Re: How can chasers be of more benefit to the railroad?

Especially along the old D&RGW, you could have your runbys at places you can't get to conventionally.
4449's NRHS trip to Wishram WA in 2005 did exactly that. You could see the photo line from highway 14 but it was a comically long way off and nowhere near any road. Only tose paying for the trip were ever going to get the shot there.
But one thing everyone seems to forget is the drone equation. I've heard from some UK friends that drones are ruining things for photo lines. People will line up and then a drone will lazily lower right into everyone's shot just as the loco comes into perfect view. The operator could be goodness-knows-where so there's nobody to yell at (and popping rounds at one in the US is a crime). I've even heard that drones have crashed into the consist on some trips, and has happened more than once in the UK. The police, when they can find the drone operators, are citing them now: [forums.theregister.co.uk]
It's only a matter of time before that happens everywhere.
Nothing new here, we have all heard of the horror stories of people renting choppers and ruining everyone's shots/video/audio of trips. But now, it's not just the rich who can screw it up for everyone.

-Lee

Flickr photo set of my On30 layout