That Beautiful Moment when the Crew Says Something About You!

[Yard Limit]

Shooting along the Seattle waterfront, I heard the crew of the Garbage Train comment on the guy with the 'Big 'ol Fancy Camera' which made my day!

 

[Bay Area Railfan]

I will be in Seattle in two weeks. I am personally offended how railfans all over the country are getting called in for taking photos of trains. I have never read in the newspaper about some terrorist getting caught wearing a sun hat, train shirt, and shorts. I just got harassed by another Caltrain conductor for videotaping on the platform. The crazy part was that after I filed a complaint with customer service they said what I was doing was perfectly okay. It is more difficult for me to railfan now than it was after 9/11. I really hope that I do not run into that crew while I am railfanning around Seattle in two weeks.

 

[Yard Limit]

That's wrong that you were kicked off a public platform and I'm glad that Caltrain clarified it.
I've never encountered any problems in Seattle or New Mexico. I often video at the sculpture park in Seattle and there are several security people that wander around there and they are always friendly. I've videoed on the platform at Mukilteo and never had problems.
I think as long as you don't trespass (obviously) you won't have problems here. There are a number of us that railfan in Seattle plus there are millions of tourists with cameras so it's a common enough sight that no one really cares. I've had people ask me what I'm doing just out of curiousity and take that as an opportunity to promote railfanning.