Union Pacific "Rail Beast" Information

Glad to see it now in primer, scheduled for repainting. 

I wonder if the UP can get the video taken down, but unfortunately I don't think you can't put the genie back in the bottle for this blatant act of vandalism. 

Rusty

Maxrailroad posted:

 

Despite being incredibly illegal, it is really cool.

 

And herein lies the problem.  As long as society thinks illegal activities are "cool", inconsiderate individuals will continue to break the law.

After some more research, the group that committed this is called "Indecline". They are an activist group that normally commits acts of vandalism with political aspirations, which surprises me since in this case they painted a train to look like a cat. 

Their website

This organization is much bigger than I thought, making me think that UP might not catch these people. They have committed some serious acts of vandalism, so I am sure they have dealt with law enforcement confrontations before, and made sure that they can't be traced via computers. This group seems like "Anonymous", the hacking group that was relevant around 2015.

I will keep you all update with any more findings. 

"Hi Max,

Thanks for bringing this video to our attention. Our police department is looking into the situation..."

...and the appropriate officers will be disciplined for allowing this to happen! 

Lionel should make that. Just saying.

Maxrailroad posted:

 

I will keep you all update with any more findings. 

really no need to update.i'm so glad Union Pacific has got this repainted in primer

All that work and money is gone in less than a week.   HE HE!!!  sometimes there is justice.  Cudos to UP to get it primed quickly.  

I don't see what's cool about criminal activity at the expense of others. All this does is encourage more lost dis-functional idiots in society to do more of it.  Maybe they wouldn't think it was so cool if they woke up one morning to find their own car or home painted in some gibberish that someone else thinks is artistic. 

Big Jim posted:

"Hi Max,

Thanks for bringing this video to our attention. Our police department is looking into the situation..."

...and the appropriate officers will be disciplined for allowing this to happen! 

It looked to be on a deadline..... There was a bunch of old GE engines on there too.

FYI, that message on Facebook that the OP received is the same one being sent to everyone who asks.  I tried to ask a follow-up question and have not yet gotten a response (I sent it early this afternoon).

Now this is funny!
 "Yesterday at the Intermountain Train Show in Sandy, Utah on the Hostler's layout was a fresh custom model of the most infamous SD60M of 2017... Love it or hate it, looks like RailBeast2K17 is forever immortalized in plastic 1:87 scale glory!" 

I thought it looked good and see no reason for immediate repainting. The publicity from leaving it was worth millions. Much ado about nothing.

Yeah. I'm sure the illegale criminal aspect of the activity had *NOTHING* to do with UP's response.

"Much ado about nothing."

A sad statement of society's opinion these days.

Max,

If the artists / vandals belong to the group, I wonder why they didn’t organize & sue Union Pacific for repainting the locomotive, or at least tried to stop Union Pacific, based on the precedent set in the most recent case from New York where the jury ruled against the owner in a vandalism case.

NY Graffiti case

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen

There is a substantive monetary value to publicity. And retaining that paint job for a few weeks would have undoubtedly had a positive effect on Union Pacific' s corporate image. It was well done and very professional. Has anyone priced the cost of television coverage per minute? There was an opportunity lost for a tremendous amount of favorable publicity, newspaper and electronic.  People everywhere on the system would be looking for that engine and talking about it. I find it hard to see a downside to a delay in repainting. Just my two cents.

ecd15 posted:

Maxrailroad posted:

 

Despite being incredibly illegal, it is really cool.

 

And herein lies the problem.  As long as society thinks illegal activities are "cool", inconsiderate individuals will continue to break the law.

People would still break the law regardless if others thought it was cool or not. There’s nothing wrong with liking the way something looks. If this was an official paint scheme I would still think it looks cool. If it was someone who custom painted it on their own locomotive I would still think it looked cool. It’s just unfortunate that its not official and was done illegally. Good on the UP for painting it in primer.

Tommy posted:

There is a substantive monetary value to publicity. And retaining that paint job for a few weeks would have undoubtedly had a positive effect on Union Pacific' s corporate image.

What positive image?  That the UP will tolerate vandalism on a grand scale?

It was well done and very professional. Has anyone priced the cost of television coverage per minute?

I haven't seen any UP advertising on TV. 

There was an opportunity lost for a tremendous amount of favorable publicity, newspaper and electronic.  People everywhere on the system would be looking for that engine and talking about it. I find it hard to see a downside to a delay in repainting. Just my two cents.

Remember that thought if someone ever vandalizes your car or home.

Rusty