I’m sure that most of the adjacent land is federally owned and the roads are public roads— you aren’t going to close them. Also, let’s not forget that the railroad is publicly owned. Closing off access to a publicly owned railroad will create its own set of problems and is politically ill-advised.
A better solution would be to find a way that chasers and riders can coexist and respect one another. As an attorney, I can understand the reluctance of John Bush to issue “chaser passes” with all the attendant liability issues. Instead of chaser passes, how about issuing “contributor” cards— it is only meant to signify that you have contributed to the excursion. You can put it on your windshield if you choose to chase or not. It lets peeople know you are not an out-and-out freeloader. But there is another issue here that concerns me and that is that many potential fans, particularly young ones, simply don’t have the means to ride or even make a contribution. I don’t care to ban them from an event for lack of money. I am very aware of this issue as a co-worker’s college student son cancelled a trip with his train-minded young kid only because he didn’t feel he could afford it. We should be looking for ways to expand our hobby and interests to younger folks, instead of making them feel unwelcome due to lack of means. I don’t know how we could set this up, but I think it is something we should explore. The railroad shouldn’t be perceived as running off young potential railfans.
Finally, this comes down to an issue of respect. Maybe the railroad could let its runby sites be known and ask that chasers avoid those spots. I know that some fear that it will just attract the crowds to those locations, but I think most chasers will try to comply and avoid these locations. I know I would. More than once, I have set up at some location only to have the train pull up for a photo run. If I had known, I would have stayed far away from that spot. There are still plenty of potential locations for all.
Bill
