The Chicago Tribune article (see link below) printed in today’s paper deals with residents of the near Western Cook County (Chicago) suburb of Berwyn, IL and the NIMBY complaints of residents about idling locomotives sitting on tracks bisecting their town while waiting for re-crewing or due to congestion in the area. One resident noted in the article has been there for five years or so and the tracks run past his back yard. My question to all of this is simply “Why in the heck would someone buy a house right up against the tracks if they did not want to deal with train noise of any kind?”. This would not be much different than someone buying a home and the back yard being right up against a fence separating it from a O’Hare airport runway.
From the article, it appears the problem is not the trains running by, but the idling for hours and resultant polution/noise. It also appears that much of the problem is recent and at least some of the residents have been there a long time.
Given the ever increasing cost of fuel I’m surprised someone hasn’t come up with a technical solution that allows the railroad to shut down and restart their diesels.
All that you write is true, however you must consider that the tracks in question have been a main line for a very long time and since most folks (even those who are not railfans like us) read about the surge in rail traffic over the past ten plus years…they should have suspected this might happen (or perhaps a truly caring realtor might have steered them to another property not so close to the tracks…but then perhaps they bought this particular property due to the low price BECAUSE it is near the tracks, promoting the question of why did not use the old adage “if it seems to good to be true, it probably is”). Also, CN did not buy that line simply to burn up capital, but rather to run many more trains into and out of the Chicago area. Lastly, anybody who has not heard of the CREATE program in and around Chicago which hopes to solve the rail congestion problem, has been living under a rock.
Some years back a Division Superintendent For the IC[G then] told a story at a railroad club meeting in Memphis after one of the members had asked him what his personal preformance bellweather was for his part of the railroad.
The Super immediately shot back–“Mrs…”, [an elderly widow,she lived at the end of one of the main passing sidings in Northwest Tennessee on the IC.] “She can be counted on to call me several times a month; when things are congested on the railroad.” "She calls, and complains that those locomotives idling and whinning [turbos] for hours, waiting on the siding, and keeping her awake. I have a problem somewhere!’
" … And then, I know that things are running normally when; I’ll get a phone call from her complainjing that the trains are screaming [turbos,again] past her house so fast, they are shaking her dishes off the shelve!." That’s when I know we are really railroading!"
This has been a BIG problem in Boston. As old rail lines are rebuilt and re-opened for Commuter Rail, you find F40PH and GP40MC sitting, idling, for much of mid-day, between morning and afternoon rushes, and all night at the last outlying station waiting for the next morning commuter rush. Boston (MBTA) commuter lines run out 50 miles in 8 directions.
The cure has been to make new “Storage Yard” away from the stations and surrounding buildings. Some are expensive as in the “Pawtucket Yard”, others just require extending tracks into wooded areas.
The old gray matter is not clicking this morning, so I can’t properly remember, but didn’t one of the companies manufacturing green diesels with batteries or alternative fuels as “jump starts” for straight diesel fuel find a way around the need to idle diesel locos for so long? I believe the overall savings wasn’t too attractive at that point, but work to overcome the problem(s) probably continued.
While I can’t fault someone for complaining in the hope that they get rid of some annoyance in their life through those complaints, I have to agree with Jim’s point… the same point I always make with NIMBY’s… didn’t you notice the tracks before you bought the house?
There is a huge difference between trains cruising past at track speed, and engines idling for hours on end. Congestion? More like poor planning and dispatching. If it is above freezing, the engines should be shut down and the train tied down instead of idling all day. I know we have lots of engines with autostart systems - I don’t know about CN.
The railroads have to realize they do not exist in a vacuum. And the old adage that foamers spread around that “the RRs were there first” gets old as well.
I am politely telling you - Nonsense! It isn’t an old adage - it is the truth. And in my fair city it isn’t the idling - it is the whistles that annoy people. And these are all people that built right next to the tracks that were there first.
Most people that live in an area that has 6 tracks, not one or two, don’t complain about the noise. Only the ones that live right next to the main line, built their house or their apartment complex knowing full well there were grade crossings with many trains, figuring we will shoot first and fix it later.
Just like constantly reading a thread and then constantly complaining about it - if you don’t want train noise, don’t roost there.
This article was about idling engines which is a different topic than whistles. Esp. along mainlines where trains SHOULDN’T be stopped.
OK - every once in awhile something happens and trains have to be left on the main somewhere. But too many believe railroads should not compromise at all. Unfortunately that does not help build good relations.
I don’t know if you have ever been out here in the Chicago are railfanning, but if not you have no idea what railroad congestion can be like. Along the U.P. mainline from Chicago to Iowa (the one that runs through Rochelle), trains can be backed up (Eastbound waiting to get into Chicago) for miles and miles. Driving along I88 which parallels the U.P. main line you can see trains sitting still for many miles just waiting. So if you have not personally seen such congestion you can’t possibly appreciate the severity of the situation.
Oh, by the way, if you look at the TRAINS web cam of the Rochelle diamonds you will see quite a few small old homes right up against the diamonds…talk about train noise!..I don’t ever remember hearing about homeowners there complaining. Why, because they purchased bargain basement real estate (perhaps all they could afford) and knew darned well what they were getting into and don’t complain about it due to that fact.
I think the guy has a legitimate complaint if the claim that trains have sat there for three days or longer is true. There is no reason the trains couldn’t be held outside the congested areas around Chicago. If Air traffic control can hold planes thousands of miles away until a slot for landing opens up the railroads ought to be able to hold trains 20 miles further away and relieve the congestion some here in the second city.
Are those engines really that noisy? We sit right next to the tracks and even with the windows down - can nap while waiting for them to do a bad order set out. We have often commented on how quiet the engines can be when moving or sitting either one.
Some are better than others. But tehy are noisy,a nd depending on weather conditions, the exhaust can linger. Real healthy.
The EMD autostarts are really annoying as they have a car horn that soudns before they start up or shut down. They then have that air-start system which can rise the dead. Still shouldn’t eb left idling for days, though. No excuse.
[#ditto] I too find myself napping sometimes while railfanning, and I sometimes think the rhythmic sound of the GE or EMD turbos is kind of “numbing” and actually puts me to sleep. As for the smell, if your house is twenty or so feet from the tracks this may be an issue, but I typically railfan about fifty to seventy feet from the tracks and seldom smell anything.
I grew up in neighboring Cicero and have some knowledge of the area.
Those tracks were laid by the Illinois Central RR in 1888 – at least 45 years before those houses were built. That NIMBY’s neighborhood near 27th Street is about where the tracks begin to climb an EB grade to fly over the BNSF Racetrack mains at LaVergne. Trains idling or holding in that area are nothing new. Hawthorne Yard is 2.5 miles east – built on a fill.
Westbound trains holding have to stop short of the Riverside Drive and (state highway 43) Harlem Avenue crossings, which are at grade level west of the 27th Street neighborhood.
Years ago, the IC line was double mains, and even ran commuter passenger service in steam times, but as fortunes changed in the late 1970s the IC yanked up one main, ostensibly in a cost-cutting move.
Berwyn (and Cicero) was founded by hard-working Eastern European immigrants, mainly Czechs and Poles with a mix of Italians. It stayed solid with that demographic until about 20 years ago, when Hispanics began moving into Cicero to the east and yuppies began buying Berwyn’s famous bungalows and three-flats. My guess is the guy complaining is part of the latter migration.
The railroad was there when he bought his house. Perhaps five years ago it wasn’t as busy, but if he had an expectation that traffic would remain the same for as long as he lived there, then he is very short-sighted. As the CN rep says, the railroad tracks were there first – for 119 years, to be exact. I think CN should try to make peace with the neighbors, but it is not bound to placate anyone because, as the rep said, “we’re not breaking any laws”.
Perhaps but I kind of doubt it. As much as I do love trains I would NEVER even consider buying a home right on a busy rail line…NEVER. I like my sleep too damn much and the sounds I DO hear coming from the BNSF Racetrack and the EJ&E are plenty to help aid in my sleep (some train horns from a far distance can be somewhat soothing to some of us…me included).