I saw pics of the row of engines that they stole the copper from an earlier news article and from the limited pics I saw the guys just cut the easiest runs of cable that they could reach from the ground and carried it off the grade into the brush.
The article also said that the three guys also enlisted help from several other "friends" over the weekend.
They really don't talk about the value of the metal as much as the cost of the damage to the engines.
I'm glad they caught them and I hope they get the rest of them.