Railroad Police

[serotta1972]

I didn't know railroad companies have their own Police.  I saw it at the train show and had to get it.

 

 

 

[kvp]

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

 

Their exact roles differs from country to country. In some countries railroad police are not different from that of any other police agency, while in others they are more related to a type of security police.

[railsquid]

The UK even had its own dedicated Police patrol locomotives:

 

 

;)

Edited January 17, 2016 by railsquid

[ozman2009]

The UK even had its own dedicated Police patrol locomotives:

 

 

;)

LOL. Some years ago Marklin actually produced an HO scale Police loco, just for fun.

[yakumo381]

Another version of the UK "police" loco (when in storage at Long Marston a few years back)

[kvp]

In hungary and not as a joke:

another type:

[HantuBlauLOL]

even we had an ambulance here, lol.

 

[gerryo]

I seem to remember that most US railroads used Pinkerton Cops at one time.  This was before they had their own.

 

In Canada, we have had RR Cops for many years.  No ambulances, but we have a RR Dentist car in the Eastern Ontario RR Museum at Smiths Falls, On.

 

gerryo

[enodenlover]

I'm a retired Amtrak employee and I used to see the company's police officers and squad cars on a daily basis. The workers in Amtrak's Chicago coach yard frequently referred to them as the "pretend police" and "Barney Fifes" behind their backs.

[kvp]

In Hungary the pre war railroad police belonged to the gendarmerie and were fighting units in ww2. In the communist times they were part of the workers militia and as that were the only armed military unit where women were allowed amongst the fighting force. Even so that many commanding officers were women. They usually employed the shoot first and ask questions later strategy. After the fall of the east block the railroad police was integrated into the civilian police force, then fully disbanded upon the privatisation. Currently there are only subcontracted security guards around most railroad property and most old equipment (including armored dmu-s) is either cut up or in a museum.

[serotta1972]

http://www.mavnosztalgia.hu/adat/galeria/190/big/kormanyzati_2_net.jpg

Nice looking train! Thanks for the bits of information.

 

Found this and quite interesting.

 

http://www.therailroadpolice.com/history.htm

Edited January 19, 2016 by serotta1972

[Nick_Burman]

I didn't know railroad companies have their own Police.  I saw it at the train show and had to get it.

 

IMG_5303.JPG

 

Most North American Class 1 roads have their own police force. In the case of Southern Pacific a rash of pilferage cases in the 1980's prompted the company to paint this caboose in RR Police colours so its forces could travel with selected trains.

 

 

Cheers NB

[Welshbloke]

We have the British Transport Police here.

 

While their remit also covers ports and airports they're mostly known for their work on the rail network. They've been known to do things like sending a special train out packed with coppers, if an area is notorious for vandalism, trespass, or metal theft, but more normally you might see a couple of them patrolling major stations. I think the "Police" Class 47 was actually a stunt to promote their work (unlike the 37 in the advert).

 

Weird bits of history: Amongst some railway people the signaller is known as a "bobby". That dates to the very earliest days of the network, when policemen acted as signalmen. The logic presumably ran that as they were trained to direct traffic they should have no problem with directing trains!

[Socimi]

In italy we have the "Polfer" (Polizia Ferroviaria - Railway  Police) wich is basically a branch of the national police that operates in station, trains and in other railway areas, commonly along the "Normal" police and the Carabinieri ( italian "Gerndarmerie" ).

[Welshbloke]

On a related note (and I think this might be what kvp posted earlier), some countries transport prisoners by rail.

I've seen photos of Italian DMUs built rather more heavily than normal passenger stock, presumably as they were worried about attempts to spring the passengers by those sharp-suited chaps in the Mafia. Switzerland seem to have used a variant of a standard cab car design, which runs with an electric loco.

[railsquid]

Gefangenensammeltransportwagen of the GDR Reichsbahn.

[Socimi]

On a related note (and I think this might be what kvp posted earlier), some countries transport prisoners by rail.

I've seen photos of Italian DMUs built rather more heavily than normal passenger stock, presumably as they were worried about attempts to spring the passengers by those sharp-suited chaps in the Mafia.

 

Probably the DMU you're talking abut is the ALnDAP

 

 

ALn stands for "Automotrice Leggera Nafta" (Naphta Light Railcar) while DAP stands for "Dipartimento Amministrazione Penitenziaria" (Penitenciary Administration Department).

 

These are based on the ALn663 DMUs, but with aromored bulletproof windows and no intermediate gangway. They were build as DMUs so they could run even if someone saboted the catenary, alsothey weren't operated by "normal" drivers, but by the Genio Ferrovieri ones (Genio Ferrovieri is the "Railway Branch" of the Italian Army).

 

They were took out from service between the '90s and the early 2000s.

Edited January 28, 2016 by DavideTreni

[Welshbloke]

Yep, that's what I saw photos of. I was browsing through railcar photos on Railfaneurope and came across these weird single car units which looked armoured.

 

I think the DB had a few two axle versions of their famous three axle "Umbauwagen" for the same purpose, but I've never seen a photo of them. Presumably the ride was intended to be part of the punishment, as the six wheelers were apparently a bit lively even with the trick of tensioning couplings between pairs to help stabilise them!

[kvp]

On a related note (and I think this might be what kvp posted earlier)

Not quite. Prisonners in Hungary were transported in normal older long distance cars with bars added to the windows. The same car types (without the steel bars) were used as worker transporters and school trip cars. But prisonner escort was and still is a task for the prison guards and not the railroad police. Their job was to protect the railroad infrastructure, passengers and the cargo. They were also used as a reserve militia for the communist party and were usually tasked as trustable bodyguards for the party leadership. They were one of the few police units which usually carried automatic weapons and often shot before asking questions.

 

The police lettered car was a moving police station in the 80ies to be added to trains as a guards car or spotted to stations if there was a need for more officers. They usually patrolled areas with east and west german tourists as Hungary was one of the few countries where families divided by the iron curtain could meet.

 

The light blue dmu is one of the armored trains used by leaders and fast response units and one of them was a designated evacuation unit under the parliament on a siding next to the k2 government deep level shelter. It could take the passengers through the metro system to any of the 3 surface exit points. They weren't as bulletproof as advertised as once a few students managed to take out one of the cabs with a pretty simple ied. None of the party leaders on board died though. A single car and a 3 car unit is preserved in the railway historical park along with one of their ww2 predecessors.

[Socimi]

Are there any other photos of that blue DMU (btw, has it got a name?). Is it a conversion of an existing one?

[kvp]

Yes, the nickname was silver arrow (or Kadar train after the communist leader who was afraid of flying) for the whole class but never got an official class name as there were a bunch of different cars with the same design. The single car variant had a guards section only with two cabs while the 3 car variant had sleeper, saloon, kitchen, radio and guards rooms and the power units are single ended. The power cars had each one 3 axle powered bogies with 2 axle trailer bogies. The car numbers for the surviving 3 car unit are 44-59-45. They were based on the older bbmot dmu concept but received a newly designed steel body and completly redesigned bogies and motors with nbc safe gas tight gangways. For some reason (probably cost) no civilian variant was ever built. 99% of the pictures were taken after they were retired and the railway historical museum got two sets. Since then they are used for everything, even pulling excursion trains.

http://www.google.hu/search?q=máv+ezüst+nyíl+motorvonat