Amundsen

Today in the news a guy in Aspley was arrested for possessing explosives. His name is John Amundsen. In his defence he claims that he was gonna use the explosives to blow up a car for a tv production. However some of the explosives had nails and razorblades in them.

So I did a bit of research on the guy. I found that a John Amundsen of Brisbane is a regular poster to the Cajon Pass Group. From what I gather, the group talks about this stretch of railway in California called the 'Cajon Pass'. The members of the group seem to like modelling this piece of railway, with 3d graphics and real-life models. So I searched around on that group and found every post made by John Admunsen. In most of his messages he talks about what he's modelling and asks questions to the group about what his details of the models should be. A typical post by him is like this:

Hi Josh

Like you i am modelling the Needles sub and the Barstow Hump Yard. I am finalising design of my double track mainline along a clasic 90's Route 66 with long stretches of mainline with Route 66 with highly signed and detailed patched highway, highway signs highly detailed trucks and well manicuded mainline ... I designed to build my own needles sub as i couldnt go to the real one often.. Just so i can go there whenever i feel like it ..Just to enjoy the Mojave and watch the long trains roll by..


Im working to develop a compressed Barstow with about 30 tracks and using three tracks round the hump hill as to give me easier in and out movements

Im working in great detail, putting in desert brush, sage buish and joshuas...

So we also enjoy detailed highway trucks

I also enjoy collecting pics of US Marine upgraded choppers like the Super Cobras
Talk again soon

John

A post of particular interest is this one. In it he talks about the logistics of coming over to the Cajon Pass and shooting some kind of video production.

Oversea's equipment carna on our camera platsforms and rigs and equipment sets $70,000 Aus dollars that 35,000 US. Sufficeient Post production to create a next step from Above Southern calfirnian rails $60.000 crew wages and trip costs of $40,000 US DOLLARS AND then these the insurance and accomoDation costs...Perhaps you guys could put my team up. The required camer plats for the choppers cost $3,000 a day US and the helo's are $200 an hour plus hire of the individual steady came platforms for whatever particular chopper Jetranger long Ranger Hughes 500 was used.

This post was made in 2003. Another one made at about this time is here. He talks about putting photos of his Cajon Pass model on his website (which I can't find). Of note is his use of fire in these photos:

The aim of the immediate Cajon fires page to give Cajon fans a historical look back for this rare event, from the camera perspectives of a rarely visiting Cajon enthusiast. Employing creative, unusual angles. And, at the same time, ‘introduce’ my work to the Cajon family. I believe my shot from Summit looking across to the San Gabriel’s, with burnt vegetation in the foreground as Dash 9’s blast past behind, does this. In some ways taking B&W with me was the astute call, given the then just extinguished fires.

One of his last posts was this one. Posted Mon Apr 24, 2006

Hi John

Sorry i havent had a chance to catch up herhaps we can in the next few weeks

John Amundsen

He seems like a crafty guy. Really into this railway shit. Fuck. I know I know very little about him, and what you can conclude from my little findings could be crap, but he does seem like he could be totally innocent. If he is innocent, then this is what has happenned:

Wanting to re-create some cool railway thingo, John Amundsen decides he needs to blow up an old car and use the burnt out car as some kind of prop to his production. He realises that he needs to get some explosives. Being a total amateur, he realises that he can only get them from a certain place if he fakes some information about himself. So he does that. He also realises he needs detonaters for them. So he gets them too.

This doesn't explain why there are nails and razorblades in them. Jesus. Some kind of special effect he wants? Nah that's pushing it.

All I want to know is the truth. Did he want to use those explosives for terrorist purposes or did he want to use it for totally legitimate reasons? All I want is the truth, and not the alarmist bull the media spews forth. In the next few days I'm sure the major news stations are gonna completely latch on to the fact that he owned a book called Bin Laden - Behind the Mask of the Terrorist. Get over it. Lots of people own books about nasty people. The fact that he is a contemporary terrorist makes all the difference doesn't it? Btw the book is about him written by someone else. It's fuckin' fact. Learn about your enemy goddammit.

END.