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Highs and Lows of a tourist railway

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      BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

    Location: Maldon Junction
    Yesterday while helping out in the Goods Shed at Maldon I was privileged to witness the 12.30 from Castlemaine roll in packed to the brim with pax. One of our experienced drivers was astute enough to leave the Guards Van behind at Maldon and so an extra car was able to be attached at Castlemaine to accommodate the large number of customers. It was a great sight seeing the platform swarming with happy people.

    This morning I was woken by the sound of a Y class diesel horn. I went down to the station to see what was happening only to be told that graffiti vandals had struck overnight and done a large amount of damage to Lowanna.

    It is one thing (not that I am condoning in any way) to hit a Metro train but what sort of low life vandalizes a tourist railway? Hundreds of volunteer man hours go into keeping these trains running and many more will now be wasted fixing this mindless damage - hours which should have been used to restore another carriage for us to run.

    Idiots. It goes without saying that if anyone knows or hears of anything in relation to this crime then contact the Victoria Police at Maldon.

    BG
    Posted: 25 Jan 2016 11:01

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      I'm Barely Online Locomotive Fireman

    It sickens me to read this. How could someone think it's okay to vandalize some of Victoria's rail heritage which is enjoyed by thousands of people each year. Yes the time and cash spent cleaning up after these low life sub-human form of species could be better used like re-building the track in some areas.
    Posted: 25 Jan 2016 15:49
      LancedDendrite Chief Commissioner

    Location: Gheringhap Loop Autonomous Zone
    what sort of low life vandalizes a tourist railway?
    BrentonGolding
    Kids. Invariably.
    Posted: 25 Jan 2016 17:39
      steve_w_1990 Junior Train Controller

    Location: Trying to fix something on the PTA Network
    People who vandalise trains likely do not know, nor care about what trains they hit.

    They do it for attention, and with all this negative publicity towards it, they become the centre of attention, which is exactly what they want. With a culture of trying to outdo one another, the attention is what they thrive off.

    Whilst a lot of volunteer man hours go into restoring locos and carriages, and I can fully simpathyse with people getting upset that all their hard work has been undone, venting about it on a public forum will likely change stuff all. Graffiti Vandals do troll these forums to see if their work had any effect.

    All you can really do is report the crime to the police and let them handle it.
    Posted: 25 Jan 2016 18:22
      Graham4405 The Ghost of George Stephenson

    Location: Dalby Qld
    All you can really do is report the crime to the police and let them handle it.
    steve_w_1990
    A few armed guards might have an effect...
    Posted: 25 Jan 2016 22:58
      Bogong Chief Commissioner

    Location: Essendon Aerodrome circa 1980
    All you can really do is report the crime to the police and let them handle it.
    A few armed guards might have an effect...
    Graham4405
    You are such a softie!

    I'd prefer trip wires linked to automatic weapons plus a few discretely placed land mines. Now that WOULD stop them.
    Posted: 25 Jan 2016 23:02
      steve_w_1990 Junior Train Controller

    Location: Trying to fix something on the PTA Network
    Be careful what you wish for when you ask for armed guards...

    http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2010/09/south-african-steam-locomotives-scrapped-following-damage-by-thieves
    Posted: 26 Jan 2016 02:08
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    what sort of low life vandalizes a tourist railway?
    Kids. Invariably.
    LancedDendrite

    Further details: https://www.railpage.com.au/news/article-19457/
    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 07:47
      freightgate Minister for Railways

    Location: Albury, New South Wales
    What filth noting the police think they may be from out of town.

    Public stoning of people who do this should be legal.
    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 09:09
      sthyer Deputy Commissioner

    Public stoning of people who do this should be legal.
    freightgate
    and to think people are afraid of Sharia law!!
    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 10:27
      62440 Chief Commissioner

    Visit Palmerston North where the Capital Connection is stabled. They have sensors which trigger sprays over anyone around the train

    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 11:30

    Last edited by 62440 on 28 Jan 2016 11:32; edited 2 times in total
      BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

    Location: Maldon Junction
    what sort of low life vandalizes a tourist railway?
    Kids. Invariably.

    Further details: https://www.railpage.com.au/news/article-19457/
    bevans
    I didn't put up any pics as I didn't want to glorify their work but as you can see in the above article it is probably too high a standard to be just kids. I know a few people in the Graffiti community in Melbourne and they all tell me their used to be a sort of code (don't hit private homes etc) which Heritage rail would have been covered by. Now that is all out the window which gives an idea of how sad these people are.

    When they catch the bastard(s) they should give them a thousand hours community service. To be served with the Carriage Team at Maldon. And send an email out to VGR members advising days and times they will be there.......

    BG
    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 13:14
      VRfan Moderator

    Location: In front of my computer :-p
    I doubt there's ever been a code about not hitting tourist railways. I know that other heritage railways in Victoria have been tagged, but you don't normally see photos in the local paper...

    The railway I'm involved with cleans it off or paints over the tags as soon as possible with photos only being sent to the police, not the local paper. This way the scum get minimum bragging rights out of their "art"
    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 15:49
      exarmidale Train Controller

    Makes you wish their fathers should have been castrated at birth!
    Posted: 28 Jan 2016 19:12
      Ed Locomotive Driver

    The difference between "heritage train" and any other sort of train is probably lost on these Einsteins.
    Posted: 29 Jan 2016 11:40
      882seu4me Station Staff

    These "Einsteins" you refer to have now got their handiwork published on the internet. When that is the aim of the game, then success is theirs.

    Why is this photo published?
    Posted: 29 Jan 2016 12:48
      Radzaarty Junior Train Controller

    While graffiti is an annoying part of the rail preservation movement, there is a saying one of the guys over here has which I agree with wholeheartedly. "It's just another coat of paint" While yes it is annoying and adds work to clean it off, at least they aren't coming in and trashing priceless rolling stock, or stealing items of huge value for scrap. Unfortunately we had a whole loco worth of radiators stolen from us, and it really makes graffiti seem trivial in comparison.
    Posted: 29 Jan 2016 17:01
      882seu4me Station Staff

    So it is "pick the crime time" ? You condone a bit of graffiti, as long as nothing is stolen?

    No wonder I can't post on this forum. I end up in a discussion about which crime we like to have committed on us, those we don't.

    What about we leave water paint lying around the rolling stock to encourage the artists, AND make it easy to clean up afterward. Or leave worn and obsolete parts and tools close to the gate/fence/whatever, and an old hand truck to assist with theft. Give me strength.

    Again, good bye this forum.

    And to those in Preservation, please keep up the great work. This country is lucky to have the people with the drive, talent, skills and determination needed to make preservation and heritage operations happen. Its not easy.
    Posted: 29 Jan 2016 21:38
      randomnarwhal Locomotive Driver

    So it is "pick the crime time" ? You condone a bit of graffiti, as long as nothing is stolen?

    No wonder I can't post on this forum. I end up in a discussion about which crime we like to have committed on us, those we don't.

    What about we leave water paint lying around the rolling stock to encourage the artists, AND make it easy to clean up afterward. Or leave worn and obsolete parts and tools close to the gate/fence/whatever, and an old hand truck to assist with theft. Give me strength.

    Again, good bye this forum.

    And to those in Preservation, please keep up the great work. This country is lucky to have the people with the drive, talent, skills and determination needed to make preservation and heritage operations happen. Its not easy.
    "882seu4me"


    I'm pretty sure he's saying "neither is desirable, but one is more preferable than the other"... Possibly the reason you end up in those discussions is because you make inferences out of nowhere?

    A few years ago, when the Steamrail shuttles were stabled in Ballarat station dock overnight they and the Y class (diesel) loco were hit, a group of local artists hit the papers saying they were after whoever did it for violating the code of the street artists - i.e., no private property or heritage items. This could of course vary from place to place.

    I dropped in the other day - things are looking good otherwise.
    Posted: 30 Jan 2016 09:28
      Carnot Minister for Railways

    Having just read the latest VGR newsletter, 2016 is shaping up to be a great one.

    Hopefully they can store more rolling stock in the secure shed at Castlemaine sooner rather than later.
    Posted: 30 Jan 2016 09:34
      michaelgreenhill Administrator That's Numberwang!

    Location: Melbourne
    So it is "pick the crime time" ? You condone a bit of graffiti, as long as nothing is stolen?

    No wonder I can't post on this forum. I end up in a discussion about which crime we like to have committed on us, those we don't.

    What about we leave water paint lying around the rolling stock to encourage the artists, AND make it easy to clean up afterward. Or leave worn and obsolete parts and tools close to the gate/fence/whatever, and an old hand truck to assist with theft. Give me strength.

    Again, good bye this forum.
    882seu4me
    I think we've found 2016's "Railpage Over-Reactor" winner, folks.
    Posted: 30 Jan 2016 10:05
      don_dunstan The Ghost of George Stephenson

    Location: Adelaide proud
    Have to agree with some of the earlier comments that theft and destruction of property is much more serious than graffiti; when I lived in Newport the callous disregard that thieves show in stealing from local community groups was appalling. At least with graffiti it can be wiped away in a short time with some paint - although there's obviously better uses for resources than trying to control the scourge of (usually) adults seeking notoriety in the graffiti community.

    Destroying their work as soon as it appears is proven to be the best deterrent. Unfortunately the only long-term solution to stop these wanna-be artists is to keep rolling stock under lock and key in secure sheds as DSCR have done.

    The appropriate punishment for those caught must be at least two hundred hours community work with the organisations that they've targeted to see just how much effort the volunteers go to in keeping these things running. These third rate artists think of their crimes as being victim-less: If you educate them about what they're doing and how it affects these groups then I think it's much more likely that they'll leave them alone (or maybe even find a creative outlet alternative to comparing their genitals with other graffiti 'artists'?).
    Posted: 30 Jan 2016 11:11
      xxxxlbear Token Booking Clerk

    Location: Geelong
    Where I volunteer, it seems to be boredom, rather than wanting attention, that is behind vandalism (graffiti etc).
    When kids/teenagers are bored, it doesn't seem to matter where they hit as long as they get a thrill from what they are doing.
    I wont mention specific but we have a few security measures in place, because we have been the victim of a few different attacks including graffiti, and break in/theft. And luckily, most have been caught and charged.
    Posted: 30 Jan 2016 11:27

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