Railroad track theft in Arizona

[Smjh1979]

http://www.azfamily.com/news/2-arrested ... 62034.html

This is from the Queen Valley area. I looked this line up, and this line is out of service.

[gedunk]

I can't believe that the scrap value would actually make a small scale rip off pay.

[SirKrunch]

There are an interesting array of crossings on this spur... it looks like a no longer needed mining line.
Most interesting to me, is this crossing for US 60... It has newly installed equipment, on what is a dead line. What a waste of money... (Unless there are plans to bring it back to life I don't know about)

Then we have this gated crossing on Az 70 which the signal equipment has seen better days, but the crossing surface seems to have been recently upgraded.

And finally, this rural crossing with very crude 45-degree crossbucks that look to have been around for awhile. (No exempt signs present either, unlike the other two crossings)

[Smjh1979]

Weird thing is on US 60, there were very old signals there in the past, back when US 60 was a 3-lane highway. I'm surprised that they put in brand new signals when it was widened to a 4-lane divided highway. They should've just put in crossbucks with out of service/exempt signs.

That line has been defunct for over 40 years. I seriously doubt it's coming back. For those of you who are interested in this line, this line is (was?) owned by the Arizona Magma Railroad.

EDIT: Here's a link showing some other stuff on this line, and the former US 60 signals:
http://www.azrymuseum.org/ADOT/4_Copper ... ex_4-6.htm

From Wikipedia on bringing the line back:

"The railroad has since changed hands and is currently owned by Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto Group. Exploration in 2001-2003 resulted in the discovery of a large copper ore body some 7,000 ft (2133 m) beneath the surface of lands just three miles (5 km) east of Superior. If the mine is eventually reopened, it is highly likely the Magma Arizona will be revived to transport the one billion tons (907 million tonnes) of ore to off-site smelters. Discussions with representatives of Resolution indicate the Magma Arizona name will be kept if the mine and railroad are both reopened, which may occur after feasibility studies are completed in 2009."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magma_Arizona_Railroad

[TrainmanKight]

I can't believe that the scrap value would actually make a small scale rip off pay.

just goes to show what some people will do for their drug habit
also depending on location you can get some good money for scrap metals

[cabman701]

Hmmm... I wonder how they were able to get an acetylene torch to cut the track with? You know those things can't be cheap... and the money they were getting for the scrap railroad is not going to be a whole lot.

I wonder why these scrap metal yards don't sometimes question where some of this stuff comes from. "Oh, you have some railroad track just lying around huh? Sure, I'll buy it from you."

[gedunk]

Hmmm... I wonder how they were able to get an acetylene torch to cut the track with? You know those things can't be cheap... and the money they were getting for the scrap railroad is not going to be a whole lot.

I wonder why these scrap metal yards don't sometimes question where some of this stuff comes from. "Oh, you have some railroad track just lying around huh? Sure, I'll buy it from you."

Several years ago aluminum guardrails used here in California were being stolen for scrap. The thiefs would show up at recyclers with sometime MILES of the stuff. They got paid for it. They and the recyclers got busted eventually.

[cabman701]

Well around here, people have started to cut copper wire off of telephone poles. They are risking their life because there is no way to know if the line you are trying to cut is live. Plus, they are also cutting the steel support cables that are somtimes used to hold the poles in the right position. They could risk the pole falling down and who knows what after that.

Oh, and they like to cut copper pipe used for air conditioning units, sometimes causing $100's of dollars worth of damage for pipe that is netting them maybe $30 or $40 bucks max.

Just plain crazy!

[TrainmanKight]

Well around here, people have started to cut copper wire off of telephone poles. They are risking their life because there is no way to know if the line you are trying to cut is live. Plus, they are also cutting the steel support cables that are somtimes used to hold the poles in the right position. They could risk the pole falling down and who knows what after that.

Oh, and they like to cut copper pipe used for air conditioning units, sometimes causing $100's of dollars worth of damage for pipe that is netting them maybe $30 or $40 bucks max.

Just plain crazy!

my favorite is the jackass in Texas who went to jail for copper theft then got out and was later found along the DART Rail ROW zapped to death after tiring to steal more copper wire this time it was live