Railroad thefts and guns: A deadly mix in Chicago

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  • Leo

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    Mar 3, 2011
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    It has to be a inside job. There is no way you could find the one train car out of all those car.

    That statement is truer than many realize. When I was a kid a nearby man worked for the railroad. He was always selling "deals". Some times he had cases of flashlight batteries, sometimes cases of transistor radios, sometimes he had stacks of canned hams, etc. People liked the good deals and he was the neighborhood "wholesale store" for years. Even as a kid I figured that his source was probably not legit, but none of the adults seemed to choose to say anything.
     

    ScouT6a

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    Mar 11, 2013
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    I find it highly suspect that Ruger would be shipping just 30 handguns by rail.
    The last time Smith and Wesson got hit, while their handguns were in the railroad's custody, in Chicago, was to the tune of $35,000 worth of handguns.
    Inside job? You think? That would also explain the box car FULL of brand new Harley Davidson motorcycles that were stolen a few years ago, in Chicago.
    I hear, from good sources, that the railroad police, in Chicago, are as corrupt as they come.
     

    DanVoils

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    Hkindiana

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    I once shipped an expensive rifle stock by UPS. They later informed me that it was LOST IN A TRAIN DERAILMENT, and they paid me the insured amount. My point is, you may ship via UPS, FedEx, or USPS, but you do not know HOW they will get it from point A to point B.
     

    1775usmarine

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    Feb 15, 2013
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    I had a train delay where they got into case's of wine. We had to smash the bottles outside the container on sight before we could release the train to continue. I'm Mechanical Dept so I see plenty open containers I have to close. The most I have had to close was 36.
     

    bb37

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    Jan 27, 2013
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    Most UPS ground shipments between the west coast and the midwest move by train. CSX Avon Yard on the west side of Indianapolis sees some UPS trailers being loaded and unloaded, but there's a huge amount of UPS traffic through their hub and the big rail yards in the Chicago area. You can kinda see this if you track a shipment from the west coast. If there's a report from Los Angeles or Long Beach then the next report is Chicago 3-5 days later, that trailer probably moved by train. FedEx Ground, Schneider, and JB Hunt also move trailers by train as well as most of the stuff from Aisian importers.

    If this was a UPS trailer that was hit, it would require very specific knowledge that a particular box from Ruger was on a particular trailer on a particular train. Or, it was just dumb luck that the thieves hit the jackpot.

    Back in the 1970's, R.J. Reynolds used to ship trailer loads of cigarettes by train. The trailers would come up from Jeffersonville on one train and be switched onto another train headed for the east coast. The railroad police watched those trailers very carefully because the thieves knew the pattern of movements and would target the right trailers. But, that was a whole trailer of cigarettes, not one box in the mountain of boxes that are on a 45-foot trailer.
     

    223 Gunner

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    Jan 7, 2009
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    I worked with a guy about 18 years ago, that said when he was a kid that train cars here in Indy were routinely broken into.
    Never guns, food and clothing. He grew up in the hood.
     

    Thor

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    Jan 18, 2014
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    Could be anywhere
    I once shipped an expensive rifle stock by UPS. They later informed me that it was LOST IN A TRAIN DERAILMENT, and they paid me the insured amount. My point is, you may ship via UPS, FedEx, or USPS, but you do not know HOW they will get it from point A to point B.

    Exactly, it's intermodal shipping. Put it in a box, put it on a truck, the trailer container loaded on a train or ship...once you ship it you have no idea where or how it's going to get there. Unless you're paying for overnight then it would be on a plane.
     

    Spyco

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    May 26, 2012
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    Wasn't there another article about a bunch of Rugers stolen from a train yard a few years ago? It seems like they're getting too good at targeting this stuff like an inside man or something. They need better security on this.
     

    Djgreend

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    Mar 2, 2017
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    When I talk to the old timers in the mill they tell me most of the full automatic weapons that made it on the street back in the 80s and 90s where put there by this manor. But security has been set up better now
     

    4651feeder

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    Oct 21, 2016
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    East of NWI
    So when you ship by " Ground " it really means ground?
    I wonder if overnight Air means overnight Air? :dunno:

    Most of the small parcel companies have disclaimer in their terms of service stating the the item may travel over the road part of or all of the trip depending on origin and destination. As example it would be silly for a company like UPS to transfer a Next Day Air from Indy to say South Bend by air with routing thru Louisville, when they have ground means meeting the sort deadlines direct from Indy to South Bend.
     

    4651feeder

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    I Drove for Commericial Motor Freight years ago. Guns, Ammo & Cigarettes all went in the Nose of the Trailer. You had to unload the whole thing to get to them.

    I suppose that could have been a deterrent had thieves only used a trailer's doors to illegally egress the contents. I've seen too many piggyback rail boxes with either the roofs peeled back or holes punched in the sides to believe that effective.
     
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