Hello all,
On my way home, I “followed” a CP train down to Waterford Avenue in Milwaukee, when I was surprised to see that a “quiet zone barrier” had been installed in the middle of the street at the crossing. Click here to see a picture!
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
Oh, those doggone things. They tried them on N. Clark Street here in Chicago a few years ago. Had to abandon them–had no salutary effect on traffic and made it hard for even pedestrians to move about.
Is this “quiet zone” by law or ordinance, or just wishful thinking dressed up as policy?
And how would those little yellow staves make locomotives quieter, or stop them from blowing their horns???
Actually, the CP train was blowing the horns just like they always do, but I recall a nice newsletter from our local alderman a few months back regarding some people’s request for a quiet zone at this crossing. No matter that it’s the only grade crossing for several miles either way. Anyway, I expect that the horns will be silenced once the city gets approval from the FRA… maybe… [:(] It will be different when I can’t hear the train horns anymore…
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
Looks more like it is to keep people from driving around the gaits.
Just to be clear, a “quiet zone” means that the engineer no longer can do the - - * - but CAN blow the horn if a car try to come through, correct?
You’re both correct. The barriers are supposed to prevent drivers from going around the gates, and also comply with federal regulations that allow for the elimination of the - - * -.
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
I have seen several of these along CSX lines in eastern North Carolina. All of the crossings I have seen these installed were not quiet zones, at least not during the day. The explainantion for the barrier installation I was told was it was due to the higher speed limit of the line. Train speed is around 50-60 on the old ACL into Rocky Mount. What is the speed limit for trains though that area?
I don’t think quiet zones are really a solution. If the state/county/city was truly serious, they would shell out the $$$ for a grade separation. Although more exspensive, it is the safest solution.
Fuzzybroken, call your Alderman! Give safety as the reason the crossing shouldn’t be made a quiet zone. As you probably know, there are a number of threads on this site dealing with RR Xings, and you can find some interesting facts and figures scattered along the way to buttress your argument.
At least you can say you went down fighting!!
That’s just not right at all[:(!]. These “So-called” Quiet zones are just way too Dangerous.
Well I guess the Sissy whining Crybabys fianly get what they want…
Safety I guess comes last. Whining cry babys come first. But I will say this. It is a BIG mistake. I am so angry[:(!]! Allan.
Although I have seen those center-line dividers used on the CSX quiet zone through Chicago’s South Side, they are also on most grade crossings on both UP and IC in the city of Elmhurst, and horns are sounded routinely at these crossings.
Southbound, trains are coming up-grade, so they’re usually pretty slow, especially with “one-unit wonders” like the train in my picture. Northbound, they can come through pretty fast, although it seems to me that the speed limit goes down just to the south of the crossing.
A grade separation here really wouldn’t make sense, Waterford Avenue is a secondary road at best, and is only 1/2 mile long. I think the city put in the street just so railfans could watch trains at a grade crossing [;)]! There’s no grade crossings for at least 4 miles to the north/TT-west, and 5 1/2 miles to the south/TT-east. Seriously though, the trains still make plenty of noise coming in either direction, and the freeway overpass a short distance to the south of the crossing makes for a good echo chamber – that’s probably where most of the noise complaints come from anyways.
I can’t recall there ever being an accident at this crossing either, so I’m not all that concerned about the safety of horns/no horns here. But it will be different!
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
I’M FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND I’M HERE TO HELP YOU.
Run away! RUN AWAY!! [:0] [;)] [:D]
B.S. Allan.
Do those little post light up or do anything special when a train is approaching? Or are they simply relectors to keep traffic in line? This must be in a warm climate? The first snow around here would have all these things snagged on a snowplow. LOL
SEE I told you just give it time and they would start in on milwaukee just like every where else in this great land [banghead][banghead][banghead]
A common contridictary statement!
First of all how dumb does the government think we rail fans are, this road needs all this protection, because a lot of rail fans use it. I read the article about rails to trails, most people walking on these are rail fans, so we need to make sure there is lots and lots of room between the trains. I believe this is very dangerous; trains now don’t have a warning system, just the crossings. An accident will happen, some one will sue the railroad who will complain to the government that put these up, and then all of these will be pulled down. The residents that are complaining knew full well that train tracks were there first. Won’t this be confusing to some engineer, who might forget and blow his horn, incurring the wrath of the local residents?
Same thing I discussed with a fellow railfan today. Incidentally, it looks like somebody already ran 'em over, since there are now 4 broken reflectors on the west “barrier”. According to my fellow railfan, there is supposed to be two more gates installed at this crossing, so why the heck did the city spend money putting these stupid things in?
[soapbox]It occurs to me that these new barriers, while well-intentioned, have the potential to cause a more serious situation. While the vehicles “blocked in” at the front of the line at the crossing would likely not go around the gates, somebody farther back might get the “bright idea” to speed around the barrier and the gates, right into the path of the train! Hopefully that will never happen, but there is that potential…
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
Who would want to get rid of the - - * - that is one of those things that they cannot rid of, because it is part of the whole experiance, I know I wouldn’t get the same feeling watching a train if they didn’t blow the horns[soapbox][banghead][banghead]
Boo![B)][xx(][tdn][sigh] I hope they don’t start doing that here!
A very angry, frustrated uspscsx.