"All right, Buddy. You're off the train."

[JayPea]

I was on the EB from Portland to Spokane and when I went to use the bathroom in the coach I was riding, the conductor quietly asked me to go to the next car. Seems someone had snuck onto the train at Vancouver and locked himself in one of the bathrooms. They didn't want him to be spooked so they quietly asked me to go to the next car. Sure enough, at Bingen-White Salmon, a welcoming committee made up of Bingen-White Salmon and Klickitat County cops was waiting to escort him to the Graybar Hotel. :lol:

Another time while on the SWC we made an unannounced stop at a crossing somewhere between Albuquerque and Gallup. We could see several cops waiting at the crossing. Rumor had it that someone with several warrants for drug trafficking was getting the boot and was getting arrested.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I think the clear winner above is the woman who was put off the train in Winter Park, Florida, for smoking. It sounds like she got to spend several hours in a lovely town while waiting for her train home the same day. I hope she behaved herself and didn't drop cigarette butts in the rose garden in the park--that would really bring the tone of the whole place down! :giggle:

 

[Phil S]

A woman got put off of CS #14 in Salem because she had been talking non-stop and loudly on her cell phone most of the way from Bay Area.

 

[DennisInGeorgia]

On the EB#7 in WI one evening, the SSL attendant had cut off one passenger but her little buddies kept buying drinks for her. A conductor warned her to stop,rather sternly. I was told that she then played a porn flick on her laptop and that's when I heard on my scanner that an unruly passenger wanted to meet with police at Tomah. They came aboard and tried to escort her off but she jerked away (resisting arrest!!) and within 30 seconds she was bent over, zip-tied and hustled downstairs and off the train. We'll remember that trip for a long time. So will she, but for way different reasons.

 

[BCL]

As Alan indicated in his post, only Major Stations ( ie along the NEC, Chicago etc. ) have Amtrak Police. Most problems aboard Amtrak trains requiring LE intervention are handled by Locals or the Feds.

I have seen Amtrak Police riding on the train, but it is very rare outside the NEC.

I'm thinking they probably have a field office somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've seen a couple of their police vehicles in Emeryville and Oakland. One was a Dodge Avenger, and I think the other was a Chevy Tahoe. There's even an Amtrak Police specific parking spot in Emeryville. Other than that, I've seen Amtrak K-9 units on Capitol Corridor.

 

[StriderGDM]

Anyone ever seen Amtrak Police meet someone booted from a train? I realize that they have limited numbers, but I'm guessing that would be the preference if they could manage it.

Ayup, I happened to see this on the NEC once at Wilmington.

I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect the passenger had been harassing a female passenger and had been asked to stop several times.

The Amtrak police officer boarded and he and the conductor approached the passenger and told him his trip was over and he had to leave the train. The passenger was a bit belligerent and resisted. Finally they talked him off the train. The office was completely professional the entire time.

Once off the train and out of at least my sight, we heard the passenger say something like, "keep your hands off of me" or something. Several of us passengers smiled a bit, because it really sounded like he was trying to make it sound like the officer was being improper. But after seeing the officers conduct on the train, none of us believed that.

 

[lstone19]

Not rail but once I had the passenger in front of me on a plane (in First no less) warned that if he did not behave, we would land short and have him removed.

This was years ago when pilots would come off the flight deck to deal with this stuff (and when we had three-pilot planes). In this case, at one point both the First and Second (Fllght Engineer) Officers came out and a Flight Attendant pointed in my general direction. The guy sitting next to me and I looked at each other - not me, not him, gotta be the jerk in front of us (who I had already pegged as jerk a couple of hours earlier). He was read the riot act and told if he did not stay in his seat for the rest of the flight, we would land in Chicago (we were headed to Newark (can you say New York attitude?) and have him removed.

A few minutes later, the lead FA leaned down next to me and whispered for me to come to the galley. She was just curious as to what was said. I also got the rest of the story. Apparently he had not been happy with his meal (and this was late '80s* on a trans-con flight when First Class meals were very good), took it back to the galley, and threatened to express return it to an FA's face.

 

[tomfuller]

A woman got put off of CS #14 in Salem because she had been talking non-stop and loudly on her cell phone most of the way from Bay Area.

The story that I got was that she was taken off in Oakridge OR by the Oregon State Police before they got to Eugene. She got to Eugene in the back seat of a police car.

 

[FormerOBS]

I don't think I'll ever forget the southbound Auto Train trip when a drunk passenger was interfering with us after one dinner service, while we were trying to prepare the dining car for the next service. We politely asked him to return to his seat or the lounge car until the diner was actually open for service. He didn't stop, so we called the Assistant Conductor. He was no more successful, so he called the Conductor. The Conductor calmly asked the man to return to his coach seat. The man started to argue. The Conductor said "You know, Sir, I can have you put off this train." The man got right up into the Conductor's face and said, "You just try and put me off, Sonny Boy!"

This particular Conductor was a nice fellow and a very competent Conductor. We all liked him and respected him, but I don't think he would have taken kindly to being called Sonny Boy by us, his friends, let alone by a belligerent stranger.

The Conductor backed a step away, pulled out his radio, and calmly told the Engineer, "Call the Dispatcher and have the police meet the train when we get to Rocky Mount. We have a passenger for them." The passenger's face took on an expression something like "I think I just stepped in something", and he turned and returned to his coach seat. The Conductor and AC followed him.

We were beginning the next dinner seating when the train made its unscheduled stop in Rocky Mount, where a squad car waited with lights flashing. I wasn't in the coach at the time, of course, because I was seating passengers in the diner. I understand the passenger held onto his seat with both hands and had to be pried out of it. At his seat, they found his private stash of liquor. He hadn't bought a single drop in the lounge car. As the train pulled away, our dining car smoothly slid past the squad car as it spirited the gent off to restful slumber in the kind care of the Rocky Mount Constabulary. We explained the situation to curious passengers in the diner, who seemed to be glad he wasn't there to disturb their meal. I've often wondered what he had for dinner that night, and how he got from Rocky Mount, NC to Sanford, FL to pick up his car, which was waiting for him when he got there.

The Conductor passed away several years ago; The AC became an Engineer a few years after this incident and I believe he is nearing retirement, still an Engineer on that same train.

Tom

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Last Summer because of a ticketing error I was "downgraded" to Coach on the 97 Meteor between Washington and Richmond and because of other pax being downgraded, there ended up being more butts than seats in the Coaches. Since it was just a couple hours, I volunteered my seat to sit with the Crew in the Lounge where the Conductor was doing his paperwork while chatting with nearby pax and the AC. Within a few moments, he hauled a woman out of the little Conductor's office and told her she needs to return to her assigned seat in the Coaches. She was obviously trucked up on pills or something and demanded she be allowed to sit by herslef. The AC repeated the request at which time the Conductor turned that request into a firm demand.

She got loud and told the Conductor to do something that beings with an F! Calmly the Conductor informed her Richmond would be her final stop as she stormed back to the Coaches; he quickly followed up with a telephone call to get things ready on that end and we went back to chatting and discussing just how amazing some "people" can be.

Sure enough at Richmond she was escorted down the platform by 2 Men In Blue, kicking and screaming all the way. It turns out she had locked herself in the AmCan Pot and would not come out; the Coach Attendant's Master Key quickly solved that problem.

 

[TiBike]

I'm thinking they probably have a field office somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've seen a couple of their police vehicles in Emeryville and Oakland. One was a Dodge Avenger, and I think the other was a Chevy Tahoe. There's even an Amtrak Police specific parking spot in Emeryville. Other than that, I've seen Amtrak K-9 units on Capitol Corridor.

I think there are a couple in the Bay Area. San Jose for sure -- Amtrak's long term parking is right in front of the station. Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling when you leave your car .

 

[chakk]

I have witnessed a lounge car attendant on the CZ cut a person off from purchasing more alcohol when said person appeared inebriated. I then witnessed said person attempt (without success) to get other passengers to go purchase more alcohol for said person.

 

[Anderson]

I was just told by a lawyer friend that disrupting interstate transportation (airline or Amtrak) by being abusive, disorderly, endangering themselves or others, etc. can be charged as a federal felony or as a local charge, depends on the local authorities and Amtrak. Bottom line, he said if the person is physical with anyone automatically he would expect maximum charges would be filed but could be negotiated down by the person's lawyer.

Wow, so if you get arrested off of an Amtrak train you can be charged with a federal crime?

I'd imagine that you'd have to do something impressive for the feds to press charges. Most Assistant U.S. Attorneys have bigger fish to fry than a drunk 'n' disorderly charge.

Back to the original post, I've been told a couple of times by on-board staff that the preferred station to unload obstreperous passengers is Browning. While Montana law-enforcement officers are generally a no-nonsense bunch, the Blackfeet tribal police have, it is said, especially low tolerance for drunk and obnoxious miscreants.

That being said, the last time I saw an arrest on the Empire Builder was when the Border Patrol took two young ladies into custody at Minot. The officers seemed to have some advanced information, as they went directly up to the women and started asking questions.

On the "bigger fish to fry" front...not really. The vast majority of cases in general tend to play out as "Charges filed, defendant gets lawyer, sentence gets negotiated down to far below what the (sometimes overblown) charge sheet might dictate, plea happens"; these cases are probably no different. I'm reminded of some kids from my high school getting caught with drugs on the Colonial Parkway. Well, the Colonial Parkway is a federal park so the matter went into federal court rather than state/local court.

 

[BCL]

A woman got put off of CS #14 in Salem because she had been talking non-stop and loudly on her cell phone most of the way from Bay Area.

The story that I got was that she was taken off in Oakridge OR by the Oregon State Police before they got to Eugene. She got to Eugene in the back seat of a police car.

Most of the reporting is that she was taken into custody by Salem Police and then picked up by family members when released. Some of the stories are rather vague on details.
http://democratherald.com/news/local/woman-arrested-on-amtrak-in-altercation-over-cell-phone/article_4fee4f50-7f89-11e0-8cce-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[StriderGDM]

On the flip side, on our honeymoon on the Southwest Chief, my wife and I were sitting down to dinner when a belligerent woman came into the dinner and started to berate the Chief of Onboard services that no one had woken her from her nap for dinner.

The conductor was soon fetched. All I could think was that if she didn't calm down soon she'd find herself checking out the next available grade crossing. What we couldn't really understand was what her hurry was since she was several hours from her next stop!

 

[Caesar La Rock]

I think the clear winner above is the woman who was put off the train in Winter Park, Florida, for smoking. It sounds like she got to spend several hours in a lovely town while waiting for her train home the same day. I hope she behaved herself and didn't drop cigarette butts in the rose garden in the park--that would really bring the tone of the whole place down! :giggle:

She actually asked the gentlemen I was speaking with for a cigarette. 91 came, 20 minutes later after 98 left, so she didn't have that much time to explore the area. The staff at Winter Park did remind her to behave herself while on the train.

 

[eblkheart]

I saw something like this on the CZ. This is when they had the smoking cars (99?). This guy always had a drink in his hand. Ended up vomiting in the stairway. Got dropped off somewhere in Iowa on the way to Chicago, though I heard him begging not to be kicked off. Not sure if the cops were called though.

 

[tp49]

I'm thinking they probably have a field office somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've seen a couple of their police vehicles in Emeryville and Oakland. One was a Dodge Avenger, and I think the other was a Chevy Tahoe. There's even an Amtrak Police specific parking spot in Emeryville. Other than that, I've seen Amtrak K-9 units on Capitol Corridor.

I think there are a couple in the Bay Area. San Jose for sure -- Amtrak's long term parking is right in front of the station. Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling when you leave your car .

I believe the other one is in Oakland.

 

[oregon pioneer]

I was on the SL in West Texas when someone opened the window on our sleeper door and smoked a cigarette. They read him the riot act, but they didn't put him off (no police for miles and miles out there, I guess). I believe he was very meek and quiet the rest of the way to his destination when he realized they were quite serious, which is probably why they let him stay on later when they COULD have turned him over to local authorities.

 

[Thirdrail7]

So as not to derail another thread...

Hypothetical, of course.

Let's say I'm a oil rig worker somewhere in North Dakota, taking the EB to Seattle for a weekend of partying. I decide that I want to light up a smoke of...tobacco in the SSL. I do so, and not only am I on the train smoking something, but I've had 4, 5 or perhaps more beers, and I'm drunk and disorderly. It's now 2:30 AM, somewhere in eastern Washington State.

The crew decides to get me off the train.

1) Where does that occur? The next station?

2) Once I'm off, what are my options? After all, it's half past no o'clock in the morning. How do I get to my destination, or back home? If I'm in the middle of nowhere, what do I do?

For the record, there are occasions where you will be allowed to continue your trip or return to your original passenger terminal on the next train.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I think the clear winner above is the woman who was put off the train in Winter Park, Florida, for smoking. It sounds like she got to spend several hours in a lovely town while waiting for her train home the same day. I hope she behaved herself and didn't drop cigarette butts in the rose garden in the park--that would really bring the tone of the whole place down! :giggle:

She actually asked the gentlemen I was speaking with for a cigarette. 91 came, 20 minutes later after 98 left, so she didn't have that much time to explore the area. The staff at Winter Park did remind her to behave herself while on the train.

Well, then, she got what she deserved--a beautiful place with not enough time there to even take a walk and get an ice cream. She got her just deserts (but not dessert!)

 

[Chatter163]

I saw local police in New Mexico meet our Southwest Chief at a crossing and remove an obnoxious passenger. Another time on the Sunset Limited, an older couple had a dinner reservation for a later time, but showed up at the earlier sitting and sat down, without waiting for the dining car attendant. When asked to vacate the seat and come back later, they repeatedly refused and became rather unpleasant. The train was sold out, so their presence did create a problem, and the conductor was called. He tried everything, even offering to have dinner delivered to their sleeper, with a slight delay, but still they refused to move and demanded to be served dinner at the table. We came into El Paso, so the conductor radioed for assistance, and an Amtrak rep boarded at the station, and also tried to reason with the couple to no avail. Finally, as the El Paso station was adjacent to to a Union Pacific Police railyard, UP Police boarded and spoke to the couple. They gave the couple the choice of leaving the dining car immediately and eating last that evening, as their intransigence had caused the train to be delayed nearly an hour, or be removed from the train then and there. The couple chose the former.

 

[fillyjonk]

Wow, that couple in the last story reminds me of a comment one of my former co-workers used to regularly make: "it doesn't TAKE all kinds, there just ARE all kinds."

So they made themselves - and everyone else on the train - an hour late, just because they didn't like their reservation time and didn't want to eat in their room? I don't understand people.

I can't say I've every seen unusually "entitled" behavior on the train, the only case I saw that might have merited someone being put off was a woman who was drunk or high and was being combative towards the lounge car attendant (and later, the conductor). The bizarre thing was she kept asserting that "my grandfather owns CSX and he could shut this whole thing down!" I'm figuring she was either out and out lying or totally out of touch with reality. (I have no idea who, if anyone, "owns" CSX, and anyway, at that point, we were running on UP tracks.)

Eventually she shut up, so we didn't have to stop for her to meet up with a gumball machine.

 

[FormerOBS]

CSX is owned by lots and lots and lots of stockholders. How many grandpas does she have?

Tom

 

[Carolina Special]

There is no controlling shareholder of CSX.

But I can identify with the mentality as I do own a small number of shares of CSX myself. So when one of their trains goes by, I stick my nose in the air like a Vanderbilt and say "I own that train".