Union Pacific Conductor Arrested

A horny guy out of control.

According to the news report:

 The engines had to be lifted off the tracks and taken in for repairs.

Why would a locomotive need to be "Lifted off the tracks" to replace the horns?

Just some wonderful reporting? 

Doug

Pulled from service = "lifted off the tracks"?!? Must be thinking model trains.

Is there and FRA rule that every locomotive out in service must have a horn and bell? I'm thinking that if the hornless locomotive is in a consist the horn wouldn't be used unless it was the lead. locomotive.

As for this genius, taking horns off a locomotive in a scrap yard is one thing, but off active equipment is plain stupid. He needs to go to prison for stupid with a prior.

Stupid culprit, stupid reporting!

A loco without horn would be unallowable as a lead unit, but shouldn't matter as a trailing unit. This guy maybe had time on his hands when his train was waiting in a siding ... at night. "I'll go check on that trailing unit."

"...Each train engine without a horn has to be taken out of service. The engines had to be lifted off the tracks and taken in for repairs..."

Where do they hire these idiots? Journalism is dead.  

LMAO! 

Larry

Paul this guy sounds like he may be an ex NHL player that took too many hits to the head. He just wanted to blow his own horn

He also looked like he liked to play Peek-a-boo, but he must have been pretty strong to take the engine off the track,remove the horn and put the engine back on the track by himself!

Yeah, I'm not positive on those details. Back around 1980 I remember that the FRA came out with a rule that all locos used in road service that might involve switching had to have lower steps with 9" horizontal clearance so a crew person could stand on it without leaning. Some older locos were modified to conform to this requirement but locos like the DD40's were just not practical to modify, and were then sometimes restricted from service as a lead unit, I think.

If a locomotive lost its headlights I don't think it would be banned from service or required to be hauled dead, it just wouldn't be allowed to lead a consist until repaired?

People were putting these on cars?  I have certainly been in traffic when I wished I

had one of the old 18 wheeler airhorns on my car.  It has been reported that some

pranksters in the past would put steam locomotive whistles on their steam cars and

bring down crossing gates, but the higher boiler pressure some of those old cars,

Stanley, etc., generated would not want me to be close to one when it sounded.

What a dope....

Must be some new fangled composite locomotive....lifted off the tracks...eeeesh.

Chris

Yes, "removed from service" would have been the correct way to report what happened.  You know that, I know that, and most any railroader or rail enthusiast would know that.  

But it's also important to keep in mind that the vast majority of reporters are not familiar with railroads and they are not equipped--never have been and never will be--to report details using the terminology specific to a particular industry, be it railroading or something else.  They usually obtain the information from someone else--a public safety or industry spokesperson--and then write what they have learned for public consumption.  And they often do this on tight and inflexible deadlines that preclude checking to see that all the terms used are accurate/correct.

The REAL story--truly the only news here--is the idiot rail employee who stole the horns.  The specific terminology used to describe the after-effects of his actions would not be of interest to 99.9% of the readers or viewers. 

Allan, I had the exact same thoughts yours after reading many of the previous posts, as well as many past threads that drifted into discussion of journalism. While I agree that the quality of journalism has certainly declined over the years, the "journalism is dead" comments that are so often posted here reflect as much on how insulated many railroad enthusiasts (dare I say nerds? ) are from the general population as they do on the quality of journalisn.

The "Journalism is Dead" statement doesn't apply to JUST railroad related subjects. Talk to a professional in virtually ANY field, and when the Journalist discusses THEIR field, the same idiotic errors that we all laugh about, are made in their field of expertise. One of my fellow model railroad buddies is a Captain for United Air Lines, and he laughs about the same stupid mistakes in his line of work. Television reporting is no better!

Just last night, our local ABC TV station (WLS) reported on the "winning of the Medal of Honor" by a Sergeant from the Viet Nam era. Later, Ron Magers CORRECTED what the "writer" had written in the script read on the report, by saying that NOBODY EVER WINS the Medal of Honor, it is AWARDED or PRESENTED! Good for him.

Exactly!

Theft is theft...  No matter how the media mangles the terminology.

Rusty

Yep....a local guy here has a set on his restored WWII 6x6 truck. I hear him sometimes and think 'train'!! But there are no tracks left within 40 miles....so if it is a train.......

I need to advise the UP on repair work and make some money!!!

Hot Water,

I certainly agree with you!  Journalism is Dead!  I spent 3 years as a Public Information Officer where I work.  I dealt with the all types of media directly, both national and local.  It's not only a lack of writing/reporting skills, it a lack of responsibility for accuracy.  A lot of the "media world" operates too much from the "business" aspect of it...whether it's selling their newspapers, magazines or getting a large viewing audience.  Instead of reporting the factual news, they are in the business of selling sensationalism.  As a result many in the media overlook, omit or incorrectly report the facts of the story.  I understand that it's a business...but at what cost to you make a profit when reporting or writing actual incidents that may affect many people?  Matt