# Package theft



## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Recently on one other post was shown a photo of the litter left behind in Los Angeles from thieves looting rail containers. I couldn't find that post, but here's a CBS news story about that exact thing. Back in the old days, they had a "shotgun" riding the stagecoaches. Maybe we should return to those days!









Thieves Raiding Cargo Containers, Stealing Packages On Downtown Section Of Union Pacific Train Tracks


The area is littered with thousands of shredded boxes and items, from retailers like Amazon and REI, that robbers left behind, despite Union Pacific's patrols and numerous efforts to clean up the tracks over the last several months.




losangeles.cbslocal.com


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## Andreash (Dec 30, 2018)

I read about this morning….might make for a interesting modelled scene.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Infuriating


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

First order of business is to come up with a better way of sealing/securing the containers.

I'm not sure what they use on most container traffic.
Remember the old days of "boxcar freight" when all that secured the door shut was a small metal "seal"?

Something far FAR more secure is needed. "Secure enough" so that nothing less than a cutting torch will break it.

Next order of business:
Make access to the tracks difficult if not imposible -- walls, fences, concertina wire, etc.
Make it extremely difficult to get in, and difficult as well to "get out while carrying something".

High vertical walls -- around 30' -- topped with angled fencing and concertina would help.

Armed guards?
The first one that actually shoots on of these "yutes" will be crucified in the media and in the court system...

One other thing I noted:
It's been a while since I was around any container trains, but it looks to me that when the containers are double-stacked, only the container "on top" can be opened. The one "below" is sitting "in the well", and as such, the doors can't be opened.
So... if they really want to stop this easily -- send ALL the cars out with only the bottom well loaded.
Of course, this will mean "more trains" and more handling later on.
But that should stop it.

So long as insurance companies are willing to pay for "lost shipments", this will continue.
Stop paying, and there will be an incentive to "stop the losses".


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

J.Albert, I think your best suggestion is the improvement of the locks. According to the southern border, fences aren't allowed to stop illegal activity. And that would be a very expensive alternative to locks, as would additional trains.

But as with rioting and looting, a few dead examples would slow things down too. Just my humble opinion.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Nothing like the fear of bodily harm as a deterrent, LOL


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

GE Mini-Gun on top of the locomotive?


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> GE Mini-Gun on top of the locomotive?
> View attachment 575167


Or maybe about every 20th car.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Problem is its cheaper to loose the goods and clean up the mess then secure everything. When it becomes more costly, they will secure it better.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Saw interviews with some who got caught. They are out in minutes.
The penalty is c rap, > just like the Judicial system here.
That is the way to solve it, anyone is see ON the train shoot to kill. 
I think a lot would think twice about doing it.

They clean it up and weeks later it is filled with stuff again you see now in the pictures.

" Someone" 
Ought to send in the Marines. 😎


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

Big Ed:
_"Saw interviews with some who got caught. They are out in minutes.
The penalty is c rap, > just like the Judicial system here."_

This is the dilemma for Union Pacific (which I assume is the sole operator of the lines in/out of the terminal).

The _"new woke politics"_ of Los Angeles (and California) will no longer prosecute nor incarcerate thieves. If arrested, they're back out in hours. If actually brought to trial, they'll receive short sentences, if they get to trial at all. In many cases, the DA's won't even bother to press charges.

I'm thinking that the top management of UP is more akin to "James Taggart" than it is to "Dagny Taggart" (you'd have to have read _*Atlas Shrugged*_ or watched the films to understand).

If anything, I sense that the widespread publicity the theft situation has received in the past week or so is only going to attract MORE thieves to the area, and more "plundering".

So... ultimately... UP must realize that the police and local government(s) will do nothing to help them. They must "help themselves".

As I suggested in an earlier post, the short-term solution will be to "restrict access" to the tracks, to make it difficult to get in, and more difficult to cart stolen merchandise out. Wall off the entire railroad if need be.

A longer-term solution will have to deal with new ways to "secure" containers once they're loaded onto the well cars.

What's needed is some kind of massive "physical block" that prevents the doors from being opened on loaded cars (even if there are no "locks" on the door handles, which can be cut). Something too large to be removed by one, two, or even three persons, but can be easily installed/removed at container terminals.

I'm thinking of a "band" that runs the entire length/width of the container. Just long enough to "fit", so that when in place the doors on either end can't be opened. It will need a couple of "cross pieces" (almost like inverted "U's") so that it can be set down on the upper container, and will rest in place by virtue of its own weight, but of course too heavy to lift or pry off. Think of a rectangular "french fry" basket, made of steel, upside-down, lowered over the top of the container.

This assumes the _lower_ container will be "locked in the well" -- doors can't be opened because the well walls on either end prevent it.

Again, the only way the railroad company is going to win this one is to take action on their own. The city governments and "the law" in California are no longer on their side, and probably won't be again.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Shoot them on site better.
Look at all the scum raiding stores, shoot them on site too!
All of them, end of problem. 
Laws s uck, so does the judicial system, the government s ucks, the same for California.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

They didn’t even shoot the insurrectionists (or not enough of them anyway)….do you honestly think they are going to shoot guys stealing stuff out of containers….?


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

No, I don't think they will. But I bet it'd help if they did.


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## DeadHead2Georgia (Jan 7, 2022)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> GE Mini-Gun on top of the locomotive?
> View attachment 575167


Oh, Lordy. My eyes are tearing so bad I cant see.lol


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

*WARNING!!** This post is politically leaning!! *But it does tell it like it is.









Los Angeles DA Faults Union Pacific for Unprosecuted Train Burglaries


A rash of Union Pacific train burglaries in which criminals break into cargo train cars in Los Angeles, rifle through the packages, and discard what they don’t steal. My PJ Media colleague Cameron …




clarion.causeaction.com


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

“Leaning”? It’s downright flat on the ground, to the right….. 🤣


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Right, left or in between, it just seems like drive-by-journalism to me. The first “sentence isn’t even a sentence. The rest is just thrown together.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Lehigh74 said:


> Right, left or in between, it just seems like drive-by-journalism to me. The first “sentence isn’t even a sentence. The rest is just thrown together.


Bob, I somewhat disagree. You're right about the first sentence. But then the author goes on to tell who, what, where and when. The writer, I think, explains the why...that's where the politics come in.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Is there any real incentive for the railroad to restrict access to the tracks if they are not responsible for the contents of the containers going from point A to point B? It seems to me that the owners of the products being shipped, or their insurance companies, are the ones who will have to make good for the losses. If I order something on line and it never gets to me the seller has to re-send it or refund my money. If the same principle applies, why would the railroad spend money on security for something that doesn't affect their bottom line? Just asking. .


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