Sick People

There was an article in the 'Litchfield County Times' newspaper back on Sunday about the Housatonic Railroad in Canaan, CT blowing thier horns at night for the 4 crossings in town.The article is called 'Night Trains in Canaan Promping a Backlash'. Apparently, a small groop of people in Canaan called the 'Citizens for Peace and Quiet' have placed an ad in the Shoppers Guide (a local advertizing paper) saying "Let the Housatonic RR know that you don't appreciate their passage in the middle of the night"Ironicly, none of the members of this groop could be located.Anyway, just thought I'd mention this. I think it's obsurd.
-Dave

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RE: Sick People, cn_bayview, Jun-22-04, 10:08 PM, (1) RE: Sick People, ASR_Q301, Jun-22-04, 10:12 PM, (2) RE: Sick People, heffed, Jun-22-04, 11:34 PM, (5) RE: Sick People, smp11512, Jun-23-04, 02:02 AM, (10) RE: Sick People, mjs2101, Jun-22-04, 10:52 PM, (3) RE: Sick People, trainmaster_1, Jun-22-04, 11:33 PM, (4) RE: Sick People, CWorth, Jun-23-04, 00:10 AM, (6) RE: Sick People, FURX, Jun-23-04, 00:19 AM, (7) RE: Sick People, thomil, Jun-23-04, 05:09 AM, (12) RE: Sick People, gatewaycityca, Jun-23-04, 00:24 AM, (8) RE: Sick People, andrewpickell, Jun-23-04, 00:26 AM, (9) RE: Sick People, CBF, Jun-23-04, 02:58 AM, (11) RE: Sick People, Jonatan, Jun-23-04, 05:20 AM, (13) RE: Sick People, cyclone1234, Jun-23-04, 08:26 AM, (14) RE: Sick People, NewEnglandRailFan, Jun-23-04, 08:31 AM, (15) RE: Sick People, JohnNetzlof, Jun-23-04, 09:07 AM, (16) RE: Sick People, Claude350, Jun-23-04, 09:44 AM, (17) RE: Sick People, Mousy, Jun-23-04, 11:17 AM, (18) RE: Sick People, Claude350, Jun-23-04, 01:06 PM, (19) RE: Sick People, mjs2101, Jun-23-04, 01:46 PM, (20) RE: Sick People, BNSF4999, Jun-23-04, 01:54 PM, (21) RE: Sick People, shadowr434, Jun-23-04, 07:43 PM, (22) RE: Sick People, sinclair97, Jun-23-04, 08:02 PM, (23) RE: Sick People, NewEnglandRailFan, Jun-23-04, 08:13 PM, (24) RE: Sick People, Claude350, Jun-23-04, 08:44 PM, (25) RE: Sick People, bigbadCN_man, Jun-24-04, 07:07 PM, (31) RE: Sick People, The MP36er, Jun-23-04, 09:25 PM, (26) RE: Sick People, NW 1218, Jun-23-04, 11:12 PM, (27) RE: Sick People, Gixxer86g, Jun-24-04, 05:30 AM, (28) RE: Sick People, Conrail 6406, Jun-24-04, 07:38 AM, (29) RE: Sick People, CBF, Jun-24-04, 02:05 PM, (30) RE: Sick People, Claude350, Jun-24-04, 08:44 PM, (32)

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You know what, the crews seem to eat this up. From what I've heard about other areas... They just blow louder and longer and ALOT more in towns or certain xings where people complain... They have just doomed themselves to longer louders more frequent blasts Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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LOL! sounds good Rob!! Annoy the #### out of them! But what would someone prefer to happen?? Sounding lots of horns at the crossings, or have people killed because they couldnt hear the train coming. Remembering that some people can only hear loud noises.>Mike Forster<
Perth, Western Australiapacificnational_nr103@hotmail.com
http://www.trainweb.org/aussiepix

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>But what would someone prefer to happen?? Sounding lots of
>horns at the crossings, or have people killed because they
>couldnt hear the train coming. Remembering that some people
>can only hear loud noises. Exactly! They complain about the horns, then complain how the crossings are unsafe when there's an accident.What I find most amazing, is that many of the people complaining about the noise, moved in 30 years after the rails were there!It's the same mentality that buys a new house 200 yards from the interstate because the land is cheap, then imediately starts petitioning local government to get sound barriers put up! I just don't get it... -Jeff

Union Pacific fan.

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> Remembering that some people
>can only hear loud noises.
>
Sad that even though some can only hear loud noises , some that can hear fine still get hit and then the trains catch the slack for it.I am sure that if the trains stopped with the horns for 1 night and someone got hit then the same crew or a different one would be on the scene complaining that the train did not give enough warning and hit the RR with a lawsuit.
-Shane- MASW Activity Designer
www.freewebs.com/klwtrainsim

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Maybe a bunch of railfans should move in there and ask for more trains and louder horns! Mykel

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best thing to do.......reroute all of UP's trains on that then we'll see who gets the last laugh.Mike
Future CPR Locomotive Engineer

Pontiac Grand Prix GTP - Built For Drivers

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Sounds about as wacky as the people in my area that moved into a new development next to a Drive-In Theater that has been there for 40+ yrs and have the nerve to complain about the noise coming from the Drive-In.

Pleasew visit my forums at
http://s8.invisionfree.com/Railfans_Depot

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Let's face it, S-5Ts rub some people the wrong way...-Jeffrey

Courteous Future Engineer
NKP 2-8-4 #765. www.765.org
Chessie System Historical Society. http://moosevalley.org/cshs/
My Website; www.xanga.com/csxd765

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Similar Phenomenon here in Frankfurt.A few months ago, the Rodgau, an area south of Frankfurt finally got its connection to the S-Bahn network in Frankfurt. Guess what. Trains had not even run for one month when some people started to complain about the noise. Some even threatened legal action!

"Damn the torpeodoes- Four bells Captain Drayton" - Admiral Farragut aboard USS Harford during the Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5th 1864.

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It seems to me that people shouldn't have the right to complain if they move into a place AFTER the fact, period. They know perfectly well what they're getting into. If something is a legitimate health or safety risk, that's different. But just because they are annoyed with something, well...too bad. And it especially irks me when they are stupid enough to move near railroad tracks and then have the nerve to complain about the trains later. Too bad. The railroad was there LONG before them, and they knew perfectly well what was going on. And I've been told that really in many cases the railroad has almost eminent domain rights...so really there isn't much the neighbors could do anyway. I have a friend that lives just a couple of blocks up from the BNSF main line to the Cajon Pass in California. It's a relatively new housing development. But people there got used to the trains a long time ago. He said they don't even notice them anymore. So these people need to grow up and realize you can't have it both ways. If you move into a house near a freeway or railroad tracks, you know what you are getting into.Chris T.

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The age old whistle debate Hopefully the community and the railroad can come up with a solution to satify everyones needs. Horns may make public crossings at grade slighty safer...but horns don't stop cars. Let's get more four-quadrant gates to protect both the public and the railroads. It's the only way to safely protect a public crossing at grade.Andrew PickellBC Rail Squamish Subdivision for MSTS

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Hi; I don't know what all the fuss is about trains not blowing their horns. Our community has has a ban on whistle blowing for at least five years now, except in cases of emergency. The crossings were all upgraded to the best equip. possible, so now there is no need for whistle blowing. I was not an advicate for this approach, but it does work. When things change, it is not what is done, but how it is done that really counts.Just another person's opinion. Chuck F.

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Heh, I agree with cn_bayview, and I'd do the same. "honk, honk, HOOOOOOOOOONK!!" >=D/JonatanSteam rules!

Never trust computers. If you do, they will betray you.I'm the steam freak, ph34r me!!

My E-mail jonatan.gronoset@telia.com

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Hehehe, I agree with Jonatan, but as long as were doin' that, why dont they just reduce the track speed limit through there to like 15MPH, that'll teach 'em good!

Glenn D
Cyclonetrain Railworks
www.cyclonetrain.com
info@cyclonetrain.com

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-23-04 AT 08:32 AM (EST)

There's only one protected crossing in Canaan, which definatly needs to be upgraded. The worst area is where Route 7 meets Route 44. There isn't any space between the crossing and the intersection. What makes it worse is the siding there too. Often they have to go across that crossing 3 or 4 times to get everything switched.I'd kill to live right next to the tracks, anyway -Dave

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Had the same probalem when the B&P was reopening the Indiana Branch. Some People are stupid....

--------
"So, if we are infact following a pattern, our next president should be Mr. Rogers. 'Hi, can you say armegadon? Too Late'"

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CBF thanks for posting answer that made sense.The same goes to Andrew.The rest of you guys,well I have to wonder.Claude Debnam NS Piedmont Division Raleigh East

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General rule-of-thumb is that the railroad was there first. It is a rule for the engineer to sound the horn at grade crossings, and the engineer keeping his job is much more important than the sleep that someone who chose to live next to the tracks gets or doesn't get.

SD40-2: the best locomotive EMD ever made!

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-23-04 AT 01:16 PM (EST)

Mousy what you have to realize is "General rule of thumb" isn't beating that drum too loudly these days.While working for the NS we had towns that had ordinances against blowing the horn when going thru town.I was required to flag these crossing to make sure no was injured or killed.Violate that ordinance and you could be facing a judge.BTW towns that had these ordinances are placed in the timetables or a bulletin is issued.So you can't just keep going and think nothing will happen.All the local police departments has the number to the railroad police who will notify the dispatchers who will tell you to stop your train and not to move until your supervisor gets to you and possibly the police so that you can receive your citation.So forget that "rule of thumb crap".Cyclone the towns that I had to go thru with the horn restrictions had a 5 mph speed restriction.The people didn't care as long as that horn wasn't blowing.Did I like having to flag all of those crossing? Not one bit but it was a rule and the city or town ordinance had preference.Alot more towns are following this trend.Get use to it.Gatewaycityca,people have grown and they are having it both ways. Claude Debnam NS Piedmont Division Raleigh East

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Good points Claude! I guess as railfans it is hard to understand why noise from a train is such a bad thing.
One thing I would wonder, is if these same towns enforce the same principles on cars? I mean, some of the sound systems in cars these days are a lot worse than a trains horn. At least the trains horn has a benificial purpose.Question about flagging a crossing, this means that the conductor/brakeman has to get out of the train and stand in the corssing to ensure no one passes? Correct? If so, what sort of protection does this individual have from many of the impatient drivers out there today? Mykel

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In response to the first reply to this post, here in North Riverside Illinois on the CN's ex-IC Iowa Division, theres a huge sign that says "quiet zone engineers please reduce horn blowing thank you" next to the tracks with flashing orange lights and all. I got a cab ride on that line and mentioned the sign to the engineer, on CN when the town throws a sign like that up the CN puts out a notice telling crews to ignore it. As mentioned above, our engineer honked the standard long long short long about 8 times when there are only 4 crossings, half of which was a 1/2 mile of no corssings at all. I loved it, and he said he does it every time only because that sign is there. "If they took it down" he remarked, "Id only do it for the crossing ahead." I laughed and then enjoyed the rest of my ride.Also, Ive heard on Dec 5 of this year, the FRA will be mandating use of air horns everywhere except for those crossings that meet specific standards as set by them. Towns who dont meet these will either deal with horns or be given a 2 year grace period in which to upgrade.
I hope this is true as I live by the BNSF raceway and the thought of 100+ trains a day honking sure makes me smile.Kevin V.
-President/CEO of Illinois Northern Ry Inc, subsidiary of The Midwest Regional Railways Corp.

Ohio Southern is on the way...coming when I get sick of the IN!

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Perhaps the fire dept and police of these towns should have a sound limit. So on the way to a fire or emergency the have to get out of their cars and flag the intersections so as to not use the sirens.LOL Yeh, like thats gonna happen. I'm sorry but as Long as a crossing is unprotected or has enough room for an asshole to go around it there should be horns. My question though is what ever happened to those crossing arms that were connected on both sides of the road and could take a car hitting it at like 50mph or something like that? I never see any. This would end the need for blowing the horn.

Frank Roberts
P&D Tractor trailer Driver for R&L Carriers
"Sometimes I dream about being carried off by a big giant squirrel. Does that make me a nut?"

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Over here in the UK we have done the civilised thing and put gates/barriers across our lines, so when chuff chuff comes and goes by, people can't move forward until the barriers are lifted. There is no need for the driver to play the william Tell overture, as we British (we are the ones that invented the choo choo) then can get a good night's sleep. incidentally, I live over two miles away from a track but can still hear my "gotobed" call at 11.30pm and my "wakeup call at 12.30 am...Mike

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In responce to #22-Thats an interesting point because the fire siren is right in the middle of town next to one of the crossings.In responce to #23-Your calling us U.S. people uncivilized? -Dave

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Mykel flagging the crossing does mean that the conductor or brakeman had to get down at every crossing to make sure traffic had stopped before you proceeded through the crossing.Claude Debnam NS Piedmont Division Raleigh East

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-24-04 AT 07:08 PM (EST)

In response to 22.
I was thinking the same thing.(about the shatter-proof gate) But then someone will get rear ended and say the gate caused damage and if the had have been pushed out into the crossing before the train got there than their car would have been fine. At the rate its going railroads will soon have lawsuits against them for everything.

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My friend lives near the tracks--that is, they're in his back yard-- and is trying to sell his house. It's not exactly going too well...Here on the BNSF, we have a whistle ban, but the trains are still loud. Too bad the people here are smart, cuz the people out where you guys live would buy his home in a flash. Joe LeMay

One of us Railfans from Downers Grove, IL

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It all boils down to these two statements.
1. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
2. Which came first, the railroad or the whiny b*tches.

John Means
MASW Founder and President
The MASW site is www.freewebs.com/klwtrainsim

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-24-04 AT 05:31 AM (EST)

Whiney b*****s have whiny b***h scumbag lawyers.That's why my tax money is going to build noise walls along highways that were there a half a century before the houses along side it.Never mind the gaping potholes still left over from last winter.

"Hold tight,feel the drivers bite,hear the whistle moan.Engine rockin' to the left and right,vibratin' in my bones.Once the locomotive steals your soul,you got a Casey Jones!"---Ian"Lemmy"Kilmister

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As mentioned before is they're going to ban horn blowing in a town ban car horns too!

Mark

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In the question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, the answer is the egg. Eggs were around eons before chickens evolved!Cheers, All. Chuck F.

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CBF I guess that would depend on what your faith is.But I'm not going to open that book as this post about trains blowing the horns at crossings is long worn out.Time to find something else to talk about.At least let's talk about something that worth posting.Claude Debnam NS Piedmont Division Raleigh East

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