Two Ohio teenagers take a joyride---in a steam locomotive!

by J.D. Griffioen (Subscribe to J.D. Griffioen's posts) Jan 18th 2007 8:02AM

Categories: Health & Safety, Development, Media

Two teenage boys in Ohio walked away from a juvenile detention facility early Tuesday morning and broke into a building that houses a historical train engine that is normally used to haul cars full of tourists. The boys broke into a building in Nelsonville, Ohio that houses the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway steam locomotive, managed to start the engine, and rode about 12 miles to the nearby town of Logan, where they woke up local residents by blasting the train's whistle loudly through town, alerting their presence to the local college's police, whose station sits by the tracks. Officers reportedly noticed the engine rolling solo down the tracks past their station, noting that the train usually only runs on weekends.

The boys have been charged with juvenile counts of burglary, theft, and escape. I suggest their lawyer use the defenses of "nobody got hurt" and "boys will be boys," and, if necessary, "ladies and gentlemen of the jury, isn't it at least a little bit awesome that they were able to pilot this steam locomotive all by themselves?"

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ethel 1-18-2007 @ 12:08PM

Um, that was not a steam locomotive, but a "1950s-vintage diesel engine", big difference. As much as I hate the train business (you would too surrounded by trainspotters like I am), even I know there is considerably more skill required to start a steam locomotive - and even if it were idling (as often big engines are) the steam engines are usually well watched by their crews.

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