Noticed something new recently. They're reconfiguring all these banks in L.A. Two of the Washington Mutual branches I've visited this week had high-tech new security systems installed. Whereas before you would barge right in and nod to the security guard before getting into the long line: Now you wait in a long line outside, to pass through a smoked glass vestibule with a metal detector in it. Each person in turn at the head of the line waits for a little green light to flash before they can be scanned. Only one person can pass through at a time. I don't know. It gave me pause. I'm a talkative bastard. So I was asking the others in line around me what they thought about it. Didn't get far with those impatient people.
So what's this about? Just a cheaper way to ensure the banks security from stick-up men? Or are they expecting some kind of new threat? I'm always looking for the ways in which the new security order plays out here in the states. I remember that banks in Paris always had heavily armed guards. In Chile they were practically sand-bagged. I wonder if thing are becoming more desperate here.
The other interesting thing I chanced upon was a fleet of stealth locomotives. Well, not exactly. I should begin at the beginning. Myself and a friend were biking yesterday along the LA river around where it goes by Elysian Park. The unofficial bike path we found took us through the greasy-smelling wonder of a Union Pacific locomotive shop. Imagine a field of yellow and grey monster locomotives, rumbling and rolling backwards, or idling with heat shimmers off their steel rooves. Against a background of wilting palm trees. It was cool.
My attention was seized by 12 or 16 newly-painted loc's. Not in the yellow/grey UP livery, but in solid naval grey. They had no markings on the side. There was only a stars and stripes crest on the nose of each one. They looked like (dare I say it) Victory locomotives. I'm no expert on these things, but I recognized that they were older equipment. Probably originating from the early 70s. They were general electrics, but the class with four wheels per bogie. Like I said. I'm no expert in this.
But what could they be for, these strange unmarked engines? I'm thinking maybe for hauling radio-active waste out to the Yucca Mountain dumpsite in Nevada. That's UP territory, so who else is going to get a bid in to haul it? It's not going to be Martinez Trucking out of San Bernardino.
Or it could be that the locomotives have been painted for some up-coming studio mega-production. Perhaps it's a Kevin Costner epic, in which he runs a post-apocalyptic railroad. Bringing a message of hope and renewal along the old iron road. In LA you never know. I really have to get a digital camera.