TrainDad

Jonathan is not yet 3 years old. The railroads think he might be a terrorist.

Okay, that’s a little strong: they think I might be a terrorist, and I’m using him as “cover.” Several times we’ve been at a train station, outside a yard, or at a road crossing and railroad police have watched us closely. A few times they’ve come up and talked to us; always with kind, gentle conversation, but nonetheless probing, trying to figure out if we’re as innocent as we look.

Reading around, I find that we’ve had it much easier than some. “Railfans” without kids are given more scrutiny, and those who make a hobby of photographing trains are given the most scrutiny of all. There are many in that last category; just consider railfan websites with 700,000 photos or 168,000 photos. Some of those photographers have seen it cross from scrutiny to “harrassment.”

The photographers have often wondered why it isn’t obvious that they are innocent rail fans; I’ve wondered why it isn’t obvious that I’m with Jonathan, and he loves trains, and we’re just out for an innocent bit of train-watching. I decided to see if I could find out what was behind it, and I found answers.

Consider:

• Rail attacks are more numerous and deadly than those on airports and airplanes.
• Rail terrorism is so easy, you can find how-to instructions on YouTube.
• A typical tank car can hold 90,000 gallons of chlorine; if released, estimates say the lethal cloud would drift from 5 to 15 miles, depending on atmospheric conditions. In a populated city, this would mean a death toll ranging from a few hundred to a million.
• Access to tank cars is so easy that 13-year-olds can create graffiti masterpieces on them. More seriously, a reporter walked into 48 chemical plant railroad yards and found free access to cars with toxic chemicals in each of them.

I’ll make it simple: railroads carry weapons of mass destruction and leave them accessible to 13-year-olds.

This is the inherent form of railroads; it is not possible to eliminate access. Not possible — look at the argument over securing the U.S.–Mexico border. That border is only 1951 miles long; but American railroads operate on 120,000 miles of active track, not including yards, sidings, or even parallel track. To deal with reality, we must accept that railroad security cannot happen by eliminating access. Security must be formed through other methods.

Top on the list of other security methods is identifying what a threat looks like, and watching for it. The graffiti artist couldn’t figure out how to release the contents of his “canvas” if he wanted to; he’s not a significant threat. Unfortunately, the world has seen enough terrorism that we have a long list of real threat characteristics to watch for. High on that list, for example, is photography. Photographic reconnaissance is one of the first steps of almost every successful terrorist attack on infrastructure. Photographs can be used for development of 3D models and for determining GPS coordinates, which can in turn be used for training attackers. As it happens, railfans love photographing vulnerabilities: most pictures are taken at road crossings, bridges, or other points of weakness. I find it hard to fault the railroads for being sensitive in this area.

What photographers seem to find fault with, however, is not so much the security against them as it is the lack of apparent security in other areas. Yet that can be deceiving. In my “real job” I’ve done a tiny bit of work on a few security-related projects, and even in these small-time situations the people involved don’t want their security measures to be obvious. I’ve helped find ways to hide video cameras, license-plate cameras, laser proximity sensors and infrared detectors. If security measures are obvious, then they are known — and when known, they can be avoided. In reality the railroad security measures implemented since 2001 have been extensive.

One way to measure the levels of “hidden” security is by checking the reviews of those with access to the information. Greg Feith, a former accident investigator for the NTSB, has said that the aviation industry should “take a lesson” from the rail industry security implementation. In 2003, the American Association of Railroads received the 2003 James S. Cogswell Award for Industrial Security; of 11,000 eligible organizations, only 15 awards were given.

We can also look at the formal security structure at a higher level for clues to how serious they are about security at a lower level. Here we find things such as a DOD-certified Operations Center monitoring and evaluating secret intelligence on potential threats; the Railway Alert Network (RAN), for rapid communication throughout the industry; and ST-ISAC, the Surface Transportation Information Sharing and Analysis Center, operating with the government at the Top Secret level to collect, analyze, and disseminate information on threats.

There is also strong financial incentive for the railroads to focus on significant security measures. For example, the Union Pacific freight load consists of very roughly 5% dangerous chemicals, but 50% of their insurance costs are just covering those loads. A single incident could effectively destroy a company, financially.

Looking at the industry from this perspective, I find no fault with a railroad policeman asking me a few questions.

Make your life easier, and the lives of numerous others, by following a few simple rules. Don’t trespass; stay behind fences; kindly and quickly relocate when asked. Keep your distance and don’t give cause for alarm.

It’s not much to ask from an industry that gives so much to us.

My son, Jonathan, has adorably said this since last September when he rode “George,” a mini train near our house. When everyone is on train and ready to go, the conductor calls out “All aboard!”Jonathan has now developed a new application of the term. A waitress at a local eatery tickled him in his high chair, and he loved it. She came back several times to tickle a bit more. As she would walk away, he started yelling “All Aboard!” as a way to tell her “tickle me more, please!” The next morning, he called “All Aboard!” over and over with me at breakfast to let me know I should tickle his feet some more. He is down there now, yelling it. Better go tickle!

This is the first ever TrainDad photo contest. The rules are easy: submit pictures of children with trains. Nothing specific — toy trains, real trains, any kind of trains. For that matter, any kind of kids!

Awards will be given: free Fisher-Price GeoTrax merchandise!

Anyone may enter, and you may enter as many times as you like. The contest will end at midnight on Friday, July 20.
Go on — submit a picture, vote on the others, and best of luck! Okay, I feel like an idiot; when I posted this, I didn’t link to the contest page!

This is the last part of a series.

What it really comes down to is this: with the Thomas sets, I get the feeling that the manufacturers are using the Thomas brand to sell product. Nothing wrong with that; but with GeoTrax, the manufacturer doesn’t have that brand, so they have to make a superior product that will sell on its own. And superior it is, in a myriad of ways:

1. Fantastic track. This stuff is really sturdy and easy to use!
   • It’s super-easy to hook together, even for the youngest children. I’ve seen a 1-year-old do it.
   • Once hooked, it holds together well enough that you can literally slide a layout across carpet without it falling apart.
   • But when the time comes to reconfigure or put it away, they pop apart easily when you want them to.
   • It holds up to being stepped on, even on carpet, without breaking or disconnecting (usually!).
   • The switches are easy to operate, slide out of place less frequently (causing fewer derailments), and look more realistic.
   • It’s real rail — train wheels really ride on flanges.
   • It’s precision made to minimize derailments, and often can re-rail automatically when they do happen.
   • It all interconnects — all types, all bridges, all buildings. This is not like the Tomy set where the road pieces are completely separate from the rail pieces.
2. Clever engineering.
   • Powered toys can also be hand-pushed (without stripping gears), even while turned on. Brilliant!
   • Gear-driven on uphills. This allows an engine to pull a long line of cars without the wheels slipping. Brilliant!
   • the same gear also drives action on many buildings - turning a crane, loading a pipe, rotating the turntable on the roundhouse. Brilliant!
3. Well-thought-out and kid-tested.
   • Huge on/off button right on top of the engines.
   • Simple, effective coupling system is easy to use. Yesterday I saw my son uncouple a Tomy — he held the engine and shook it really hard until the cars flew off.
   • Easy-access battery compartments. Have you seen the ridiculous battery extraction on a Tomy Thomas?
4. Grows with the child.
   • From the simplest circle of track to phenomenally complex layouts designed in CAD and sold on eBay (make sure you watch the animated build to see just how crazy it gets!), there’s no end to what you can do. Give teens a box of GeoTrax, and they love it. Moms admit addiction to it. It has endless appeal.
   • From the simplest buildings operable by a 2-year-old to the crazy roundhouse that took me 10 minutes to figure out, there is a range of products with a range of skill levels.
   • From simple, easy-connecting hills to 19-foot-tall towers.
   • Still fun for big kids… really big kids, like, um, dads…
5. Excellent build quality. Every piece is amazing. Sturdy, durable, precise.
6. Cost. Any given piece costs less than a comparable piece in any of the Thomas sets. The cheapest items in the line are easily found for $2.99, and they always include extras — in that example, you get a train engine, a gondola car, a crate, and a section of track. Beat that, Tommy!
7. Options.
   • Vehicle options like crazy:
     • unpowered, unpowered with lights and sound, powered (which typically come as part of a set), remote control with forward/stop, remote control with reverse.
     • not just trains: construction equipment, fire, ambulance and police, airplanes and helicopters, ships and snowplows.
8. Yes, remote control.
9. Sound effects. All of the remote-operated vehicles have digitally-recorded sounds from their real-life counterparts; you can play them at will.
10. Elevation! Multi-deck heights like nobody’s business! And don’t tell me you can do this with Tomy. I’ve seen the YouTube videos of people trying, but they don’t compare.
11. Speed! One of the surprising bonuses I wasn’t expecting was the way trains hurtle down hills. It’s exciting and unexpected, and adds a whole new element of fun. For big kids and adults, a lot of the appeal is in trying to see how far you can push the envelope without the trains flying completely out of control.
12. Any toy that gets blogged on Wired must be cool.
13. And then gets a Wired writeup on hacking it. Even cooler.
14. New stuff added regularly. They are always improving the product, and new releases are highly anticipated. This year, for example, they are introducing people — small, cleverly-designed figures than fit into engines and other cars.

But when it all comes down to it, my son thinks it’s just more fun — and that’s good enough for me.

As you watch the train thunder past the crossing gates, you turn to your son and yell, “hey, that was a new Evolution locomotive behind those SD70s!” He stares at you, eyes full of admiration and worship.

Okay, maybe not, but learning how to identify the major locomotives will make your railroad-watching more enjoyable by helping you know what you are looking at. It’s actually quite a challenge; the various types look remarkably similar. I’ll give you some shortcuts that will enable you to identify the most common engines, at least by family. To keep it short, I’m limiting the discussion to major freight-carrying engines.

There are two primary manufacturers of locomotives today. The largest is EMD — Electro-Motive Diesel, formerly a division of General Motors. Right behind them is General Electric. Your first step is to figure out whether your engine is a GE or an EMD.

Tip 1: Look for a triangle on the nose. Every GE locomotive (well, every one made in the last 20 years) has a diagonally slanted panel not found on any EMD. As a double-check, look for a large “bread box” smokestack sticking up on top, nearer the back. Only GE uses them. I’ve outlined both areas in the picture to the right. Don’t be confused by the picture. That’s a Norfolk Southern engine, but it doesn’t mean NS only uses GE engines — every railroad line has a wide assortment of different engines. Anyway, now that you know whether it’s a GE or an EMD…

Tip 2: If it’s a GE engine, call it a “Dash.” GE has made Dash-7s, Dash-8s, and Dash-9s. They all look remarkably similar. The Dash-7 is the one to hate, because it doesn’t follow the rule — it doesn’t have the triangle front. But it does have one wonderful detail:

Tip 3: If it has an arched cab roof, it’s a Dash-7. These are rare, since the last ones were made 20+ years ago. Enjoy it if you see one. Actually, these look very much like an older style of GE engines, known as “U-boats.” They really don’t look much like the other Dash styles at all.

Tip 4: If there’s one big intake under the radiator flare, it’s a Dash-8. All of these locomotives have a huge, flared radiator “hat brim” that sticks out on top at the roof, at the back, above the rear wheels. The Dash-9s and their ultra-powerful cousins (the AC4400CW and AC6000CW) all have the intake grill divided into two or more panels. They will be about the same size and shape; they just will have dividers.

Unfortunately, the Dash-9’s, their cousins, and GE’s latest and greatest Evolution series all look very much alike, and I don’t have easy, one-step identifiers to help you tell them apart. (If you have a tip, add it to the comments below.)

That’s a good start for GE engines, but what about EMD?

Tip 5: If it’s an EMD with 8 wheels, call it a “Jeep.” A little background: EMD locomotives are named with two letters and two numbers. Their 8-wheeled engines all use the format GPnn (”General Purpose”). For example, the GP38 is a very common engine. Their 12-wheeled engines often use the format SDnn (”Special Duty”). To tell the most common Geeps apart, look at the fans on top, clumped together at the back:

• The GP35 has two “towers” with a smaller, rounded fan between;
• The GP38 just has two towers;
• The GP40 has three towers.

By “tower” I’m referring to a round raised “wok” sitting on the roof, right at the back. You can see one in the next picture.
Tip 6: If it’s an SD with a back deck you could hold a party on, call it an SD40. For bonus points, call it an SD40-2. It’s worth noting that the front deck is also over-sized. If you look at the picture, you’ll see that the deck had to be extended to cover an entire wheel’s extra length. By the way, here’s a freebie: notice that it doesn’t have a flared radiator sticking out of the roof like the GE engines. That’s not true about most SDs. About that radiator…

Tip 7: If the radiator flare on an SD has three panels, it’s an SD90 — called an SD90MAC. The three squares on the side are air intakes, and only the SD90MAC has three of them. So what happened to the SD series between the 40 and the 90? Well, that’s a little more difficult. There are two families of note: the SD60 and the SD70. If you can ignore all the fans and smokestacks and stuff on top of the roof…

Tip 8: If the body/roof line is straight, it’s an SD60; if it dips in the middle, it’s an SD70 (but not if the radiator has three panels! Why does it have to be so confusing?). There are numerous variants of SD60s and SD70s, but they should all conform to this basic ID test.

Tip 9: Cheat. Some railroads — Norfolk Southern, for one — write the model number on the cab wall, usually under the engine number. Wow, that should be tip number 1!

Tip 10: Get a field guide. There’s one that’s very small (it’s meant to fit in a pocket) and easy enough to use that you can make identifications on the fly. It’s the Field Guide to Trains of North America from the Peterson Field Guide series, and I recommend it highly. It covers 150 different types of locomotives used on 840 different railroads as well as all rolling stock.

Have any other easy, foolproof spotting ID methods? Add them to the comments! This article has focused on North American locomotives; if anyone has tips for other locales, add them as well.

← Part 1

Scanners range in cost from under $100 to over $1000. The good news is that listening to railroad radio doesn’t take any of the high-end features. You do need a scanner that is…

• easy to use
• either…
  • pre-programmed with railroad channels, or
  • programmable, with at least 65 channels

You don’t need…

• trunking, dual trunking
• digital
• more than 100 channels (for railroad use)

There are three basic ways to go…

1. Easy. The Uniden BC72XLT Bearcat scanner ($79.99) has the railroad channels pre-programmed. Right now there’s no easier or cheaper way. As you pay more, you get additional features — usually more channels can be programmed, and then they start adding trunking, dual trunking, and digital radio system reception. None of these are needed to listen to railroad radio. As an aside, Radio Shack has always been a good place to buy scanners. Most of their radios are Uniden Bearcat or other main brand radios that have been rebranded under the Radio Shack name. Right now, though, the Uniden listed above is cheaper than any of Radio Shack’s current options.
2. Challenging. If you are willing to program the radio yourself, you can get a few additional benefits. For example, you could set up “banks” of channels — say, just the railroad channels used in your local area. The advantage of this is that the radio doesn’t spend time scanning unused channels, which could cause you to miss a call on another channel. If you are interested in listening to airplane, police, or fire railroad, a more advanced (and expensive) scanner is useful. I won’t go into more detail here, since that’s off my current topic.
3. Powerful. Scanners receive a very wide range of frequencies — much wider than needed for railroad communications. Unfortunately, that wide range can only be achieved by compromise; they aren’t very good at picking up weak signals. A radio built just to receive the particular frequencies you need is much more powerful. One such radio that has a fantastic reputation in the “railfan” community is the Yaesu VX-150 ($115) or it’s big brother, the VX-170 ($130.00). This is a transceiver, meaning you could talk on it — but that requires an amateur radio operator license. You can just use it to listen, though, and many people do just that. You will hear railroad “traffic” that normal scanners won’t pick up. Unfortunately, they are a little harder to use. On the other hand, they are incredibly well-built. If you do go this route, you should look into the option of buying the cable and software that allows you to program the railroad channels via your computer, which is much easier.

In case you need to know, the radio channels used by railroads are numbered 02 through 97. Here is a complete list of the numbers and associated frequencies.
Once you have a scanner, how do you use it to find trains? That’s where we’ll go in part 3… stay tuned!