[MyOldTDiIsStillGoing]

True story. The NS and CSX mainlines run right behind my house. I was parking my car in the alley which parallels the tracks and saw a man doing something weird. He was using his coat to pull down the communication wires to cut them for the copper. He had a hand full.

The CSX police rep said this was happening all over their system and messing up their signaling for the trains. The 4 tracks behind my house serve sometimes up to 100 trains per day. Fortunately, the NS is the busies user of these tracks and their lines are underground.

My neighbor, who works for the CSX, joked with me, "another example of PO times". However, he wasn't joking about run a train on tracks without the signal system working and knowing it was people cutting the communication lines.

[Daniel_Plainview]

Q: "So, dude, what did you do today"

A: "Today? I stole a railroad"

[MyOldTDiIsStillGoing]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Hogan', 'G')ood point, MyOldTDiIsStillGoing. Metal thieves are now also stripping copper wiring that is used for train signal lights and crossings.

[lawnchair]

And, as if running catenary for railroad electrification isn't expensive enough, this behavior could pretty well end that otherwise-logical path.

[Schneider]

From the Middle-East/Africa to America..

Wasn't it speculated a few years ago that we would see a kind of "collapse" because scavenging and stealing of the main infrastructures for metal !?? If i remember well, it was speculated that it would make any smooth transition mostly impossible..

[americandream]

Free enterprise. Ya gotta love it.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lawnchair', 'A')nd, as if running catenary for railroad electrification isn't expensive enough, this behavior could pretty well end that otherwise-logical path.

[MyOldTDiIsStillGoing]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lawnchair', 'A')nd, as if running catenary for railroad electrification isn't expensive enough, this behavior could pretty well end that otherwise-logical path.

[lawnchair]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '
')How come I don't hear about metal thieves in China? With average incomes of only $300/month people should be ripping the bolts out of the ground but I have yet to hear one story coming out of China....

[neocone]

In the future and a world of billions of (excess) people... Life will be disposable just as it is in overpopulated China.

Whoever is caught stealing steel is bound for 10 years of forced labor building railway tracks...

A pretty good deal for all of us if you ask me

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lawnchair', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '
')How come I don't hear about metal thieves in China? With average incomes of only $300/month people should be ripping the bolts out of the ground but I have yet to hear one story coming out of China....

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', 'F')or example look at our tax laws. Is there anyone out there stupid enough to not pay their taxes?

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('neocone', 'I')n the future and a world of billions of (excess) people... Life will be disposable just as it is in overpopulated China.

Whoever is caught stealing steel is bound for 10 years of forced labor building railway tracks...

A pretty good deal for all of us if you ask me

[Heineken]

Since railway systems are impossible to police completely (if they are to be economically viable, that is), the emerging theft problem may neutralize one of Kunstler's mantras. Railroads were one of the few rays of hope.

Another doom factor joins the long, long list.

Thanks, Hogan, for alerting us to this.

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('neocone', 'I')n the future and a world of billions of (excess) people... Life will be disposable just as it is in overpopulated China.

Whoever is caught stealing steel is bound for 10 years of forced labor building railway tracks...

A pretty good deal for all of us if you ask me

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Hogan', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'S')ince railway systems are impossible to police completely (if they are to be economically viable, that is), the emerging theft problem may neutralize one of Kunstler's mantras. Railroads were one of the few rays of hope.

Another doom factor joins the long, long list.

Thanks, Hogan, for alerting us to this.

[hope_full]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')asn't it speculated a few years ago that we would see a kind of "collapse" because scavenging and stealing of the main infrastructures for metal !?? If i remember well, it was speculated that it would make any smooth transition mostly impossible..