Quote:
Originally Posted by vreihen16
Who's to say that the crew didn't properly park the train, and then some pesky kids jumped the fence to take it for a joy ride?
With the bankruptcies of several railroads and loss of pensions by long-term employees back then, it isn't a stretch to think that there wasn't anything left to lose for some disgruntled employees.....
|
Yep, I grew up next to a rail yard which serviced a number of local steel mills. At the time what surprised me was the fact they would usually leave the locomotive running when parked. I was told they did this to avoid having issues starting them up the next day. The yard use to run 24/7 and as the steel mills shut down, the yard would be idle for period of time so my friends and I use to go and check out the locomotives which were idling. The control panels would under a lock steel plate so we could not take it for a joy ride, if it was not I imagine we might have tried.