[TenTec] OT: stealing Ground Radials at Tower Base

[Jim Lowman]

I'm on several railfan lists as well, and this is a huge problem for the 
railroads
right now. 

Thieves are stealing wire that runs to the signals along the route, 
creating a
potentially dangerous situation.

One guy was even caught with a cutting torch, trying to remove the rail 
itself
at what he assumed to be an abandoned line.  Still, the property and tracks
belong to someone.

One reason that railroads that go our of business and are not bought by a
successor railroad rip up their tracks for salvage.  The former Milwaukee
Road did this on its western extension to Seattle and Tacoma.  Some of that
route was electrified, so a bonus on the overhead wire.

73 de Jim - AD6CW

Jim Brown K9YC wrote:
> On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 08:44:46 -0500, Rob Atkinson wrote:
>
>   
>> the crack heads 
>>     
>
> Don't blame crack heads -- blam4e the economy. This problem is at 
> least 55 years old. When I was growing up in WV, one of my buddies, 
> W8NJL, was chief of a station on 1470. He replaced his ground system 
> three times in a couple of years. He would find the wire for sale in 
> junk stores within a mile or two of the transmitter. 
>
> 73,
>
> Jim K9YC
>