Mooka Rlwy tells ill-mannered railfans to stay away

[bikkuri bahn]

This made the national news this morning (even with all the news from Kyushu).  Mooka Railway posted on their Facebook page April 10 that unthoughtful railfan photographers who trample flowers on private property alongside the railway, thus angering the property owners, are not welcome anymore.

https://ja-jp.facebook.com/pages/%E7%9C%9F%E5%B2%A1%E9%90%B5%E9%81%93%E6%A0%AA%E5%BC%8F%E4%BC%9A%E7%A4%BE/102214643322902

Edited April 18, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[ToniBabelony]

This isn't very new for Mooka to put up such messages, as I've seen them before on websites and along the line. This is however the first time this becomes national news.

 

The Mooka is one of the closest and most accessible steam train operating railways near Tokyo, so it's expected to have these 'kuzutetsu' (trash railway fans) ruining the fun.

[kvp]

Maybe designated (aka. mandatory) photo locations would help if they already don't have them. They could be picknick areas next to the rails with a low, but strong fence and a few wooden tables and benches, with location maps posted at each station and on the net. Imho i've seen a few similar ones for the new shinkansen lines.

[katoftw]

Good on the railway for having a say.

[Sacto1985]

It's more than just that--those kuzutetsu could become a hazard to farms next to the railway line, too.

[SuRoNeFu 25-501]

And unfortunately, what they (kuzutetsu) have done is really further damaging the reputation of railfan in front of the general (non-railfan) people...

Edited April 18, 2016 by SuRoNeFu 25-501

[Themetropolitainline]

Well i think they must be the same in the UK, because when the Flying Scotsman ran her maiden voyage after her massive refit the rail fans were very disrespectful here in the Uk just to get some pictures. Virgin had to cancel and delay many journeys,because the rail fans had no regard for safety and were standing and walking along HST tracks running next to the tracks the Scotsman was traveling on,which in turn made Virgin cancel many other trains leaving london. Also they were cutting over famers land without asking and destroying crops to get to the tracks.

I remember it being on all the news channels that day,it was shocking to see them walking along the tracks and also walking across 4 sets of tracks to get to the other side for a better point to take the pictures,even the scotsman had to come to a halt.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Themetropolitainline

[kvp]

Tresspassing is illegal and not a nice thing regardless if it's someone's land or flower bed. Walking on the tracks is a bad idea too, especially from a personal health standpoint, not to mention all the injuries on the emergency braking train that usually hits the careless photographer.

[Welshbloke]

Well i think they must be the same in the UK, because when the Flying Scotsman ran her maiden voyage after her massive refit the rail fans were very disrespectful here in the Uk just to get some pictures. Virgin had to cancel and delay many journeys,because the rail fans had no regard for safety and were standing and walking along HST tracks running next to the tracks the Scotsman was traveling on,which in turn made Virgin cancel many other trains leaving london. Also they were cutting over famers land without asking and destroying crops to get to the tracks.

I remember it being on all the news channels that day,it was shocking to see them walking along the tracks and also walking across 4 sets of tracks to get to the other side for a better point to take the pictures,even the scotsman had to come to a halt.

 

Even worse than that, some of them had small children with them and were still on the wrong side of the fence.

 

I think most people just have absolutely no idea of the stopping distances for a train. I've seen a few imbeciles on the harbour railway in Bristol (look it up, industrial steam engines running passenger trains on a preserved dockside) who amble along between the rails and have absolutely no idea that the frantic shouting and whistling to get off the track is aimed at them.

 

And most importantly of all, the train should not have to stop. Don't waste other people's time and put yourself in danger, it's not difficult. I hope that there will be some prosecutions from the Scotsman mass trespass, and that NR stand their ground when the inevitable "I was only taking the kiddies to see the steam train, now I'm being fined £1000" nonsense starts in the gutter press.

[westfalen]

When I rode the Mooka Rly in 2012 there was some guy flying a drone along side the train fairly close to it to get pacing shots, there's got to be some rules against doing that.

[Welshbloke]

I don't know about the rules in Japan, but here there are minimum distances from people and structures. I get the impression that they'd only come into play if someone was being a nuisance or flying like a prize twonk though, as I've seen plenty of videos shot with closer distances and not heard of anyone getting into trouble. It's all context and timing. Buzzing a park full of people or an airport should be taken far more seriously than using it to get some dramatic images of a dam in a near-deserted bit of countryside.

[katoftw]

In Australia there are actual rules for drone usage for airplane safety.  But it is not like they are being policed though.

Edited April 21, 2016 by katoftw

[cteno4]

After a few drones around the whitehouse here the drone rules are getting enforced more. Basically not cool inside the beltway here and new chips in drones are sposta have the DC area a no fly zone!

 

It really is a debate here, privacy, security, and safety vs freedom.

 

Funny it's still not legally clear if you can knock one down flying over your property! Great lawyer debate on it on NPR a few months back.

 

While I love rc planes, the use of drone cameras now is concerning and annoying to some extent. Just waiting for the Amazon drones to fly over to knock down and pirate the loot! Perhaps someone will market a pirate drone you can go after others with!

 

Jeff

[kvp]

These drone laws will be hard to enforce as a mobile data using remote drone with an operator across the globe is hard to catch. They are getting so cheap that for some highly illegal flying, it will be ok to loose the drone as long as it has sent back the video stream. For no radio link zones you can still use a line of sight IR relay outside the zone that can be used as a launch platform to keep the drone charged until the operators leave and take off with commands set through the internet.

 

Laws: Commercial drones already have an assigned height range that is above the private property height and below the general aviation floor. It's highly possible that drones will be stuffed into the roughly 3 categories: toys, model planes, aerial vehicles. Based on size/weight and capabilities.

[cteno4]

It's currently a mess here. Really good uses of drones for very important things are hampered while other things are getting little attention.

 

Soon it will be drone skeet!

 

Jeff

[Welshbloke]

I'd quite like one (to film around the hills here, from angles you can't get to without climbing gear), but the prospect of draconian legislation is putting me off. I don't really want to end up with an expensive paperweight because flying one without a training certificate has been made illegal. Said certificate would doubtless cost four or five times as much as the quadcopter!

[cteno4]

its all in limbo land here in the us. for smaller ones if you are not near populated areas there is not a lot of problems, but larger ones or ones near populated areas things can erupt. here in the DC area its best not to tempt fate with much of anything, never know when someone will over-react or they want a test case...

 

this is when i love all the big trees covering our property though! keeps dem drones out of our air space!

 

jeff