My first encounter with Leonard Shaner {from hereon just Shaner}was around early 2000.I had just started at the Reading and Northern railroad{aka RN].I just bought a new computer and connected to the internet and away i went.I found a website called Railroad.com,and one of the many forums was dedicated to a long vanished railroad i was a fan of.Several people were members of this forum including Shaner.At first he seemed okay,strange but okay.Back in those days i tried to be not so judgemental ,i was whatever its your life and everyone deserves a chance.
So everything seems good,the a guy shows up calling himself "RedFred" and he claims to have worked for this railroad until it closed,and best yet he worked out of Tamaqua!Wow i work out of here for the RN and run over the remaining trackage!I {and everyone else}take notice an begin to bombard him with questions,a few weeks into this i begin to notice Redfred makes the same spelling errors as Shaner.Redfred cannot answer basic questions regarding locomotives the railroad used.Questions such as brake schedule,route profile and certain jobs.I also noticed he always was on around 1:00 am and Shaner would sign off before and then sign back on after Redfred left.Redfred stopped answering e-mails and stopped posting after people started answering serious questions.I found out sometime later Redfred was in fact a real person,we was around 92 and Shaner ran into him and his grandson{i think it was his grandson,this after all was awhile ago}at the Royerford or Pottstown train station and assumed his ID.I was Burned but not enough it seems.
Awhile later,maybe a few months a person calling herself Amtrak Liz shows up and begins to haunt the RN forum.Liz and Shaner were great friends and he claims sex was part of this,this is when it started to go downhill....fast.I watched the forum disintegrate from there.It was a nonstop parade of bisexual women{Donna is the only name i remember}decended and ruined everything.Now at this point you are wondering where the admin,s are,they were the weakest admin,s i ever encountered and no help at all.When i volunteered to run the RN forum,i regretted it almost right away.
It gets even worse,Liz has a husband named Angelo and he was in the MOB.Now i only knew one person in my life that could be connected several years ago,and he was not a full member he was an associate as he was not full Italian.This guy never bragged about what he did.He claimed to sell furiture and never said MOB.I like history and everything i saw on this subject they called it "our thing} and if you question Liz on anything she said Angelo would get on with something like "Dude knock it off" or threatening to come kick their ass.At first i was intimidated then as time went by more pissed off.I believe it was the end for Shaner and i as Liz was a total fake.The last IM with her i think was over a interlocking in Bristol Pa on Amtrak,s Northeast corridor where a shortline i had worked for prior to the RN interchanged with Conrail,The interlocking had some sort of trouble and trains had to be talked by with permission in the limits while maintainers solved the problem.I asked Liz what happened and she responded Bristol Virginia? At that point i lost it,Angelo started his shit and how he was coming to kick my ass ,i said bring it and blocked them.
This will be the last part for this section{oh yes there is more!}Among the other victims of this was a 14 year old boy named Jeff,He i will admit was the first to see through Shaner;s shit and paid the price.Jeff was so indignant to Shaner that Shaner took offence!Right away they started on him Angelo,Liz,a and our hero Shaner saying they were going to kill him rape his sister that Jeff was rightly scared.Jeff contacted me scared out of his mind needing help.Okay,i unblocked and went on a rampage telling Liz and Angelo to fuck off and getting threats in return....once again telling them to bring it.Then i told Shaner if he wants to fight i would meet him a temple station in a half hour,he then blocked without another word.Hopefully Techpriest will confirm as i sent him Jeff,s email address,and Jeff said he would confirm upon receipt.
I did research Liz,her last name she gave was Pomponi.There was a John Pomponi plumbing in Harrison NJ but i could find nothing else.I did work with a engineer at the RN who worked a a assistant stationmaster at Penn station in NY and confirmed there was no Liz Pomponi working out of there,Sunnyside or Philly/Washington.Either it was all Shaner{i doubt this} or a buddy like the one who lurks on this forum.