Nick
As you suggest at the end this mirrors recent experience in the States
since 9/11. The rail journals that I read have had a number of complaints
from train spotters [=rail enthusiasts also] being moved away from stations
and lineside locations and detained for a period as terrorists.
I plan to go and photograph the experimental People Parry Mover tomorrow on
our local preserved rail line. I wonder if this qualifies as terrorism??!!
David
>they couldn't make this up if they tried... I wonder if we'll see a batch
>of geography articles trying to give space to these 'other voices'?
>
>Terrorism fear derails train-spotters
>
>By Giles Wilson
>BBC News Online
>
>(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2943304.stm)
>
>Train-spotters are being told to leave stations as rail bosses tighten
>anti-terror security, BBC News Online can reveal.
>To many people, train-spotters are a joke.
>
>To Network Rail, the company which now runs the UK's train network, they
>are potential terrorists.
>
>The firm is telling train-spotters who are standing on platforms at its
>stations noting down names and numbers of locomotives that they 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.
>
>Peter Olding, a 37-year-old website designer from Bournemouth, who has been
>train spotting for 20 years, says he has been asked a couple of times in
>the past few weeks to move from platforms at King's Cross.
>
>
>I don't see why they want to make us public enemy number one
>Peter Olding
>"I was just at the end of the platform, waiting for one of the trains, when
>a security guard came out and asked me what I was doing," he told BBC News
>Online.
>"I said I was train spotting. He said I would have to move, for my own
>safety, on to the concourse. It's a bit pointless trying to spot trains
>from the concourse. I was doing no harm there, I wasn't in anyone's way.
>
>"While I can accept being the butt of a lot of jokes, I don't see why they
>want to make us public enemy number one."
>
>His is not an isolated tale.
>
>Brian Morrison, network news editor for Railways Illustrated magazine says
>a number of readers had complained about being ejected from platforms - so
>much so that the magazine's next issue contains a rundown of which stations
>have now forbidden train spotting and photography.
>
>"It seems remarkable. One guy in particular was frogmarched off the
>platform. Another person was yelled at over the Tannoy. I witnessed one
>young fellow - he was about 15 - having the film taken out of his camera.
>
>"It's getting silly. I know we've got to have security and there are
>warnings about terrorism, but somebody with a camera in a perfectly safe
>spot photographing trains, inevitably covered by CCTV, is not going to harm
>anybody."
>
>Phone in advance
>
>Network Rail spokeswoman Jane Vincent confirms the company's policy at the
>16 major stations that the company runs.
>
>
>"We do have issues with people coming along to take photographs on our
>stations. We do allow people to do it if they phone us in advance so we can
>arrange for the station to be told that people will be turning up, they
>know they are there and who they are.
>"It could be any sort of terrorist activity or whatever. Unless we know who
>these people are, and what they are doing, it's best to be on the safe
>side."
>
>There are also several safety concerns about train-spotters, including the
>hazard of them getting closer to the trains than other people, and that
>they will often step over painted safety lines on the platform to inspect
>the engines.
>
>"At the end of the day it's about the safety of people using the station,"
>she says. "It's the best thing if they write to the station to state their
>interest. They should say 'I'm interested in trains, and would like to come
>along on X day at X time'.
>
>"Provided it's not in the rush hour, and we haven't got film crews there
>that we have got to look after, it should be all right."
>
>Different policies
>
>The majority of the 2,500 railway stations around the country are managed
>by the individual train operating companies which run services from them.
>Their policies towards train-spotters and photographers vary, but one
>company, Virgin Trains, has dedicated a waiting room at Stafford station
>for their use.
>
>Mr Morrison, a celebrated train photographer, had an engine named after him
>in 2002 to mark 50 years taking rail pictures.
>
>
>He now monitors the movement of "his" locomotive each day via the web, but
>the irony is that in theory he would not be allowed to turn up at a London
>station to take a photograph of the very engine which marks his
>contribution to train photography.
>He denies that train-spotting or photography poses a security threat. "They
>have been around a long time," he says. "I've been one since I was eight.
>
>"In the past there have been incidents - people have been known to lose a
>leg. There are some silly folk who prance about, but 95% of them are
>genuine anoraks and are not doing any harm."
>
>The heightened security since 9/11 has until now been largely focused on
>airports. The observation balcony at Heathrow from which plane-spotters
>could see airliners coming and going remains closed more than 18 months
>after the attacks.
>
>But a meeting of US security officials in Washington in March reportedly
>classified "people sitting on train platforms who appear to be monitoring
>the timing of arrivals and departures" as suspicious behaviour.
**************************************
David M. Evans <[log in to unmask]>
Dept. of Geography
Loughborough University
Loughborough Leics
LE11 3TU
Tel: (+44) (0) 1509 222798
Fax: (+44) (0) 1509 223930
Home: (+44) (0) 1509 504462
Work Mobile: (+44) (0) 7767 425715
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