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posted by scubacuda
on Friday May 30, @02:13PM
from the why-does-this-seem-like-a-bad-Onion-article? dept.
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Trainspotting has become one of the latest targets in the "war on terror."
Trainspotters who are standing on platforms at Network Rail stations noting down names and numbers of locomotives must leave, or move to the station concourse. Permission can still be granted to take numbers or photographs, but to get permission, train-spotters are being told to contact the company by phone or in writing in advance.
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Derailing Trainspotting
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I have not directly run into hassles about my railway interests but I have been pondering upon the prospects for some innocent activities being confused for hostile intelligence collection. After all, the observation and recording done by a rail fan can look similar to a spy's info collection. (Albeit, the spy would be less obvious than most of us rail fans. But then it could be argued that a spy looking to nose around industrial and transport facilities could pose as a trainspotter.)
From a "homeland security" vantage point, even the innocent collection and publication of train info could be divulging too much info. For example a rail fan's article about the USA Northeast Corridor rail lines along with certain track plans could disclose choke points that could be exploited. (The Wall Street Journal a couple of years ago actually did mention a specific chokepoint on that line in an article on the difficulty of running the new Acela trains at full speeds. I'm trying to remember if it was post 9-11-2001.)
The strong hint is that fans are "safer" in pointing their interests to subjects at least 20 years into the past or more. (In soem ways, my interests in the Central of New Jersey line is relatively safe bacause it disappeared in the 1970s. But visiting the tracks and some remaining facilities, now in the hands of other companies, could run into security concerns because some are close to critical transportation and industrial centers.
J.D. Abolins
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Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be
lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.
- Isaac Asimov
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