Living next to train tracks:
I moved into my house in 1993. It is one block from a small locally owned train line.
Back in the 90s, they had one or two trains come through per day. There are two crossings within 2 blocks of my house, So I get the horns. There is a sweet corn canning plant near me. One large wall of the canning plant is one block away.
The train tracks are at a bit of an angle. When a train is moving west and nears that road crossing and blows the horn four times, The angle of the train n horn, it will echo off the wall and the sound will bounce back toward my house, so I hear 8 horn blasts instead of 4.
Now, I did get use to that noise, as I have a lot of other neighborhood noise, since I live on the border edge of a residential district and a commercial district. I am one block away from a State Hyway that comes through town, so there is a Car wash, tire shop, a small feedmill, a full service gas station, A Mexican restaurant, a furniture store, a old automotive repair shop that was recently sold to a large Electrical contractor with tons of neat equipment, and a Dairy Queen and VFW that occasionally hosts live Bands...all those businesses are less than 3 blocks away from my house.
I am not complaining ...yet !
In 2004, the year I quit working the typical Full time job and started contracting my labor...I noticed the railroad started building extra tracks next to the canning plant...like 5 different sets of tracks. They built a "bump yard". Not complaining yet.
So they started bumping cars, but not real often, and always in the daytime. I didn't mind the low pitch of a Diesel-electric train engine moving a train back and forth at 3 MPH, and I didn't mind the actual bumping, that sounds like thunder...I kind of liked it, actually.
The road crossing that is near the canning plant, you guessed it, they have to blast the horn 4 times everytime they cross it....and I get 8 blasts when it's going west (echo off the wall). They have to cross the road when the train gets built to a certain length...about 40 cars. Many times they only crossed the road a few times during a bumping session.
Then about 2008, they started bumping cars at all hours of the day or night...5 sessions a week. The trains started getting longer, which meant more crossings and more horns. The horn drive me nuts...yes, now I am complaining.
In 2016, we had a major road construction project, that included that crossing. I tried my darnest to get that crossing made into a silent crossing (no horns). I talked to everyone. I had most of the neighborhood on my side.
I started with the City, they said I had to talk to the Rail Road, the Rail Road told me to talk to the Federal rail commission. The Feds said even if I could get the City and the Railroad on board (to fund part of it...which would likely be impossible), that the road was a official Truck route, so the State (MN DOT) would need to be involved and do a study. After all the talking I did, guess what was the biggest obstacle? (that I haven't mentioned yet)?
There is also a pedestrian (trail) crossing there as well, and even with all the special equipment that is typically installed for a silent crossing (concrete Medians, extra lights, and full length cross arms blocking all lanes of traffic on both sides of the tracks)...That there just isn't anything that is 100% effective to stop pedestrians...so a Horn is mandatory for those applications.
I'm still not use to the Horns. A typical bumping session these days, usually lasts an hour and includes 50 to 75 horns blasts. There is still the same 5 bumping sessions each week. although it occurs less on Holiday weekends. It seems the bumping sessions usually occur 2am, sometimes 5pm or later like 9pm.
Yeah, I did buy a house on the edge of a commercial district, and I guess I could move anytime.
...and I do feel better typing all this out...thanks for reading.
