This past year we have had scrap metal theft and also new parts theft. One time a stack of brake shoes were stolen. Usually you never find them. But just one time last year the local police were alerted soon enough that they were able to arrive on the scene before the thieves got away. Well one of the thieves thought he might run over a police officer and get away. That didn't happen and now he is facing a felony against a police officer.

They'll steal anything. Last night in Chicago, the local CBS TV station reported that eight school buses (four equipped for handicapped passengers) were stolen, driven to a scrapyard and shredded. Chicago police found the "remains" of the eight vehicles and arrested the owner of the facility. The vehicles were valued at approximately $250,000 but the value of the scrap was estimated to be $15,000.

Don C.

This is the really aggravating aspect of metal theft. The damage these scumbags cause far outweighs the money they get at the sleazoid scrap dealers. At the risk of being flagged by the moderators, I would guess that the majority of RYPN readers would like to see all scrap thieves "strung up for the buzzards" at an old-fashioned "necktie party".

Where can I get my invite to the aforementioned necktie party?

Jesus H. Christ, are you seriously advocating capitol punishment for scrap theft? Actually, that's not even capitol punishment, it's vigilantism, which is even worse. This kind of stuff happens, get over it. Lock up all of your stuff, and NEVER assume that this is something that only happens to other people.

OK, this wasn't a serious suggestion, just reflects the idle thoughts of someone whose home museum has been struck. Now we have to spend $$$$ on security measures instead of restoration and repairs. And as a retired electric utility employee, we've taken some hits at our substations, including one that required taking an outage on a fairly large neighborhood. As far as "locking everything up", there's an old saying, "Locks just keep honest people honest." If scumbags want to get in badly enough, they will, unless there's there's someone with a firearm ready to make them rethink their plans. One of the problems with these thefts is that in many areas the police and/or the courts don't take them seriously. But sometimes the laws of physics supersede the State Penal Code when a perp tries to steal wire that's still energized.......
(I'm usually a nice, peaceloving person, but there are some things that make me "go straight up and turn left")

When I was last in SoCal Bob Davis was "a nice, peaceloving person." But OERM has since been hit hard with copper theft off locomotives. The resulting security measures they needed to take have been costly both in dollars and the access members have to things.

I was there about a year and a half ago when about 50 fish plates were one night "lifted" over a seven-foot chain link fence! They really must have wanted the money. Fortunately the scrap dealer they went to tipped off the sheriff.

Reading the article from a link posted elsewhere here on RYPN, it appears that they stripped the buses first, taking out the engines etc, (estimated to be worth $11K to $12K each) and then scrapped the shells. That makes (slightly) more sense.

I had to laugh when I read they waited hours while the scrapyard owner hid in the ceiling. Welcome to Chicago!

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/21557 ... in-custody

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/0 ... 44139.html

As for locking up your stuff, as others have mentioned, that only does so much.

We had a project where they broke into the job shack over the weekend. Now this wasn't just some plywood shack, it was a steel shipping container. Securely locked, and no windows. So, how did they get in? They broke into an excavator, cutting the lock off the door, and used a Cat key (easier to find than a reverser and just as universal) to start it. They then peeled off the roof like opening a sardine can!

What did they get for all that work? Well, a couple hundred bucks worth of copper pipe and wire, and a computer that was so old that you could buy one just like it at Goodwill for about $50. Yep, really big haul...

Watch the series "Breaking Bad" and you can visualize where these thieves come from. They are drug addicts willing to do anything for a few dollars.

"...are you seriously advocating capitol punishment for scrap theft? Actually, that's not even capitol punishment, it's vigilantism, which is even worse. This kind of stuff happens, get over it. Lock up all of your stuff, and NEVER assume that this is something that only happens to other people."

In the immortal words of Sgt Hulka, "lighten up Francis". There's people who are more offended by your taking the Lord's name in vain in reaction to an obviously hyperbolic and glib suggestion of making scrap theft a capitAl offense.

(And I wonder how it is that a kid nibbling a pop tart into the shape of a gun or putting green soldiers on cupcakes gets suspended.)

That having been said, adequate physical security is an important control object for people in change of any enterprise. Theft accompanied railroads from their beginning-doesn't anybody know how Pinkertons got their start?

Theft is everywhere and while it is opportunistic, the opportunities are often obtained through careful observation. My coworker had a relative who was an auditor a couple years back for one of those now defunct banks in the Ohio-Michigan area

with heavy residential real estate exposure. He relayed the story that when people were "strategically defaulting", the scavengers would figure out a property was abandoned in a week or two (obviously long before the bank had a serious enough default to initiate foreclosure proceeding and serve "papers") and the house would be stripped of all it's copper, brass and any usable fixture.

If you leave stuff unguarded-It's your fault.

I'm sure they're in it for the destruction and mayhem as much as the materials. Containers are a lot flimsier than they look.

Question is, how do you secure your forklifts, loaders and the like so that randoms can't walk up to them and do that? Is there a way to put ignition keys on them that would resist hot-wiring? Bonus points if you can key them to your standard site keys, e.g. the Primus locks at WRM.

Factor into this the fact that the perpetrators are typically what could politely be called the "scum of the earth," bottom-feeding, parasitical jackals with utterly no conscience, vermin-infested scoundrels who... ahem, sorry, drifted a bit there.

Anyhow, factor in the all-too-typical response of both police and the courts to these crimes, which exact occasionally horrifying expense upon the victims for paltry small sums for the perpetrators, with little to no chance of restitution ever being awarded, let alone being actually paid, and the devastating toll this kind of thing exacts on everyone's insurance..... and, yeah, it's kind of easy to nod, say "ayep," and wish the knot-tier, stake-fuel-piler, or maliciously faulty electrician well in his objectives. It's like the SOB that arsons a 150-year-old covered bridge, which costs well into six figures (if not seven) to replace, and is slapped with a $1,000 fine. You hope there's a special place in Hades for them.

I'm reminded of an instance where a burglar at one rail station museum dove so fast out of the building (the first responder arrived within 3-4 minutes of the alarm going off) that he gashed himself badly on either the window glass or the metal window screens he had cut to gain access, and so much blood was found on the sidewalks/ground leading to what must have been a vehicle that it was seriously speculated that the injuries sustained could have been fatal. All I know is, I've never heard of another break-in at that rather isolated place again......... and you'll pardon us if we didn't exactly worry about the person in question beyond checking the local emergency rooms, or say "poor guy".

Of course you can do that. It's like your car. If someone wants it badly enough, they're going to get it. You just see to it that there are easier and more attractive options elsewhere. (I saw a rollback truck the other day towing what looked like a repossessed Cadillac Esplanade with the name on the door sides: "FINAL NOTICE Towing Co." I had to chuckle.)

One technique I've seen: One place I've worked with has a somewhat non-standard, foreign-made backhoe on the property (think MG or Jaguar instead of GM or Ford). The removal of one part (think a distributor cap, if we're talking our MG example) disables the ability to start it, and that part isn't something you can go to your average backhoe-parts store and get. And they have a few of them, scattered among the guys qualified to use it.

It's not too difficult to "Harden" your equipment to some degree. The first step is a heavy duty locking metal cover that goes over the entire control panel. That makes it harder to get to the ignition and to break the gauges, something younger vandals enjoy. The underside should be enclosed as well. Putting a battery cut out switch on the main battery cable also helps, plus it stops battery drain. Obviously the door to the battery compartment should be secured and locked.

A lot of contractors also install exterior panels, they provide another barrier to entry, and prevent rock and pellet gun damage to the windows. They won't stop bullets, but they'll stop objects thrown and BB guns etc.

Here's an example. They're not cheap, but neither are new windshields.
http://www.pjpuk.com/attachments/excava ... dal-guards

Obviously most folks in this group could easily fabricate their own.