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5 April 2005
Crime's been workin' on the railroad
The danger is incredible
By Terry Riley
 Think it’s dangerous driving in Baghdad? Think you’re at risk from
bio-terrorists? Think shoe bombers are an in-flight danger?
Well these potential hazards of travel are nothing compared to the crime
that is being perpetrated daily on our nation’s railways. By any measure,
violent crime is workin’—and workin’ overtime!—on the railroad. Yet we
haven’t heard diddly about this national emergency. Why is that?
Maybe
it’s because this crime spree isn’t happening on major Amtrak routes or
around large cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Washington.
Instead, passengers are being victimized—and victimized by the
hundreds—near towns like White Pigeon, Mich., Williams, Ariz. and Redmond,
Ore.
According to their own admissions, these little communities sport the most
dangerous rail systems in the country—maybe even in the world. These
operations make a New Delhi to Calcutta train trip seem about as dangerous
as taking the kiddies for a ride on Thomas The Tank Engine.
But that’s not the half of it. Here’s the bizarre part. While most
communities would prefer to keep quiet on the subject of crime, these
towns are proud of theirs. They not only advertise their crime, they
schedule it!
No kidding. Take a look at the crime statistics for some of the country’s
lesser known, operating railroads.
The Black River and
Western Railroad in Flemington, NJ seems to be one of the
safer independent railroads in the U.S. with only a couple of
robberies a year.
In Michigan, the
Coopersville & Marne Railway has “merely” twice the robbery rate of
the Black River and Western, but it proudly records over a dozen
murders every year.
The Sacramento River Train
transports freight as well as passengers in and around Woodland, Calif.
With two dozen robberies a year, you’d think they would stick with
transporting freight, but oddly enough they’ve grown their passenger
business, and grown it by adding more robberies.
In the southwest, the Grand
Canyon Railway, the granddaddy of all boutique railroads, operates
almost every day of the year between Williams, Ariz. and the South Rim of
the Grand Canyon. For some weird reason, this railroad has managed to stay
in business in spite of—some would say, “because of”—over 700 armed
robberies a year.
None of these small rail systems, however, even comes close to matching
what is perhaps the most dangerous transportation system I have found
anywhere in North America—perhaps anywhere in the world. It is located in
Redmond, Ore.—Redmond!—and each year, the
Crooked River Railroad
Company not only gets hit with frequent holdups by bandits, but they
find themselves having to solve about 60 murders a year!
I was amazed at all this crime occurring on the nations rails. It is not
only going unchecked, but it seems to be growing. Yet there was one more
shocker for me. From my porch in Santa Cruz, I often hear the whistle of a
train departing from Roaring Camp
Railroads in Felton. Little did I realize that this bucolic little
shortline chalks up a couple of shootouts with desperadoes every year. And
only a mile or two from my front door. Yikes!
What’s going on here? Where are the feds? Why has it fallen upon me to
expose this raging crime wave and sound the alarm about the danger that is
riding our nation’s railways?
I smell conspiracy.
© 2005 Applied Psychology
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