When I was a kid [a long time ago]. Railroad cops were mean. We had a big rail yard in the town I grew up in and a lot of box cars were broken into. Anytime we got near the yard, they would chase us out. The Railroad cops were serious tough guys.
Sometimes being very nice to people makes them mad.
I had one get mad at me when I told I’m I didn’t,t drink. That was one reason I missed Vietnam !
Not always deserving of their reputation. My father was a young man during the Great Depression, and rode the rails between seasonal jobs, up and down the west coast. He said that the RR police were helpful, even friendly, to the men riding the rails, as long as they were peaceful and did not damage railroad property. They went so far as to tell them which trains to hop to reach a destination, and which cars were safe to ride in.
I can remember that my Dad & I both loved to go down to the local depot & watch the freight cars come thru with the NEW autos on board. We could see the new cars without having to be bombarded by a salesman at the dealership.
Because of all the paint tagging & other vandalism, we can no longer see the new cars on the freight trains. They are inside cars with walls.
Now, all the cars look too much alike, I cannot ID many past 1985, if then.
Used to make September a great month, tho.
The goods in those boxcars were being legally transported to retailers all across the USA.
Break into a box car & it is no different than outright theft.