Trains are Spooky

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Beerthoven

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My property is adjacent to a railway line. The tracks are only 150' or so from my house. They don't blow their horns when they are going by, so its not too noisy actually. But every once in a while a big heavy freight train goes by real slow. They shake the ground and make some odd clanking and hissing noises, and really deep rumbles. For a moment it makes me feel like a giant terminator machine is coming to kill me and there is nothing I can do to stop it.
 
i have lived next to the train tracks for years. i just sleep through them. i dont even notice anymore. sometimes my friends complain about it but i just sleep through. you're probably right about that terminator thing though!
 
I've always loved freight trains. I used to spend every Sat. on the tracks watching them. I only wished I lived next to a railroad track.
 
I'm in the flight path between Portland and S.F. The planes are fairly high when they go over, but the shape of the valley produces some very odd multi-path rumbling. Even though I've been here 3.5 years, sometimes it takes a while to identify the sound. And sometimes, it's a piece of heavy equipment chomping its way through the forest.
 
Normally I do like the trains. It was one of the things that attracted me to this house. My two boys absolutely love them. But every once in a while one goes by that has a certain menace to it, and it creeps me out.
 
I've always had a fondness for trains and always wave at engineers when they go by. They almost always wave back.

But I agree that there can be a certain creepiness about them, which I'd always attributed to some scary stories that my great uncle used to tell me when I was a kid. He was the postmaster on The City of New Orleans (remember that song? Same train.). He used to tell ghost stories and was REALLY convincing. So trains have always had a kind of etheral quality to them in my mind...
 
Bedlam said:
I've always had a fondness for trains and always wave at engineers when they go by. They almost always wave back.

But I agree that there can be a certain creepiness about them, which I'd always attributed to some scary stories that my great uncle used to tell me when I was a kid. He was the postmaster on The City of New Orleans (remember that song? Same train.). He used to tell ghost stories and was REALLY convincing. So trains have always had a kind of etheral quality to them in my mind...
Click to expand...

Trains and journeys "out of this world" have always been linked in my mind as well. Not sure why. I remember reading a book of ghost stories when I was young kid that had several stories with trains in it. One in particular where a man is given a stop watch by the Devil in exchange for his soul. The watch is magical and the man can press the stop button at any time to stop time and stay in a particular moment for ever. Of course, the man never does because he always expects something better to come along in life. Finally the Devil takes possession of the man and they are riding a train to Hell. The man pushes the button on the the stop watch before they get to Hell, so they are all trapped on the train forever. That one stuck with me. "The Polar Express" is a recent example of a train story that goes somewhere magical.
 
150' from the tracks? Wow, that's pretty close! I love trains - modeling them is my other hobby - and I'd like to live close to a line. But man, you're right on the line!:) I love hearing and/or seeing a train roll slowly by at night. You're right, it does have an eeriness to it.

Still, at 150', you're a far enough distance that I'd imagine you'd get used to hearing the trains at night and not let it disturb your sleep. I lived near a new subdivision where they just finished the last few houses and it borders the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern tracks. Some of the homes back up to the tracks so close, it's as if the train is running through your backyard!

The EJ&E hauls mostly mixed freight, steel and coal... lots of coal. 110 heavy cars rumbling slowly by. And they do most of their movements at night. The Union Pacific RR has trackage rights and hauls a lot of that coal. The Canadian National RR is close to finalizing a deal to buy the EJ&E. When that happens it'll be lots of trains 24/7 b/c the CNRR will use the EJ&E tracks to route nearly all of their trains around Chicago.

My point? Zoom in on the [ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=Prestwick+Ct.+Crest+Hill,+IL+60403&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl"]satellite view of this house[/ame], built in 2007. Look at how close it is!:eek: Be glad you don't live there!
 
Rhoobarb said:
150' from the tracks? Wow, that's pretty close! I love trains - modeling them is my other hobby - and I'd like to live close to a line. But man, you're right on the line!:) I love hearing and/or seeing a train roll slowly by at night. You're right, it does have an eeriness to it.

Still, at 150', you're a far enough distance that I'd imagine you'd get used to hearing the trains at night and not let it disturb your sleep. I lived near a new subdivision where they just finished the last few houses and it borders the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern tracks. Some of the homes back up to the tracks so close, it's as if the train is running through your backyard!

The EJ&E hauls mostly mixed freight, steel and coal... lots of coal. 110 heavy cars rumbling slowly by. And they do most of their movements at night. The Union Pacific RR has trackage rights and hauls a lot of that coal. The Canadian National RR is close to finalizing a deal to buy the EJ&E. When that happens it'll be lots of trains 24/7 b/c the CNRR will use the EJ&E tracks to route nearly all of their trains around Chicago.

My point? Zoom in on the satellite view of this house, built in 2007. Look at how close it is!:eek: Be glad you don't live there!
Click to expand...

Well, my house is closer to 200' from the tracks. My lot is 212' feet deep and the house is set 40' from the street. There is a 20' buffer between the tracks and the back edge of my property, so that makes 192' between the house and the tracks. Yeah, its still pretty close. Its good that we live nowhere near a street crossing, so they don't blow their horns, just roll on bye. I hardly notice them any more.

The line is owned by CSX and its not a main line. Most of the traffic is shorter freight trains (~30 cars), and the AmTrack passenger train that runs from Miami to NYC passes by every morning around 7:00. Almost all the traffic is West - East, except for Saturdays when they shuttle engines (usually in pairs) back East - West.
 
beergears said:
Wow... do you think the developer could have squeezed one more house in there...?!!?
Click to expand...


Buyer: "What about those tracks back there?"
Developer: "Oh those tracks are for testing those hand pumped rail cars, you know like in, "Oh Brother Where Art Thou". They filmed it here and they're leaving the tracks up for the sequel, "Oh Sister, I'm Right Over Here".
Buyer: "Hmmm... I guess if... "
Developer: "Listen, it's almost 6:18, whaddaya say we go sign the papers back at our office."
 
olllllo said:
Buyer: "What about those tracks back there?"
Developer: "Oh those tracks are for testing those hand pumped rail cars, you know like in, "Oh Brother Where Art Thou". They filmed it here and they're leaving the tracks up for the sequel, "Oh Sister, I'm Right Over Here".
Buyer: "Hmmm... I guess if... "
Developer: "Listen, it's almost 6:18, whaddaya say we go sign the papers back at our office."
Click to expand...

LOL! And you could add:

Buyer: "Wait a minute. What's that low rumbling? [Turns around 180 degrees] Is that a train I see down by the neighbor's house just sitting there? It is! It's just sitting there idling! How long will it just sit there like that?
Developer: "So long, you won't even notice it!"

I didn't mention the Union Pacific regularly parks an empty coal drag there on a siding track and it just sits idling for hours at a time. On the bright side, if you want a cheap ride to the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, all you have to do is go out to your backyard, jump the fence, climb aboard and wait!
 

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