When a several thousand ton train is barreling down on a grade crossing at 40 some miles per hour, don't you think it would make sense for it to blow its horn? Well in some areas, laws have been passed prohibiting them from blowing for crossings because some old lady wants to get some sleep... I believe this may be one of the dumbest moves I've heard of in a while. I think that once a train leaves an immediate downtown/urban area, they should be permitted to blow their horn for all grade crossings. In the long run I think it would save lives. And isn't that more important than someone not getting a great nights sleep?
of all the stupid ideas... The city of Kingston New York has passed a similar law. They are using federal funds to put horns at each crossing aimed at the cars that use a lower decibel than the standard train horn. While I can be somewhat sympathetic to the noise as newer trains have louder horns (for a good reason duh!) than before. However a bit of comon sence says "didn't you see those train tracks when you were buying your house?" After all, who was there first? To me it is no different than the idiots who buy a house near a dairy (or other animal farm) and then complain about the manure smell. I believe trains should follow the federal guidelines for sounding the horn at crossings, and have voiced my unpopular opinion at city council meetings. My clossing statement was :"Mark my words, this will result in increased crossing fatalities."
Even with whistle bans, a train may still blow the horn if something is on the tracks. In order for a whistle ban to go into effect, the city that wants it must assume full responsibility for any accident at any crossing in the whistle ban area, and all crossings must be protected with lights, gates, bells, and as John said, in some places horns. (This is dependant on train speed.) Most cities that want these bans give up when they learn the city becomes responsible for any accident. I have no simpathy for anyone that buys a house near the tracks and then are annoyed by the horn/rumble/switching of trains. I have had several run-ins with people on this from both the Engineers seat, and in the office as an Official of the railroad. My response is always, "What did you think used these tracks when you bought your home?" One time a fellow called and said we needed to run trains only during the day time because he just had a new baby. I asked if we should change the way Interstate Commerce is moved because of his new baby. He didn't have an answer. (Trains still run at night there.)
These people are asking for trouble, if they are asking for whistle bans.. People look at me funny when I tell 'em I want to buy a house near the tracks... Actualy, I want to buy land for a summer house in the Miramonte, CO area.. Right about Tunnel 24....
Hey, We have a couple of towns that enforce this stupid ban. If we blow during the banned time (7pm-7am),we have paperwork to fill out.:angry: :thumbs_down:
Some people have truly bizarre expectations these days. When you buy a home, you're supposed to investigate the surroundings. Schools, services, etc, etc. Eventually, convenience will lead to tragedy. :thumbs_down: Boxcab E50
My favorite episode happened not far from here in a new planned community they are building that straddles the old Santa Fe right of way between Galveston and Rosenberg, Texas. The BNSF uses it for most of the traffic going into Houston from the West and all of the trains going to Galveston. The Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe built the line right after the Civil War so it has been there a long time. The folks moving in put up with the trains at the main crossing until UP built a new line parallel to it to take unit coal trains into a power plant just the other side of the Brazos. They somehow got a local judge to condemn the new line because it was not there when they started building the neighborhood. After a lot of arm twisting UP agreed to pay for an overpass over both tracks to replace the grade level crossing. After the new bridge was opened, in the middle of the night, the UP crews will still occasionally blow for the Ghost Crossing. They just claim there was a trespasser walking on the tracks and there is nothing the good folks can do about it.
I think not blowing for grade crossings is a stupid ordenance, but I'll tell you this, I've never lived further then 5 miles from a railroad and even 5 miles away you can here those grade crossing horns at night. I pity light sleepers. Growing up in Chicago, you pretty much have to live by the railroad. Right now, I'm north coastal San Diego County which means yes, I'm right by the railroad. The furthest and least used line I've lived near was the W&P line to Hillsboro which I lived about 4-5 miles from when I was in Oregon. I heard that train his every crossing from the time it got into Beaverton until it passed through Hillsboro. Never bothered me. In fact, sometime I'd toy with the idea of getting up and chasing the train.
My wife watches that show now and then. So I've seen parts of it. On one of the cable home improvement channels. And I completely agree with your assessment of the buyers. Bleh. They are definitely not brightly lit bulbs. It's very easy to see why we have the troubles today with horn whiners. :thumbs_down: Boxcab E50
While living in Cheyenne, WY, I could hear westbounds blowing for MP 511's grade crossing, as the hoggers notched out the prime movers. You could hear the distinct GE and EMD prime movers, and tell them apart, even at 5 miles away. On most nights that the wind wasn't howling 40 MPH, I could hear the locos on Sherman Hill's 1.5% grade westbound for miles and miles. There were nights I could hear a WB blow for 511, and listen for 20 minutes plus as a hot train would attack #1 or 2 track. It was music to my ears. Now, the only trains I hear are the occasional switch jobs at the grain elevator, and the rarer jobs that switch the air base coal power plant.
Accoustics can be really strange animals. I live less than a mile from the last avenue crossed by our local branch line. Most of the time. Silence. There's a small rise in between here, and there. But when the winds blow right, sound is somehow transmitted. And they sound like just outside on my drive! This also happens to a crossing northeast of town. It's usually a fifteen minute fight through traffic to drive there. Yet some days, I can hear them clearly! And this is on the other side of the hill from me. In the next valley. mg: Boxcab E50
I myself live about 2 miles from the Starkey Road crossing on NS's Winston-Salem Line in Roanoke County, VA. I can always here them if I am outside, but they never have bothered me inside. Although I can hear them storming up the 1.5 or so % Starkey grade going south, and you can usually tell which direction they are going since they use pushers on all southbound coal and grain trains. People near me seem to not mind the horn blowing. It seems like most of the people that complain about the noise are people that live in Vinton (just east of Roanoke) and Salem (just west of Roanoke) and that's where they've passed most of the ordinances against sounding. Although in my opinion it's much more dangerous for them not to sound going through salem, mainly due to the fact that most trains are usually pushing 55 or 60 mph through there. mg: Just doesn't make sense to me for them not to warn people.
55 Pages of Rules from FRA on blowing horns The FRA just published new rules on horn blowing. They are here and run to 55 pages: http://www.aslrra.org/images/news_file/HornRuleAmendments8-17-06.pdf
bad idea... I'm appalled by the ideas of banning the train horn for a quiet and peaceful community. You should have asked your Real estate agent for this before you spend any nickel on your housing. And for real estate developers: Properly check your land for RR R-O-W before you develop that piece of land and provide overpass when required. On the side note, SRT is very liberal about horn use, the only place engineers wouldn't honk(except in dire emergency) is the north end of Chitlada Wye for fear of disturbing our beloved Royal Family in the Chitlada Palace.
:angry: This subject always gets me fired up. More accurately, the people doing the complaining get me fired up. Every sensible person in the world knows the real estate rule of 'Location, location, location'. If you don't want to hear airplanes, don't buy a house near an airport, if you can't stand unpleasant smells, don't buy a house near a sewage treatment plant, if you hate train noise, don't buy a house near the railroad tracks. If those places are all you can afford, don't make it everyone else's problem by calling your congressman and demanding the unpleasantness go away until you can move up. If you've just got to have that Victorian mansion by the tracks regardless of the obvious drawbacks, don't expect the trains to go away, suddenly become silent or run at your convenience. The first thing they ask when you hit someone is "Did you blow the horn?" The second is "How long?" or "Why not?" (The beginnings of it being your fault.) Then the local news prints a story of how the negligent, reckless train crew killed helpless, innocent members of the public. Then comes the lawyers and the lawsuits, the drug tests and the investigations and lately, the criminal charges to top it all off. Do I get hot when people compain about their beauty rest disturbed by my horn or a train idling at a stop signal? You bet. Do I feel sorry for them? Nope. The rail was there first unless they're over 100 years old and until they stop offering to sue me for everything I've got or hit me with criminally negligent homicide when some idiot thinks he can win in a tie, I'll keep blowing for the crossings, thank you. It probably won't be a light one either because the homeowner at the crossing likely will not appear in court to defend me on the grounds that I was preserving his sleep when I killed the trucker who didn't hear the little toot over his cell phone and stereo. :angry: :angry: This concludes this engineer rant. Sorry and thank you for your patience. It's kind of like preaching to the choir to you guys but sometimes people's lunacy is beyond my comprehension and a vent is a good thing, even if it changes nothing.
This is something that ticks me off... People complaining about trains. As OC Jerry probably knows, there was a recent re-opening of a old rail line in Boardman, OH. (The old Youngstown & Southern) Everybody complained they didn't want a train crossing a main road on tracks that have been there since 1902. This is a shortline with only a few short trains a week, if that. If it wasn't for those railroad tracks "Boardman" might not even be there now! Boardman's mall is called "Southern Park Mall" because it used to be "Southern Park" a place with a horse track. It was built there because people could catch a train to the park and watch the races. Wake up people, trains have always been there, but people keep getting dumber.
They have the same law in some of the burbs around Chicago. I believe that Fox River Grove even has a law against horns on trains and thats the town where the school bus was hit by a Metra train and all those kids were killed. I think that they enacted the law after the incedent! They slowed the trains down and wont let the blow the horn, theres some real brain work! Rob
