and take steps to recover it using the air tags long before the thieves have an opportunity to break the haul apart.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

...Well, if it has your Airtag inside, it seems pretty clearly you could prove it was yours!

Logically, yes, but will you get into a confrontation over it?  And assuming that it's on a seller's table, would you as a seller take someone's word that it was stolen from them?  (I wouldn't if I thought that I obtained the item legally.)  Based on my experience with minor non-violent property crimes (as a victim, not a perpetrator ), calling the police might get someone to come out in an hour or two - a toy train just isn't high on the priority list in most areas.  I think that your ideas about home security are the better route.

@Bill Sherry posted:

I'll vote for the security alarm first and cameras second.  A professional is coming in no matter what you have also knowing they have at least 10-15 minutes of shopping time.  However, they are looking for cash, guns, jewelry or silver etc. - not bulky trains.  No alarm - some have been brave enough to back in a truck and take all.

Generally true, but there were a couple of fairly large train heists in WV and western Pennsylvania that I can remember. One was at the Kruger Street museum in Wheeling - the thief seemed to know what he wanted.  Rumored to be an inside job, but who knows.  There was also a train shop (@jim sutter's ?) that got cleaned out.  AFAIK, although a lot of trains were taken, neither of these were ever solved.

@Bill Sherry posted:

I'll vote for the security alarm first and cameras second.  A professional is coming in no matter what you have also knowing they have at least 10-15 minutes of shopping time.  However, they are looking for cash, guns, jewelry or silver etc. - not bulky trains.  No alarm - some have been brave enough to back in a truck and take all.

No alarm and no camera. No police needed either 😉

@Mallard4468 posted:

  There was also a train shop (@jim sutter's ?) that got cleaned out.  AFAIK, although a lot of trains were taken, neither of these were ever solved.

I don't know about Jim's (I never heard of him being robbed - he just retired).  Not saying he wasn't, just that I never heard of it.

However there is a different shop in the Pittsburgh area that did get 'wiped out' and it has never been solved.  That place was called "the Log Cabin".  He went on a one week vacation and when he got back his shop, and his secondary shop in his house, were completely stolen.  For those that know the area, it was on Rochester Road

walt

@RickO posted:

No alarm and no camera. No police needed either 😉

I had stickers made that I place at each entry point to the home. Each has a picture of two pitbulls and a caption that says: “We can make it to a getaway car in the driveway in two seconds. Can you?”

I do know it works because my wife was in a nursing home and someone stole her Apple Watch and the nursing home found it using find my watch on her iPhone. Plus there was no dispute that it was hers

@Norman R posted:

I had stickers made that I place at each entry point to the home. Each has a picture of two pitbulls and a caption that says: “We can make it to a getaway car in the driveway in two seconds. Can you?”

I added a home security sign, similar to those ADT signs some homes have in front.

@ADCX Rob posted:

I would be more concerned that your agent thinks your collection might be targeted at all.

Sounds like the beginning of an insider job?

Our train shop was never robbed. Where do people come up with this stuff.

The idea of placing an Apple AirTag in an engine to catch the thief who may have an iPhone may not work in practice.  Here's why.

A few years ago Apple got reports of numerous of stalkers hiding AirTag's on women's cars to keep track of their location. In response, Apple changed the software so if an AirTag from an engine is following the thief around, say in their trunk, they will receive the following notice on their phone:

"AirTag Found Moving With You. The location of this AirTag can be seen by the owner. Tap to open Find My and see available actions."

At that point the thief knows they are being tracked and may try to dump the collection or search car-by-car and engine-by-engine for the AirTag.

@Bruce Brown posted:

... they will receive the following notice on their phone:

"AirTag Found Moving With You. The location of this AirTag can be seen by the owner. Tap to open Find My and see available actions."

At that point the thief knows they are being tracked and may try to dump the collection or search car-by-car and engine-by-engine for the AirTag.

That's fine.  If someone had put an AirTag in amongst their York purchases last October, a whole truckload of trains wouldn't have gone missing with no leads, and little more than a shoulder shrug from the FBI and jurisdictional issues for the York police.

IMO, EDTCA should do us a solid, and loan a few AirTags to random purchasers at York.  Assuming they let UPS or another company set up an on-site shipping station (which is a nice convenience), it might prevent another large-scale heist.  Fool me once, shame on you...!

@jim sutter posted:

Our train shop was never robbed. Where do people come up with this stuff.

Jim many years ago a dealer in Williamsport MD and another one in Hanover PA had stores/storage facilities robed. Also i recently heard the there was a robbery at swell know hobby store in the Williamsport PA area that was robbed not sure when that happened. I am glad it never happened to you but it has happened. Our former home was broken into three times and our alarm system went off and nothing was stolen and I have a lot of trains. We now have alarm and cameras scattered and covering every entrance because of what happened st our old house. It can happen.  

Don't things like trains require a rider on a policy for coverage?  I just found out that State Farm has a deductible based on 1% of the homes value, that's a lot of trains.  If you are that concerned, using a scribing tool to put your drivers license number or some other unique identifier somewhere on a loco or car will help to prove it is yours, if they are ever found.

I was robbed several years ago.  Although my trains were stored elsewhere at the time, I had other hobby-related items stolen.  I reported the theft to the police and to the insurance company, but all they could suggest was to call around to local pawn shops.  The police likely will not bother and you will pay for the robbery yourself through higher insurance premiums in the future.  This even happens when you change insurance companies since they share information about people, regardless of your answers to the "have you had a loss in the past five years" question.

Consequently, I'm in total agreement with the prevention methods described above:  alarm, dogs, and security cameras.

@CALNNC posted:

Don't things like trains require a rider on a policy for coverage?  I just found out that State Farm has a deductible based on 1% of the homes value, that's a lot of trains.  If you are that concerned, using a scribing tool to put your drivers license number or some other unique identifier somewhere on a loco or car will help to prove it is yours, if they are ever found.

There was an extensive, often chippy, discussion about this awhile back.  Bottom line is that "it depends".  If your trains are considered to be collectibles, then you probably need a rider.  If the company considers them to be toys, then they're probably covered up to the personal property limit.  IANAL and YMMV.

Here are some threads regarding insurance:  https://ogrforum.com/...54#82382494798637054 https://ogrforum.com/...6#158533582029214206

While scribing info onto an item is a strong identifier, doing so will negatively affect the value, especially if it's visible without disassembling the item.

@jim sutter posted:

Our train shop was never robbed. Where do people come up with this stuff.

There was a thread about this a few years ago.  One store that was robbed was in a semi-rural location in central or western PA.  I tried to find the thread, but was unable to do so.  Glad it wasn't your place, but it did happen to someone.

One of the central PA shops hit was Ed Fiore’s train shop near Lewistown, PA. As I recollect from a conversation with Ed several months before he passed away, the thieves who robbed him were caught when they listed some items for sale on the internet that Ed recognized as coming from his personal collection.

Curt

@Mallard4468 posted:

If your trains are considered to be collectibles, then you probably need a rider...

I've seen New York Central Mutual homeowner policies(not-so-ironically "The Whistler") that have no limits on collectibles.

@juniata guy posted:

One of the central PA shops hit was Ed Fiore’s train shop near Lewistown, PA. As I recollect from a conversation with Ed several months before he passed away, the thieves who robbed him were caught when they listed some items for sale on the internet that Ed recognized as coming from his personal collection.

Curt

Unless I missed it, there is not a forum section along the lines of the newpaper 'Police Blotter', that would allow folks to post info on stolen trains.  Not sure how much use it would get.  I just bought 4 brand new vintage Williams passenger cars from epay, and I thought it was a great price considering what the same four sold for in the box set.  Makes me wonder some times