You are thinking of flange oilers. They can be seen trackside as squarish boxes that lubricate the rails. You can see a sludge buildup along the rail on either side of the flange oiler location.
As for the thread itself.
(1) I don't like to label folks in this instance. Its not fair cause not every Railfan is a "Bad" person.
(2) We don't know in fact the culprit was even a Railfan or enthusiast.
(3) Consider some clown who hates the railroad or a bunch of local kids decided to do this perhaps.
(4) Olaf posted a photo of the 1960's with the extra sandbags on the engines due to Jim Marcus having greased the rails previously. I met him a couple of times and he had a reputation of being sorta "Out there". He likely greased rails on other times besides the NG Olaf referred to. I think he may have been the one who greased Horseshoe curve on a 769 trip in the late 60's or early 70's. I believe the train stalled. I also heard he shot some 16mm film of a vintage coach in the woods some place exploding. He had placed dynamite in it, and was showing his movies at a railroad club. The viewers were shocked and none too pleased with him destroying vintage and perhaps private property.
(5) Greasing rails is not unheard of but none too common these days. There are always a couple of bad apples out there, that tend to make it harder for those of us trying to be more normal!!!
(6) I hope the guy is caught and made an example of, to deter others who might have the same idea!
(7) one final comment. There are two reasons to grease the rails....(1) To stall the train for the fun of it, and disrupt the service, or (2) To make it slip and thus create some more exciting pictures or videos. If its the second then its a Railfan or enthusiast who has heard of this in the past.
A final comment. It is getting harder for the well behaved rail fans to go out and watch and photograph trains around the country, as again some bad apples, not just rail fans, but commen folk living nearby cause angst for railroads. It used to be if a guy hiked into a remote location, the engineer would wave, and give you kudos for the effort of getting there. Today they call the dispatcher to announce a trespasser!!! These guys who grease the rails only hurt others, and more than themselves.
Off my soapbox and back to editing.
Greg Scholl
[
www.gregschollvideo.com]
