Crime is workin’ on the railroad
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, New Jersey
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.