Tulsa Garden Railroad Club trailer stolen, Caught on camera • UPDATE: Trains Found

Question is how did the perps know to get that otherwise "Plain Jane" black trailer? 

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Question is how did the perps know to get that otherwise "Plain Jane" black trailer? 

Hi - PRR Horse Shoe Curve

The first time I watched the video, I was hoping that the construction worker made an error and took the wrong trailer.  Like you said "Plain Jane Black Trailer. In a storage yard they all look a like.  I also wondered why there was no lock on the hitch and better yet a wheel roll lock on the trailer's wheels.

Below are some closeup photos, someone must recognize this white truck. 

The perps, are going have a hard time selling model trains.  If it comes to this, someone is going to recognize the stuff on those big selling web sites. Maybe even an OGR Forum Member.

Gary

I suspect they just wanted the trailer not knowing or caring what was inside. If it had a ramp door its a very desiable style for lawn maintenance, construction, atvs, etc.

Pete

That is just a huge doggone shame for those club members...

Hopefully someone caught the license plate of that truck or something.

something fake about this...who leaves $50k of trains in a trailer and not have hitch/ wheel locks on it? leaving it in a row of other trailers? the trailer doesnt look big enough to hold $50k worth of trains...

Jim Berger posted:

 the trailer doesnt look big enough to hold $50k worth of trains...

You don't think 25 Vision Big Boys would fit?

Pete

The last place those trains should have been was in that trailer. I feel bad for them, but it's like leaving the keys in the ignition.

Jim Berger posted:

something fake about this...who leaves $50k of trains in a trailer and not have hitch/ wheel locks on it? leaving it in a row of other trailers? the trailer doesnt look big enough to hold $50k worth of trains...

Have you seen the price of G scale track ?  It's been a better investment than gold in the pass 10 years.  Several large Bridgeworks transformers to run it all will set you back several thousand. 100 bucks apiece for G scale buildings !  I can see this adding up to $ 50k fast.  I'm a member of the Denver Garden Railway Society and we operate out of a trailer the same way.

Makes you wonder what the point of a security camera is if it can't get a plate # or good enough image to ID the perps...

$50K is maybe the full blown retail value of the trains inside. 80 cars, let say on average of $150 a car, less on the secondary market thats $12,000.00. So that leaves around 38 $1000.00 locos. I think maybe theyre very generous with their price estimates. Theyll get caught cuz they  made the news and somebody will get mad at em cuz people who steal, steal from everybody and tell on them

Those thieves will never be able to sell those trains. The market for them is not very good. Not a lot of train modelers run G gauge.

It wouldn't surprise me if those thieves were in it for the trailer alone.  How could they possibly know it was train stuff? Sadly, all of that train stuff could end up in a dumpster.  Those guys will think it worthless and simply throw it out.  The real prize to them is that $3,000 untraceable trailer.

Let's see the trailer and trains parked in a dark lot, not locked, no security devices what so ever and your shocked it was stolen. 

Even though I hate thieves the club has to take some responsibility for the theft. I don't even leave a freight car in my vehicle that is locked and has a security system. 

Several years ago I was running trim in a new house.  In another house next to the one I was working on was a tile guy, who had a very nice 16' tandem axle trailer, full of tools.  Well, as darkness fell one evening, I gathered all of my tools up, placed them in my trailer and pulled out.  I noticed the tile guy had left his trailer...BIG MISTAKE!  The next morning the tile guy's trailer was gone!  Yep, he was livid, but he could only blame himself.  Here is the rest of the story, the trailer was never recovered.  The local sheriff dept. found all of his tools and belongings thrown out on a dirt road.  Most likely all the thieves wanted was the trailer, not the trains.

A car nut, husband of a coworker, who worked for a local GM plant, left his car trailer in his driveway in an upscale suburb while he went to work  during the day.  There was a lot of other houses still being built in the area.  Poof!  I traveled with mine and sometimes left it loaded,  in motel parking. l also unbolted the coupler and took it with me. You can also put in a plug in section of wiring to take with you, so they have no lights or brakes...... Nuisance...but..

Lesson learned, if you need to leave a trailer somewhere, it's worth a few extra bucs to install a tire boot on it.

The Bergen County Model Railroad Club could take a lesson from this. Knock on wood I don't think they had an issue like it but as they used to say with NY Lotto," hey you never know!"

I pray that they find this trailer and get their stuff back.

DennyM posted:

Those thieves will never be able to sell those trains. The market for them is not very good. Not a lot of train modelers run G gauge.

The G gauge market is doing very well thank you...MTH can't keep much in stock as the new Big Boys are all sold out before they even arrive.

Watched a USA Trains SF Hudson with 6 Aristo heavyweights sell used a few weeks back for $5,100.00...not bad for a loco that sold for $1,400 a few years ago and cars that went for $700 for the set.

rattler21 posted:

There cannot be that many flat bed white pickup trucks in the Tulsa area.  Filter the list to those with a headache rack and tool kits and the list gets shorter.  Tulsa has a darn good police department.  John in Lansing, ILL

Despite what you see on TV, searches like that are very costly and there actually is no master list anywhere of who owns what type of vehicle in a given area, let alone listing all the aftermarket modifications done to it.

TV shows lead you to believe it's easy to track vehicles by type. It really isn't. That's why most hit and run incidents are never solved, even when someone is killed. because even if you can track down vehicles by type (which you really can't), you'd still have to prove that was the specific white truck was the one, then you'd have to prove the owner was involved or had a clue about it.

Good luck, there.

And as for there not being too many, I laughed long and hard at that. You aren't looking that hard when you're driving anywhere as I see countless trucks just like that one, every morning on the way to work.

Tulsa Garden Railroad Club Says Recovered Model Trains

Are Damaged, Trailer Still Missing

Posted: Jun 30, 2017 7:49 PM EDT Updated: Jun 30, 2017 7:50 PM EDT

TULSA, Oklahoma - Members of Tulsa's Garden Railroad Club spent the morning unloading what's left of a valuable collection that was stolen Monday. They got a lot back, but a lot is still missing.

"There's quite a bit of damage,” said Bob Buttram of the Garden Railroad Club. “It's fixable, and there's still a lot of stuff we don't have." Monday afternoon, the railroad club's trailer was stolen from a storage business by two men in a white Dodge work truck.

The two men are still unidentified, and the trailer is still missing. But some of the railroad equipment ended up in a stolen U-Haul trailer found Thursday night near 11th and Lynn Lane. The club's expensive pieces, which they had carefully packed into their own trailer, appeared to be thrown into the U-Haul, and one of the most valuable pieces was on top of it.

"They have no remorse or respect for what another man has, or respect for what people do for other people,” said Buttram. Now, Gary Gill, the longest-serving member of the club, is taking stock of what was returned. They had most every piece carefully inventoried and valued. "I'm going to say that one is about a $120 car,” Gill stated. “That's an LGB, from Germany.” The time-consuming process of checking each piece is the only way to really know what needs to be repaired and what needs to be replaced.

They got back a small portion of what they lost. "Maybe a quarter of it, still a lot of money involved in this thing,” said Buttram. Tulsa police found the railroad equipment because the stolen U-Haul was abandoned and someone called it in. The trailer that belongs to the club is still missing.

Source with video: http://www.newson6.com/story/3...railer-still-missing

EMORY BRYAN, NEWS ON 6 & AP

Gary

I would setup a bluetooth camera to have a surveillance in my phone anytime.

The fact they didn't dump it all in the woods once they realized what it was seems to support they realized what they had and have been selling stuff or trying to do so.

I sincerely hope the club get all/most of the stuff back.

Moral of the story, don't put wheels on your stuff or it's liable to roll away