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Train engineer in Readville loves him some air horn at 1:10 in the morning
By adamg on Tue, 07/02/2024 - 9:19am
At 1:13 a.m., HoofbeatsEqualZebra, who lives in Readville, reported that an engineer on a commuter-rail or CSX diesel in one of the Readville train yards had blared his air horn more than 60 times. Yes, of course he counted, what else are you going to do at 1:13 in the morning with an air horn blasting through your house?
At 1:22, he added: "Oh, good, he’s finally f*cked off."
At a meeting with MBTA officials in April, residents cited the 1:10-1:15 a.m. horn show as one of the things that keeps them up at night. The MBTA called the meeting to discuss the outcome of a $250,000 Readville sound study, which basically concluded: Trains gonna train, you people live near train yards, so quit yer yappin' and we don't care if this wasn't a problem before 2020.
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Comments
What an asshole of a person
n/t
Railroads have rules they must follow
Railroading is inherently dangerous. People who work around trains need to know when one is about to move, and which direction it's going to go in. Two short toots mean forward; three toots mean backward. If you're hooking up air hoses or doing something else that requires standing in the potential path of a train, it's a matter of life and death. Safety has to be the number one concern, and people who choose to live near a railroad need to live with that fact.
That railroad, originally called the Boston and Providence, has been there since 1834. We're not talking about rowdy college students moving into a formerly quiet neighborhood, but rather a neighborhood that grew up around a noisy railroad.
Yes, but ...
We're not talking about yuppies moving into the Navy Yard and complaining about Old Ironsides firing cannons every day.
Most of the people at the April meeting were either lifelong Readville (and Dedham and Milton) residents or had lived there for decades. What they're complaining about is an increase in the noise (such as Mr. Horn Blarer) specifically since 2020.
Nevertheless...
The railroad was there first.
That yard is operated by CSX, a major freight railroad. Freight shipment patterns change from year to year, especially in the wake of a major supply chain disruption like that caused by Covid. You can be sure the people working in that yard at one o'clock in the morning would rather be at home in bed, but are there doing what has to be done.
A brief look at railroad.net suggests that Home Depot and Stop and Shop are major customers served from that yard.
I believe that is the last operating freight rail yard in Boston, the former CSX Beacon Park Yard in Allston having been closed for several years now.
Doesn't matter which was there first....
If I bought my house before my next door neighbor and later decided to blast music at 0300, would it matter if I was there first? No, it wouldn't. Irrelevant. Also irrelevant is whether the workers want to be there or not. What is relevant is that until 2020, it wasn't an issue. If you're going to drastically change your use of the facility -- decades after others have moved in--then you need to have a very good reason for doing so, and you need to do something to mitigate the problem.
Not the same thing
Someone buying a house next door to another house has a reasonable expectation of peace and quiet. Someone moving next door to Logan Airport, on the other hand, can have no such expectation.
Logan Airport
is subject to scrutiny by the community through the FAA> Happens all the time. Logan can't just do whatever it wants. The key word is reasonable. Logan airport exists to serve the community and they are obliged to cooperate with the neighbors to the extent possible. It's easy to take your unrelenting position when it doesn't affect you. Do you get your rocks off advocating an unreasonable position because you're resentful of people who had the nerve to buy a house in that neighborhood? Pathetic. Misery loves company.
Resentful?
Hey, these people beat me at capitalism fair and square: They outbid me for land and shelter.
I'm not resentful, I'm unsympathetic. Two different emotions. I live near a railyard, too. It was there before I signed the lease, and it'll be there long after I'm gone. My problem, not theirs.
Train air horn - SIXTY times at 0100 is...
Unreasonable. And I can guarantee they aren't doing that at the alleged rail yard near your apartment rental. Yes, it is resentment. The arguments are waay too strong that these people somehow "deserve" what they are getting. Misery loves company. Your reference to capitalism speaks volumes. Hopefully your whole life won't be spent being spiteful and entitled. It will be a rough ride.
Alleged rail yard?
I mean, the trains go through it, and there's signs on it which read "Vermont Rail System." What's the challenge to my claim?
Also, how am I the entitled one when I lost the shelter bidding?
alleged...
means the only proof of your tale is your tale. Either way, they ain't blowing their air horns SIXTY times during the wee morning hours. It ain't happening. Try to muster up a little empathy for others.
Shelter bidding?
"Vermont" says it all. lol
Shelter bidding
A dwelling goes up for rent/sale.
Party A makes an offer.
Party B makes a higher offer, so they get to purchase the shelter.
Ah
So you're telling us that you tried to live near this train yard but lost the bidding? Interesting. But apparently you screwed some other poor schmuck out of the place you're living in now?
I rent near the railyard
A lady from New Jersey won the bidding to own the domicile.
Plenty of places to live in the US...
no bidding required. I've never had to bid for a place in my entire life. But I'm also not a resentful person who feels entitled to things.
I'm struggling to think
Of a decent place to live where only one person/household fills out a rental application or makes a purchase offer.
Still not clear where you get the idea that I'm entitled to anything after I long ago conceded that I lost in a free market transaction.
That's not the scenario you painted...
You said it amounts to a bidding contest. "A dwelling goes up for rent/sale. Party A makes an offer. Party B makes a higher offer, so they get to purchase the shelter."
There are PLENTY of decent rentals out there that lease for the listed cost. No bidding. And until very recently plenty of properties for sale, although they can still be found in many parts of the nation. Although they probably don't meet your level of entitlement.
And entitlement is an attitude or state of mind, not about whether or not you actually got what you want.
Actually it does
You hare arrived at the nuisance. It was there before you and you knew about it.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/coming_to_the_nuisance#:~:text=Coming%20to%20the%20nuisance%20refers,bar%20to%20a%20nuisance%20action.
There have been apartments built downtown and near other night-noise locations (such as late night nightclubs, or commercial-industrial operations there first) where occupants have attempted to close those operations or get them to be quiet and have not been successful.
It's a change in conditions
This isn't a case where they are trying to close the facility. No person or organization has free reign to do what it wants, whenever it wants. But it's interesting that you've decided to stand by that very unreasonable position. How did you end up so bitter and lacking empathy?
Fine, it was there first, you're right. However
You know what isnt there YET. The South-Side Maintenance and Layoff.
As someone who lives near Readville (<1mi) and uses the train regularly, maybe using your logic, we should put a stop to critical infrastructure. Because, hey, we were here first and the T has shown they cant figure out how to be neighborly.
The T plans on making a critical expansion in the area necessary for the maintenance of existing trains as well as the electrification of the Fairmont line.
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/12/16/mbta-is-on-a-shopping-spree-for-...
Figure out the stupid late night horns or expect to face angry neighbors. Maybe we should petition James Grant to back out of the sale to the MBTA.
Also expect even more angry citizens as developers continue to build adjacent to the station.
Accidents Happen
Due to a number of rail accidents across the nation all operators were instructed to follow the rules with no exceptions. The operators have no leeway. A date marker of 2020 would coincide with this.
Watch it, mister.
Ms. Horn Blarer is watching you, Adam.
.
I would be interested to know
I would be interested to know what it sounds like - there's a difference between a "toot" and "blaring", especially if it's 60 times. I definitely agree that if they're complaining about "normal railyard noise" (i.e. a lot of short toots, spaced such that it's clearly communicating something), then *shrug*, but if the operators are leaning on their horn repeatedly...there may be some need for action.
What does 60 horns mean?
Trainyards have rules, but 60 horns doesn't seem to have signaling reference.
Trains today are also nothing like the trains in 1834. Those trains were a few cars long and would be in an out of the crossings relatively quickly.
Today, and even moreso in just the last 2 decades, trains have ballooned into behemoths, dozens sometimes hundreds of cars stretched over sometimes miles. The proportions of trains have gone completely bananas with 1 operator in charge of a vehicle which he cannot even see the end of.
Trains today don't really resemble what they were in 1834, and just because there are historic practices, doesn't mean we can't be critical of practices in 2024 when trains have become something else entirely and freight traffic in particular has seized monopolistic control of the rail right of ways (by far and away the biggest reason we don't have reliable functional passenger rail service in this country).
People are allowed to be critical. Especially because the shape of modern day trains is dictated by corporate profits, not by observance of any safety protocols.
No behemoths in readville
The behemoths, trains of a hundred or more cars, run for hundreds of miles over main lines, operating out of yards far larger than Readville. The Readville trains will only be short local freights.
Corporate profits dictate every aspect of life in America. They control everything from what time we get up in the morning to what products and services we buy. That's life under capitalism, alas.
Capitalism huh?
If you go over to China you'll see capitalism as run by the commies, where they use slave labor to provide cheap products for the rest of the world. Trains and trade are not unique to the US. What's unique is the Constitution which has, unfortunately, been eroded due to a populace who only pay attention to their cell phones and video games allowing a government to freefall into corporatism and crony capitalism, not mere capitalism which has lifted more people out of poverty than any economic system in world history. When people don't participate that's what happens.
But you are welcome to see if you get a better deal in China -- or any other non free market nation for that matter. You'll live under the iron boot of a dictator or oppressive government. Freedom comes with certain costs.
Some of it is code
Long freights that are lashing up (adding or subtracting cars) are sometimes not in earshot of the locomotive engineer and the conductor (it's also a freight term) or the brakeman is assigned to the consist (the make up of the train).
Federal law states a horn must sound regardless of availability of 2-way radios or line of sight availability. Soundings include.
One - stopping or stopped
Two - forward
Three - back up
Four - Signal call
More here: https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/26193/Required-Train-Horn-Signals?bidId= This shows (in part) FRA Rule 14.
At a grade crossing, on approach 2 long blasts, then just before the crossing one short blast, followed by one long blast as the locomotive actually crosses the grade crossing.
If the train was lashing up cars or dropping them off, the soundings were mandated by federal law and if not followed the locomotive operator and crew could be charged with a safety violation and even federal charges, and as a result lose their jobs and likely prevented from working on any other railroad.
I've experienced similar when work trains are replacing or repairing track at 2 AM in the morning when trains for the day have finished. There is also usually a spotter at each end of the work area and especially at a curve in the track where oncoming trains could not be readily seen. Those spotters sometimes have air horns in hand that they sound for an observed approaching train, and if their vehicle is equipped a siren.
We can dislike it but those sounds are a legal requirement and most railroads in the area date back to the 1800s easily.
During the construction of the Southwest Corridor all Amtrak and Providence line MBTA trains were redirected over the Fairmount branch for several years. Approaching a junction also requires a blast.
Area residents can apply for a quiet zone to the state government and eventually to the freight carrier and the FRA to determine if a quiet zone can be established or not.
The area in Readvillecused to
The area in Readvillecused to be an army base during the civil war.
Based on the information provided...
it sounds like a very unreasonable (ab)use of the horn.
Hyde Park has issues from trains, plains and automobiles
1. Bridge that has been closed for a few years that has jammed up and redirected traffic through adjacent neighorhoods
2. Overhead noise from planes going to logan
3. Trains or some other noise that sounds suspicously like train rumblings in the middle hours of the night
The MBTA knows they can disrupt the neighborhood and likely get away with it, so why would they stop?
Lol the MBTA doesn't dictate
Lol the MBTA doesn't dictate flight paths, my man. Like I sympathize with the noise but there's multiple factors here.
Go ahead, if it makes you feel better
Sure, I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you. I like me. My wife likes me. My friends like me. Because I'm the genuine article. What you see is what you get.
Dinah, won't you blow
I've been working on the railroad
All the livelong day
I've been working on the railroad
Just to pass the time away
Can't you hear the whistle blowing?
Rise up so early in the morn'
Can't you hear the whistle blowing?
Dinah, blow your horn
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone's in the kitchen, I know
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Strumming on the old banjo
Fee-fi, fiddlee-aye-o
Fee-fi, fiddlee-aye-o
Fee-fi, fiddlee-aye-o
Strumming on the old banjo
The Law of Unintended Consequences
When you make a law that says a train has to blow its horn at every crossing, gates or not, (think of the children!) the you get train horns at every crossing. On the other hand, why would they be blowing the horn within the yard?
Moving forward and backwards,
Moving forward and backwards, as someone said above. In the yard setting you would have tight curves and/or parallel parking tracks, so a good chance there's no end-to-end visibility.
Also, work crews on or near the tracks.
I find myself wondering if it
I find myself wondering if it is a case of malicious passive aggressive compliance.
Safety officer came by some night, wrote somebody up for some sort of failure to comply with standards on track safety and warning horns and bells, etc... The type of situation that didn't exactly match any of the typical diagrams in the manual, so the operator chose or modified some close match that safely addressed the conditions but the inspector disagrees, says it was insufficient and that they should have chosen a different template. (Worse yet if this inspector inserted themselves after the crew foreperson and/or site safety officer already approved an operating plan & briefed the shift crew)
So, the operator complies - to the hilt. Blows the horn at every remotest possible need, every hypothetical need, and for maximum duration.
When the complaints come in? "Sorry - Inspector ___'s orders."