This is my very first post.
I know that engineers are not required to blow the whistle at controlled crossings - but what constitutes such a crossing? At first, I thought it was only at gated crossings, but I’ve noticed that sometimes the whistle isn’t blown at non-gated crossings as well.
the horn is to be blown at any crossing…unless thier is a noise ordiance in affect for the area…forbiding horns to be blown… also… thier are what we call "farmer’ crossings that are nothing more then a crossing that the farmers use to go from 1 field to another… they are only used once in a great while… and if i cant see any farm equipment anywhere near it…i dont blow for it… now if the crop such as corn is grown up to the point that you cant tell if thier is anything about to cross…ill blow just to be on the safe side!!!
csx engineer
by the way…what do you mean…controlled crossing? im cornfused
csx engineer
by the way…what do you mean…controlled crossing? im cornfused
[/quote]
Okay,what is an contorolled crossing?
We’ve got a bunch of small cities around here that don’t wan’t to
hear the the horns,but they are the first to sue. They don’t want
to hear the noise.
[quote]
Originally posted by tgilham
This is my very first post.
I know that engineers are not required to blow the whistle at controlled crossings - but what constitutes such a crossing? At first, I thought it was only at gated crossings, but I’ve noticed that sometimes the whistle isn’t blown at non-gated crossings as well.
[/quote/]
We have a small town where te tracks run through the middle of town;and
they are coducting tests to see if it is worth while.(GO FIGURE)
Years ago the Boston and Maine Railroad had the same problem with their crossings,till they put “speed bumps” near the rail crossing,that would pop up when the train was coming.It worked quite well,though it took a toll on the car’s shocks,from people trying to beat the train.
So if there is a noise ordinance in effect, does the railroad need to add anything to the crossing to make it safer?
tgilharn – there have been a number of threads on this forum on this subject! To try to summarize in a nutshell… difficult!.. there is new legislation in the US which clarifies what needs to be done. Basically, to avoid the rule requiring the use of horns at a crossing the authority controlling the road involved (may be a town, county, state) must ensure that the risk of some idiot trying to beat the train is very very low indeed. Several ways to at least give it a shot, but they all involve crossing gates, and usually involve four gates which completely close the road to prevent said idiots from going around the gates. Additional measures may be required, as well. The authority gets to pay for it; the railroad is provides the equipment and signalling necessary, but the authority picks up the tab. It isn’t cheap. The ordinary pair of gates and lights simply isn’t sufficient.
Once adequate protection is in place, and all the various parties involved are satisfied that it is indeed adequate, then – and only then – can the operating rules of the railroad be modified to eliminate the mandatory horn for the crossing.
The local authority can’t simply pass an ordinance… from a railroader’s point of view, I say thank goodness!
In any event, the engineer always retains the option to use the horn in an emergency and, as any engineer on this forum will be happy to tell you, they will!
Most likely, the local government and the railroad, at town expense, are going to put money into improvements. The politicians and lawyers created a sadistical/statistical equation to create the " train horn rule" equations/ [Quiet Zone Calculator] that are flawed and can create a fatality prone situation. (If you are hearing that railroad design engineers do NOT like the damn thing, you would be 100% correct. Common sense (that stuff that seems to be vanishing) dictates no whistle bans.) The rulemaking has not yey been finalized, but this is basically it:http://www.fra.dot.gov/Content3.asp?P=1318
Those “farmer crossings” are private crossings, not for public use and a large number are carried under license or contract. (Not an easement and does not automatically transfer to a new owner like so many real estate heathen think…)…Railroads are looking really hard now to yank crossings with improper paperwork to get rid of folks who will not accept liability for their own actions and those of their visitors. (UP, BNSF, IC & NS are really good at this)… There are also certain private crossings out there that are not licensed, but are grandfathered in under state law to satisfy the legal principal that you must have access to a public road somewhere and you cannot be “landlocked” which gets railroads to look for other creative ways to eliminate crossings.
[}:)]Those private crossings have to be accounted for in a “no train horn zone” or the application for the whistle ban has four strikes against it…
What really frightens me is that the final say on a Quiet Zone is possibly determined by a group of 4-6 people without ANY practical railroad experience.
[banghead][banghead][banghead]
You mentioned “Common Sense!” Doesn’t that bar you from further participation in this thread? 
Seriously, I think the “no horn” zones rank right up there with shutting off the traffic signals between 2:30AM and 6:30AM to save electricity. Nobody is out driving around then anyway, right?