Freight Train Noise Still an Irritant Squeaky wheels on rail cars rolling through town are getting greased, but they're still too loud. A representative of Union Pacific Railroad met with the Elmhurst, Illinois City Council's Public Affairs and Safety Committee this week to explain what steps the railroad has taken to reduce freight-train noise. Maintenance crews applied grease to the wheels of cars and even tried a lubricating trough. But nothing has eliminated the problem, said Tom Zapler, a government affairs representative for the railroad's central region. "If there's some technology that can take care of it, we're not aware of it," he said. Resident Rich Rosenberg said the sound of screeching freight trains near his house on Linden Avenue has worsened since the railroad rebuilt switches along tracks bordering Park Avenue in 1999. Noisy wheels aren't the only problem the railroad brings to town, he said. Too many trains stop for lengthy periods at the Poplar Avenue crossing, he said. Pupils at Sandburg Middle School and people on their way to Elmhurst Memorial Hospital use that crossing. Zapler said freight trains are not supposed to stop for more than 10 minutes. Trains often stand idle in Elmhurst while waiting to enter the Proviso rail yard, which stretches from Berkeley to Melrose Park in Cook County. A recent court ruling blocks municipalities from ticketing trains that exceed the 10-minute rule, Police Chief Steve Neubauer said. Elmhurst Mayor Thomas Marcucci said train safety is an ongoing concern. The city has been pro-active in talking to children at schools and at the Elmhurst Park District's Safety Town program, Neubauer said. - Steve Brosinski, The Chicago Tribune
Oh no! Loud trains! :rolleyes2: I'd be more worried about trains blocking a crossing, but jeez, the RR has most likely been around before most of those people were born.
During World War II, the (then) US War Department built "Gulfport Field", an Army Air Forces bomber pilot and maintenance training base. Within a few years after War's end, the Government gave the base to the City. In less than 10 years developers had built and sold more than 1000 upscale homes directly off the end of the runways now used by Delta, Southern, and other regional airlines. You got it...very shortly, the recent home-buyers had filed NOISE-ABATEMENT suits against the City, County, State, and Federal Governments, and also all the airlines. Fortunately, the suits were thrown out, but only after years of tax-payer's money being poured down the drain to build a case for the defense. I won't bring up the out-spoken complaints against the CSX tracks that have been used since 1869.,,,!
These people burn me up:angry: Build an airport and some yuppie builds his condo at the end of the runway and complains about noise, build a development near tracks that have been around since 1856 and complain about the noise. Sounds like Rockford IL. We used to host the EAA fly in here but it is now in Oshkosh WI because the residents did not like the "noise" and "traffic". The NASCAR track in Joliet? That was going to be in Rockford too, but it would make too much "noise" and "trafic". I asked a local resident recently why Rockford had no tornado sirens, he replied "Oh the people complain about the noise." If these people are so concerned about the "noise" why don't they stop those punks in their stupid "tuner" cars with the loud bass music:angry: I love the fact in my little town the yuppies are moving in, hope they like that "Farm Smell" and the truck and train traffic come harvest time!
Seems like an awful lot of people in this culture have to take offense at something - does this validate that they are alive?
Noise & Smoke In Durango, Colorado about every other year there is a push to make the D&S switch to diesel trains because the Steam locos smell, make smoke and are noisy. The railroad and related tourism is effectively the reason for the town's continued existence. W/o the RR the town would be almost dead. The RR tourists make it financially viable for people to live there year-round.
Heh, Elmhurst Illinois. you know, Earnest Hemmingway was born and raised in Oak Park 10 or so miles east as the C&NW runs and he was won't to say about Oak Park that it was a town of Broad lawns and Narrow minds. Elmhurst is categorhically worse. We're talking about a town with it's head so far up it's proverbial tail pipe, that other NIMBY whiney suburbs make fun of it and it's residents for being typically suburban. You've got to be pretty darned bad to rate that. And don't even start on noise abatment with Airports. Elmhurst like Oak Park and many other towns in the area is right near O'hare International. Any complaint you've ever heard or been a part of about airport noise is nothing compared to what the twits living in O'hare's shadow have spouted. Conviently, the City managed to annex the land so they have a certain ammount of leeway. At the same time, I have to wonder if the problem really isn't getting worse. Proviso has gotten a lot bigger and is funneling a lot of traffic right now. There's major pushes to route around Chicago, because it's so full. Perhaps these people are noticing a legitimate rise in irritant noise volume. Maybe instead of making fun of the complainers, their concerns could be used to generate now cooridors, to override NIMBYs elsewhere and fix our bursting at the seams rail network. It seems to me that there may be more profitable and smart things to do here then mock ignorance.
My buddy Mark called me last night. He's an old train buddy of mine and as we spoke he overheard a train blowing it's whistle about three blocks from my home. He was soooo jealous. Tonight my wife and I rode our bikes down to look at trains on the joint line. I actually bought my home partly because it was near to the tracks. I love that sound of squeel and clatter and rumble. If they took away the trains I'd have to move.
Geeky, I wholeheartedly agree. I live about 100 yds from the rails. Love hearing trains go buy. In fact one is passing by as I type this. If I listen close enough, I can catch the horn two grade crossings east of me and casually walk to the tracks in time to watch. Then I audibly track their progress through town by the sound of their horns at the following three grade crossings. Would be way to quiet without them.
Geeky, I too am jealous. I would in a heart beat move to a spot where I could have trains in my backyard. Yes I would live near an airport too cause I love aircraft. I will tolerate most any noise as long as it is not that stupid music that makes the windows in your house rattle. That is why I moved to the farm country, the only noise is of tractors, children playing baseball, and the lonesome syphoney of the Nathen 5P on a west bound freight.
I've never lived further then a mile from the track. Started out near former B&O/Soo/Wisconsin Central about 2 blocks form home and the C&NW another 5 or 6 past. With the Soo line into heading for O'hare about a mile the other way. Then I was about a mile or so from the Portland and Western and it's line to Hillsboro Oregon. Now, I'm about 4 blocks from the former Santa Fe coast line to San Diego. None of this was particularly intentional. Just worked out. I don't know how I'd sleep with out the horns and the rythms of the rails.
The potential landowner, business, resident, is supposed to check for things such as good schools, crime, and other problems that may detract from their purchase. That includes the presence of airports, railroads, freeways, et al. Somehow, our people aren't educated well in business. To know they can evolve and grow. Which includes railroads. Somewhere in all of this, it's been lost "buyer beware." The buyer is responsible for their choice. But, people don't need to be responsible for their own actions any more..... :thumbs_down: Boxcab E50
The Durangoans (?!?) should know better.... Dieselizing the Durango & Silverton would devastate that town's tourism economy... I, for one, and MANY more like me would not visit the D&SNG if it dieselized. I can go anywhere for diesels. I came for STEAM.:shade: This society of NIMBY really irks me.. The very existence of the objects, locations, industries, etc that make that the town is today is being threatened by a bunch of people who foolishly blame the noise maker for the problem. YOU moved there, YOU lived in that house, YOU deal with it...:angry: :realmad1up: *plink, plink* If the property values dropped because of the train noise and traffic, that's a perfect time to buy, for a railfan like me.....:hmm4er:
my mom is one of those people she moved right by a highway and complains about the noise:rolleyes2: she makes me laugh she moved there its her problem not the highways but we lived by kcs main line but never complained. lol
Duane, Chadwick? Hmm, great BNSF action, nice small town, nice people, great hobby shop and established club. The 2 hour drive to work would be a killer though Seriously though, Tina is having a hard time getting stuff for JTW. Without a storefront, most hobby dist. will not give you the time a day, so we are looking to move. Going to make sure it is near a busy mainline, maybe even UP!
I'm within a mile of the BNSF branch that go's to COOR'S and about another 1/2 mile beyond that is the Moffat line (lots of action there). Wish I had a wife that wanted to watch trains with me. You ovoiusly aren't part of that group on Jackass Hill next to the Joint Line whining.....I just can't sleep because they moved the tracks 100 feet closer to my house. Hope to be part of their problem real soooon.............:angel:
In Elmhurst though, we're talking about a C&NW mainline that has been the major feeder for the Transcon for it's entire existence AND, we're talking about a railcorridor which has reached over crowding the likes of which has not been seen before. The Chicago issue is a big one. Meaning, that the traffic increase is unprecidented. Don't get me wrong, Lotsa NIMBYs out ther. Lotsa whiners about O'hare too, but Proviso is seeing unprecidented increases and they're so full they're violating the 10 minute stopping rule. Between that and the recent ineptitude of UP with trains piling up on the main, I just have to wonder if it's more then just uneducated suburbanites. Again, This is a fairly new complaint and Elmhurst is an old suburb. It's been there nerely as long as the Chicago & Northwestern has. We're not talking about new construction at all. We're talking about families that have been there a long time. 100 year old houses. The Rail industry is taking active measures to address the Chicago issue. I wonder if this article isn't an example of taking things out of context. The locals may have a legitimate complaint, but the resolution is complex and it's taking the government and the railroads a lot of time, money and study to fix it.
Cause & Effect There also has been a recurring effort to require the D&SNGRR to convert their trains from coal to oil. Talk about doing that got really serious when the 2002 fires threatened to take out some homes. Nevermind that the fires were sparked by lightning and not a coal cinder. They don't want to cut down some trees because it would impact their view. Then they complain when those very trees catch fire in a dry season. They don't want the train to whistle too loudly in town or to burn fossil fuels because it causes noise pollution and air pollution. And if they succeed in banning either, they will complain when jobs start disappearing. Folks up in Fraser, CO were the same way when UP started using the Moffat Tunnel more. It's not that they're NIMBY. It's that they can't see the link between their livelihood and what it takes to maintain it. It's like wanting a horse but refusing to sweep the stalls. If you want low prices at your neighborhood Wal-Mart, cheaper building materials at Home Depot, and electric power that doesn't bankrupt you, you need a train to keep those prices low. It's just that simple.
