SCANNERS SHORTWAVE Vol.9 No.5 Established 1984 June-July, 2004
[email protected] HOBBYIST OR TERRORIST? Philadelphia's public-transit authority. "The wide- Admiring trains has been a refuge for generations open spaces and the freedom we have enjoyed to of men. Now it can get you a visit from the police meander almost anywhere is gone." Urban train By AMANDA RIPLEY/PHILADELPHIA buffs report being surrounded by police cars and customs agents. A Haverford College student of Every lunch hour, computer programmer John South Asian descent was detained last year by Almeida leaves his cubicle at an insurance SEPTA police after he photographed a station — company outside Philadelphia and chases trains. homework for an urban-history class, as it turned He sets up four video cameras on tripods beside out. the tracks and waits, listening to his scanner. "I come out every day because history happens every Most railfans find ways to adapt. Some substitute day," he says. Almeida, a father of three, is a railfan business-casual attire for the usual Slayer T shirt to — a hobbyist who watches trains with the appear less threatening. Others carry the Diesel fastidiousness of a lab researcher. Over the past Spotters Guide — or their kids — to establish their 15 years, he has shot hundreds of hours of video innocence. As for Almeida, "I make a lot more eye and tens of thousands of pictures. Call it what you contact," he says. Then he offers his card, which will, it is hard to think of a more benign hobby. lists his railfan-club affiliations.