Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Here's an article from today's local news about the Denton County "A-Train" commuter rail:

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/DCTA-bla ... 78804.html

All of the crossings along this route have had new equipment installed including wayside horns. But according to the article, the Quiet Zones have to be approved by the FRA on a city-by-city basis... and in 2 cities along the route (Lewisville and Corinth) the paperwork is being delayed for several months by bureaucratic red tape.

This explains something weird I saw the other day and was wondering about... at the Main Street crossing in Lewisville (this crossing: http://www.rxrsignals.net/Texas/G-P/Lewisville/Main/ ) they have put black plastic bags over the "No Train Horn" placards on the advance warning signposts.

Definitely some misplaced blame... one of the homeowners even says he would like to find the train engineer's house and sit outside and honk his car horn

Yeah... can't believe they actually aired that part. Of course it is the "driver's" fault that he or she has to follow the law.

Josh wrote:Definitely some misplaced blame... one of the homeowners even says he would like to find the train engineer's house and sit outside and honk his car horn

GO AHEAD, come to my house and honk. I don't get bothered by noise and pot smoking neighbors don't bother me either,
BUT step foot on to my land and you'll get shot

Safety vs. Silence

Here's two more articles about the DCTA crossings... now business owners in Lewisville are complaining that the wayside horns are too loud. The first article has a video showing the Main Street crossing:

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Lewisvil ... 90783.html

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/DCTA-to- ... 14618.html

I'm baffled when the second article says that DCTA is "looking at additional alternatives, including upgrades at crossings — more gates, median work or re-routing traffic". How are more gates and median changes (quadrant crossing, I guess) going to make a quiet-zone crossing any safer than the significant crossing upgrades they've already done? And "rerouting traffic"??? Main Street and Business 121 are both major arterials so I don't really see how a "rerouting" is possible, nor is a grade separation feasible.

I also think it's ironic how the people that are complaining about the noise are from an auto repair shop, a furniture repair shop, and a construction company. How "silent" are any of these businesses? Air ratchets, air compressors, engines, reverse "beepers" on trucks, hammers, saws, other assorted power tools etc.

Josh wrote:Safety vs. Silence

Here's two more articles about the DCTA crossings... now business owners in Lewisville are complaining that the wayside horns are too loud. The first article has a video showing the Main Street crossing:

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Lewisvil ... 90783.html

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/DCTA-to- ... 14618.html

I'm baffled when the second article says that DCTA is "looking at additional alternatives, including upgrades at crossings — more gates, median work or re-routing traffic". How are more gates and median changes (quadrant crossing, I guess) going to make a quiet-zone crossing any safer than the significant crossing upgrades they've already done? And "rerouting traffic"??? Main Street and Business 121 are both major arterials so I don't really see how a "rerouting" is possible, nor is a grade separation feasible.

I also think it's ironic how the people that are complaining about the noise are from an auto repair shop, a furniture repair shop, and a construction company. How "silent" are any of these businesses? Air ratchets, air compressors, engines, reverse "beepers" on trucks, hammers, saws, other assorted power tools etc.

Those waysides are the stupidest idea that any pencil pusher came up with.
What they need to do is resume blowing the horns on the train, the way it was meant to be.

to me, Wayside horns are a really stupid idea, I actually dont have any around me and there are only about 2 Suburbs around here that are Silent Zones, And I dont railfan in those spots so much. All I can say is that Silent Zones ruined my favorite railfanning spot in Olmsted Falls Ohio and I HATE it. There is a club trackside there next to the Brookside Drive Crossing which used to be a New York Central station and has not been replaced, but the 5 crossings neighboring each other are quiet zones. When i went there to do some railfanning when i hadnt been there in a while, I saw the No Trains Horn sighn and trust me, I WAS PISSED OF!!!!! SO ANGRY!!!! and the place had every single requirment on my railfanning list. A parking lot for train watchers, Train Heritage, A Model trains store next to the busy tracks, and everthing else you could ask for. And there are 50-60 trains passing there per day. I hate, I really do. We need to be safe and have the horns blare and not give people a higher chance of getting killed. If they dont want to hear horns blaring every day, get over it! dont put houses next to tracks. I sure as hell wouldnt mind the blaring of train horns next to me. actually i could camp and make a tent next to tracks with a railroad crossing and wouldnt be bothered. Its just not right! but Im still not going to forget the momories i had at Olmsted Falls. those days were the best railfanning days of my life. I'll never forget those days... EVER!!!! I wish silent zones never existed. otherwise i would have been ot a lot more going there.