Living near trains in CB is not usually the issue (for some it is obviously), but rather there are spots that are being blocked and surrounded entirely by trains. Trains are vital to CB always have, but when you are surrounded for over an hour, that turns into an issue that needs solved, even if it just means not blocking one of the crossings.
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Wow, reviving a 21+ year old thread.
My, my,my.
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The original poster wondered about tracks going through the middle of a city. Both Council Bluffs and Omaha have those tracks there because of the Missouri River bridge.
The towns grew up around the railroads, and the closest buildings to the railroads were the businesses.
Who last posted 13 years ago. 
Rich
I knew that, but I thought it was an interesting question. I also thought the poster who gave the modern day update showed some new issues since the OP brought it up.
Itās not you John. My gripe is reviving a 21 year old to answer a 21 year old question. Kinda ridiculous and always a first time poster.
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BUT - has the problem been solved in the 21 years?
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BUT
Couldnāt the guy just start a new thread and if the old thread is so important, just mention it as a link.
OR
How about just quoting the passage from the old thread to which you are replying to.
OTHERWISE
It is forum rudeness to leave it to us to realize or discover that this is an old thread?
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You canāt understand where you are AT unless you know where you have been. Without history the same old mistakes become new discoveries. Lord knows there are more than enough people trying to suppress history.
OK, but posting on a forum isnāt exactly history.
When there is a history available on a Forum - Use it!
Firecrown went to a degree of effort to bring the threads from to old forum into the new one. They are available to and should be used to provide context to the questions of then and now.
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LOL, OK, I defer to a higher power (I love your posts), but it doesnāt annoy you to read a current reply only realize the poster is answering a 21 year old thread just to āupdateā us?
NO - My only complaint is the date & time of posts are not displayed more prominently. Many forums are deficient when displaying the date and time of posts.
Personally, I dislike the xx minutes and xx hours and xx days format that this forum is using - at least with the OLD posts it does show month and year.
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Gonna agree wholeheartedly with you on that.
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Is that Shawn dude (with the youtube channel) in Council Bluffs still yelling at the trains every night?
I always wondered if it was for real, or if he did it just for content.
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Yes, Shawn is still around. I heard they took his channel down, he supposedly started another one and that too was removed. Allegedly, he called in a bomb threat to the UP yard. I thought that would slow him down, and maybe it did a bit. One night a couple of months ago, I was stopped sitting over his crossing, our second engine was sitting on it. I could hear him ranting about us blocking the crossing on a Friday night. And he was on the other side of the train from me.
As one can see, Iām part of the problem. Trains regularly block a couple of crossings and sometimes a few more. A couple of times Iāve been able to block every crossing I could in Council Bluffs.
The reason we block crossings on our side, is that the line that accesses our South yard is used to make up and break up trains. Thereās one crossing right at the first switch to the yard. Itās one that almost always gets blocked. Trains putting away go over it for head rooms as they double, triple, quadruple cuts intoout of yard tracks. Trains putting together often do the same. (Thereās also a switching lead over that crossing.) The worst offending trains are the ones that are 12K to 15K being built or yarded.
The next crossing up (by rail) also often getās blocked. The crossings further up on whatās called the 12th street line, where Shawn lives, gets blocked mostly by the larger trains being built. The outbound trains are initially air tested by carmen down in the yard on the individual tracks. Once together, one last application and release test is required before the train can depart. If DP units are involved, they require a specific test. That can be part of the set and release, but the DPās require certain parameters be met beyond what the A&R test require. In warm weather it might take about 20 minutes if all goes well. In winter it often takes longer because it often takes longer to build up the proper air pressures and flows.
I donāt like blocking everything, but thereās not much I can do about it. Iāve had a few people, not Shawn and in a much more civil way than him, ask why we block crossings the way we do. I try to tell them and let them know who to complain to. (Itās government at all levels, including the FRA.) Some say they have, at least to their local government, and it falls on deaf ears. I can understand that. The parts of town we operate in are mostly the poorer sections. The sections that politicians often only show up when thereās a photo-op.
Jeff
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Jeff thanks for the info I was just reading thru this thread I myself donāt blame the railroad we need them also I would believe the rail lines were there long before the town
Chuck
Hey, just so all know, I do not like reviving old threads, but I do not flag old revived threads.
This was not me.
I have no idea why this thread has been flagged.
Rich
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There are two theories on thread creation in forums.
- Post on existing threads for comments about that thread - no matter the age.
- Post a new thread every time you want to - even if there are exising thread on the same subject.
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I donāt think the thread itself was flagged. I think it might be a new poster. Another post from the same person was flagged and delayed on another topic thread.
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