# An unusual theft...



## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Saint-Jerome,Quebec...a track that hadn't been used for twenty years but was scheduled to be re-activated to serve local industries was hit by most resourceful thieves lately.Yesterday morning,an inspector sent by the railway company discovered that 1.3 Km. of track had disappeared.Local residents commented that they had seen people "working" there for about three weeks but had never really cared to investigate,thinking they were railroad employees,with trucks,back-hoes,etc.That's a weird one.....


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Saw this up near Traverse City, MI as well. There was an industrial spur that dead ended into a facility, but the track ended well short of where it should have been. I'd love to know how they haul away steel that weighs ~100lb/ft.


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## sawgunner (Mar 3, 2012)

that's easy!! not going to say how i know


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## sawgunner (Mar 3, 2012)

spike pullers are your friends when doing that ( i have 2 of them) the problem en lies in getting rid of it after you've gotten it. in most places it's a felony to posses RR property without written approval.

4 people can pick up a frog from 112 rail
3 for a switch point
2 for a switch stand
old rail is 39' long and you need a skid steer to pick it up or grapple to load on a trailer

when you do work for the rails for trails projects you learn all this.


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## dablaze (Apr 17, 2012)

> 2 for a switch stand


Not when your moving 6 of them in a row and from a rutted farmers field. Or yes, you can, but it wasn't fun, er I mean, I dont imagine it would be fun...shhh!

Craig


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

sawgunner said:


> when you do work for the rails for trails projects you learn all this.


Yea...That's your story stick with it!:laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## Swhite503 (May 14, 2012)

There's a trick to every trade and every trade has a trick. If you don't know the trick of the trade then you're only tricking yourself. I know because I get tricked every day.

SWhite


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## sawgunner (Mar 3, 2012)

NIMT said:


> Yea...That's your story stick with it!:laugh::laugh::laugh:



Dang it NIMT!!!

I'm gunna tell UP where that missing center beam fully loaded with plywood went!!!!


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

That's Ok. 
As long as you don't tell BNSF where their missing train went...I not quite done playing on the locomotives yet!


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## sawgunner (Mar 3, 2012)

NIMT said:


> That's Ok.
> As long as you don't tell BNSF where their missing train went...I not quite done playing on the locomotives yet!



NO NO NO!!! you were supposed to take the UP excursion train!!!!


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

Price of scrap metal these days makes that kind of theft profitable.


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## broox (Apr 13, 2012)

Carl said:


> Price of scrap metal these days makes that kind of theft profitable.


In Australia scrap is about half what it was before the GFC :thumbsdown:


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## New Berlin RR (Feb 11, 2012)

sawgunner said:


> NO NO NO!!! you were supposed to take the UP excursion train!!!!


Hey leave MY train ALONE.....geeez....Sean has the BNSF one (tho ill trade for it) and I got the UP one...


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## PEIR (Aug 25, 2012)

I suppose with that much rail missing it won't be feasible for the RR to lay new rail to reactivate the spur.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Tv news said that the theft was estimated at $400,000.Was that number for tracks alone?I don't know.It will all be in balance I'd say,if this track means high $$$ inputs,they'll rebuild it.


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## sawgunner (Mar 3, 2012)

Depending upon the size rail they are using it's about $1.5 million a mile to lay new track


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## PEIR (Aug 25, 2012)

Glad to hear they are going to relay the line. Was this a CN or CP line?


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

I don't know if they'll rebuild it.And I don't know if the track is CP or CN either...I live 200 miles from there.To my knowledge,CN is the only active railway throughout the province of Quebec.However,I know that CP still owns sizeable lines in Quebec and have agreements (like CN too) with other companies to use their network.When I lived in Valleyfield (SW Quebec),New York Central was a familiar sight.So I can't tell you more about this specific area.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

CP still operates into Montreal, and from there south into New York state, but no longer into Eastern Canada. CN is the only Canadian Class 1 that still operates into the Canadian maritimes. Most of the former CP route is now operated by shortlines like Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, Northern Maine Railroad and New Brunswick Southern Railway.

Several smaller railroads operate in Quebec though including regional railways Quebec-Gatineau Railway (QGRY), and Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA), and some smaller shorelines like Chemin de Fer Baie des Chaleurs (CBC) and Chemin de Fer de Launadière (CFL). Chemin de Fer Matapédia et du Golfe (CFMG) was sold back to CN four years ago. Another former CP line, the Quebec Central, was abandoned (but not torn up) by CP in the mid 1990s, resurrected and operated a few years later by a local trucking company only to be abandoned again. Possibly this is the line in question here in this thread? It fits the profile as an unused railway (as far as I know it's been dormant for about six years, unless some activity has actually happened on it since the last shutdown of the line).


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Sorry, a portion of the ex-CP mainline through Maine is operated by the Eastern Maine Railway. The Maine Northern Railway operates over old Bangor and Aroostock trackage. Both the EMRY and MNRY are owned by the New Brunswick Southern Railway.


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