Video: About Those Military Trains In The News

This past week I saw a number of posts on  “conspiracy” sites that cited the movement of military equipment on trains.  These reports were coupled with lurid accounts of Russian invaders, or internment camps.  This type of “citizen” reporting has been going on for years but some things have changed.

When I first began to follow conspiracy news it was during the era of tabloid books and newsletters.  There were (and in some places still are) folks all over the country who would type out a three page newsletter, and if you paid for the subscription, you would get your photocopied version in the mail.  Books could be found at street fairs and swap meets and some of the more mundane conspiracies made it into the local library.  What has changed is the internet, otherwise known as the Conspiracy Delivery Sysytem.

Now, a bit of news can go viral in hours.  From that first thread a finely spun matrix can be achieved.  How does this impact us?  Well, there are several different questions that can arise.  Is the story accurate?  Has the information, or the source been vetted, and most importantly, can the release of information cause harm to a people or nation?

I started thinking about this when I read about the so-called military train movements.  In the newsletter days, by the time a subscriber got the story, the train was sure to have reached its destination, and had been there for some time.  Today, the information can be delivered to our enemies before the train has even made it across town. 

Why is this such a big deal in the modern satellite age?  These days, a single event does not necessarily mean that a bigger event is in the offing.  However, a pattern of small events can be threaded together to give a clue as to what the military is doing.  While we do live in a free society we should not be ignorasnt that there are foreign governments that would delight in our destruction.   The news of a military train could give an enemy enough lead time cause damage to our nation.

I can not envision that many Americans would actively notate military movements and transmit them to hostile governments.  What I have seen is way too many armchair patriots blathering about the latest train, plane, or tank moves, and giving out specific information as to the date, time, type of equipment, amounts of equipment, and direction of travel.

Sometimes, even the “debunkers” reveal too much when they cry BS to a story.  There was one of those recently where folks in a rural state observed something, thought it was alien type weird, and started chatting it up on the net.  Several debunkers brought into the discussion numerous examples of military operation that would explain the “phenomena.”  That was not help, it was actually a revelation of a certain type of military might.

I should also mention that quite a bit of this information is not anything special, it is that somebody thinks that the forces of darkness are out there, highly organized, and waiting to pounce upon their unsuspecting prey.  Translated, it means that they fear our own people more than the known hostile foreigh nations.

I’m a historian, a rail fan, and have studied many elements of our collective past and present.  I can usually discern which reports are from the rabble rousers, and which are from a tortured mind.  There are too many examples to cite but I’ll share several.

One of my favorites was the report on the “prison rail cars” that were parked on a siding “somewhere in the northwest.”  There were pictures of these ominous railcars but a close look revealed that they were “auto-stacks.”  That is, a purpose built railcar which moved autos from the factory to the distribution points around the country.  Older folks will remember the days when automobiles were shipped on open, double-stacked rail cars.  The industry got away from those as there were costly acts of vandalism and theft during the rail trip.  In their place, a fully enclosed rail car was produced, and they were strung together for operating efficeny.  They do look fortified as that is their given purpose!

In Indianapolis, Amtrak has a equipment rebuild center.  During the last twenty years the rumor has been that it was a secret government internment site which was on stand-by.  The story went on that in the event of a national emergency, certain citizens would be rounded up and shipped their for questioning and eventual liquidation. (This story always fascinated me as depending on who told it, the rounded up citizens were from one political party, or the other.  Never a general combination of typical folk).  I have rail fan friends who have been invited down there on group tours, were given total access, and not one of them has ever reported on anything at all being sinister.  (Of course, us rail fans could be in cahoots with the government).

The only real rail conspiracy, that I know of, was the destruction of the nations interurban system during the middle of the twentieth century..  It has been shown that the big automakers wanted to boost bus sales and that they bought out trolley systems across the country.  In some instances the trolleys were shut down overnight.  Los Angeles used to have one of the best streetcar systems in the world.  Then, in the wink of an eye, it was gone.  This was a true conspiracy as it was a planned event to benefit the manufacturers of the buses.

But, back to recording trains.  Should it be done at all?  Rail fanning, and photography have long been honored hobbies (and careers) in our nation.  Long ago, it was decided that something/anything out in public has no, or very limited, expectations of privacy.  After 9/11 this was squeezed down a bit with rules pertaining to no photgraphy allowed in train terminals, airports, etc.  We also need to consider the property rights of the railroads, as trespassing on railroad land can get you arrested and maybe even hit by the train.  Of course, in a national emergency, a hot war, or something like it, there will be additional restrictions.

We need to to put a slight brake on our rush to put the images and information out.  The following is what I think the sensible guide lines should be.

1.  Do not post until at least several days have passed.  When you do post, do not mention the date the images were made.

2.  Do not offer counts of observed equipment, or cite specific types of equipment.

3.  Do not reveal the location of where the images were recorded.

There is an attached video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bw93L15mrE&feature=plcp

  You will note that guidelines are mostly being observed.  Some information might be discerned from repeated viewings, but the assembly of the video anticipated that, and one might also guess that there can be some disinformation included.

During World War Two there was a poster that became iconic around the nation.  There were many variants of the artwork but the text was always the same, “Loose Lips Sink Ships!”