Train noise in Wylie/Sachse (Garland, Murphy: unemployed, costs, airplane)

[nsumner]

Originally Posted by PJSleepy

So far, I've seen no formal press release, but it seems like the quiet zones may have already gone into effect (at least partially) in Wylie. I have not been woken up at night for awhile now, but I was afraid I may have just gotten used to it. However, I had company stay with me last week (who are not used to train whistles) and they didn't hear anything at night either! Not even on Saturday night when I used to get woken up every 2 hours. VERY EXCITING NEWS!!!!

You post reminded me of when my daugher was an infant and she didn't sleep for more than 4 hours until she was 7 months old. My husband had me convinced that it was ME that didn't wake up!!!

[MurphyPl1]

I will caution everyone that even once the quiet zone is certified, you may still hear the occasional signal. Some of that is a training issue and getting all the conductors up to speed. Not sure why we still get it occasionally 3 years later but sometimes wonder if they aren't just screwing with us. ;-)

[GarlanditefromCali]

You guys that are wanting these quiet zones are deluded.

Train horns are loud and annoying for a reason. To warn people of an oncoming train, especially someone that may be too near, or parked on, or in the case of a man LAST NIGHT, sleeping on the tracks, (sounds hard to believe, but true). I have every right to voice an opinion as I live directly next to the KCS line that runs parallell to Hwy 78, and there are a few facts you folks need to be aware of:
There are no trains that take 20 minutes to clear any intersection. At most, these trains take no more than 5 minutes to clear, UNLESS you are far further down Garland Road, near the small yard near Northwest Hwy, as the trains entering the yard must slow to about 15 mph.
Most freight traffic moves thru our area at night. There are some moves that occur during the daytiime, one in the morning that arrives from the east coast, usually between the hours of 8-10am, headed into Garland, and one in the afternoon, leaving Garland for Wylie, usually empty cars.
At night, things pick up slightly. Typically there is a train around 9-ish and another at around 11, and then there is usually a few pass-thru trains (typically intermodal containers) at around 2:30 and sometimes at around 4:30-5:00am, headed from Dallas towards Wylie. These are not KCS trains, they are usually UP or BNSF that use the route if their normal routes out of Dallas are congested.
With regards to the horns, what I'VE noticed, is late at night, the engineers will only go crazy on the horns if there is traffic at the grade crossings. I have come home late before, and moving my trash recepticles and when the train has been coming thru, I've noticed is, that if theres no traffic at the crossings of Crist or Naaman School, the engineer will not blow the horn.
The last accident was last night, at Miller Rd, where a train hit a man who was asleep on the tracks, prior to that, a woman was hit as she tried to run the signal at Crist road and was struck and killed, her car ended up behind my house, on the track. Last week, I was at Plano Parkway and Dallas Parkway, and the car directly behind me, was hit by a KCS train because she got caught between the arms at the crossing gate and didn't have the sense to abandon her car as the train approached WITH the horn blowing!...
So, yes, we NEED these horns to blow. This line has been here for decades, and STILL people are too stupid to ever pass a quiet zone in Garland/Sachse. I've lived in my home since 1992 and have gotten used to the trains passing, they no longer keep me awake at night...as a matter of fact, what wakes me up?..is when NO train passes!...

[MurphyPl1]

Ok, you're justifying these horns and the examples you've given are a guy who was sleeping on the tracks and a woman who stayed in her car while the horn was blowing. Seems to me you've just made the case that horns aren't the issue. Stupid people are.

[GarlanditefromCali]

Stupid as these people are, they and everyone else deserves fair warning of an oncoming train, a train that no matter how you argue it, has RIGHT OF WAY, PERIOD. Eliminating the horns, takes away a safety factor, and anyone who bought property near a railroad has to take that into consideration BEFORE they buy, not after the fact, and then try to change federal rules of operation, rules that were in place LONG before anyone bought said property, and in fact have been operating rules for as long as there have BEEN railroads.
Judging from the number of people posting on this thread, it appears as if this is a very small problem, started by someone who just can't sleep, and while I sympathize with that person's sleep habits, I'd rather THEY lose sleep, than people, (stupid or not) losing their lives.
I drove down HWY 78 yesterday, and one of the problems is that there is a large amount of grade crossings that run parallell to 78 and mostly in Sachse. Wylie doesn't have that many, Garland has a few, but mostly in Sacshe, as they seem to be every quarter mile or so.

[MaryS80]

Wouldn't the solution be if you don't like train noise not to but a house near train tracks. Those tracks have been there since the 20's and 30's. Up until 10-15 years ago Wylie and Sachse were little podunk towns. Honestly this is about as bad as that idiot who bought a home near Lower Greenville then complained the noise, or the idiots who bought home near love field and complained about noise.

If you want quiet move out to the middle of nowhere and surround yourself with acreage. It's so silly that people but homes in areas with noise issue then proceed to complain and then feel entitled to have everything to change for them.

[PJSleepy]

Wow---such hostility towards my thread. The fact remains that I am obviously not the first person who complained about this, as the plans for quiet zones were put into motion before my moving here. I, as well as many of us who live in this neighborhood, are estatic that we no longer hear these trains in the middle of the night and my home is a peaceful place, 24/7. I LOVE IT!!! Many thanks to the City of Wylie.

[moving2tracy]

Originally Posted by GarlanditefromCali

You guys that are wanting these quiet zones are deluded.

Train horns are loud and annoying for a reason. To warn people of an oncoming train, especially someone that may be too near, or parked on, or in the case of a man LAST NIGHT, sleeping on the tracks, (sounds hard to believe, but true). I have every right to voice an opinion as I live directly next to the KCS line that runs parallell to Hwy 78, and there are a few facts you folks need to be aware of:
There are no trains that take 20 minutes to clear any intersection. At most, these trains take no more than 5 minutes to clear, UNLESS you are far further down Garland Road, near the small yard near Northwest Hwy, as the trains entering the yard must slow to about 15 mph.
Most freight traffic moves thru our area at night. There are some moves that occur during the daytiime, one in the morning that arrives from the east coast, usually between the hours of 8-10am, headed into Garland, and one in the afternoon, leaving Garland for Wylie, usually empty cars.
At night, things pick up slightly. Typically there is a train around 9-ish and another at around 11, and then there is usually a few pass-thru trains (typically intermodal containers) at around 2:30 and sometimes at around 4:30-5:00am, headed from Dallas towards Wylie. These are not KCS trains, they are usually UP or BNSF that use the route if their normal routes out of Dallas are congested.
With regards to the horns, what I'VE noticed, is late at night, the engineers will only go crazy on the horns if there is traffic at the grade crossings. I have come home late before, and moving my trash recepticles and when the train has been coming thru, I've noticed is, that if theres no traffic at the crossings of Crist or Naaman School, the engineer will not blow the horn.
The last accident was last night, at Miller Rd, where a train hit a man who was asleep on the tracks, prior to that, a woman was hit as she tried to run the signal at Crist road and was struck and killed, her car ended up behind my house, on the track. Last week, I was at Plano Parkway and Dallas Parkway, and the car directly behind me, was hit by a KCS train because she got caught between the arms at the crossing gate and didn't have the sense to abandon her car as the train approached WITH the horn blowing!...
So, yes, we NEED these horns to blow. This line has been here for decades, and STILL people are too stupid to ever pass a quiet zone in Garland/Sachse. I've lived in my home since 1992 and have gotten used to the trains passing, they no longer keep me awake at night...as a matter of fact, what wakes me up?..is when NO train passes!...

Isn't it amazing how people will complain about the craziest things? I work for local government (in California) and trust me I thought I had heard it all, but then there is always one more call that makes you say, ok NOW I have heard it all, untl the next call, wow, people that complain to local government about things like train noise need a good dose of brain cancer or a child dying or AIDS, or something SERIOUS so you can just be thankful for your lives and all you have! To me when I moved to Wylie I knew there were trains. I wouldn't dream of complaining to local government about something like that... And you are right, train noise is there for a purpose, a warning. It bugs me when people have so much to be thankful for (homes, jobs, cars, health) and they want to gripe about something like train noise.

[moving2tracy]

And before people fooh fooh and say "people don't get hit by trains" and roll their eyes and demand no train noise - well think again - I worked as a 911 Dispatcher and I can tell you we need to know every train track, every train owner so - which trains use which tracks - because when we have an incident we don't have time to "research it" and we can quickly notify all involved and have them warn subsequent trains coming, and be prepared for anything when it comes to trains and train tracks that cross through a city. I can't imagine getting hit by a train on a train track, it just seems so odd that I would hang around a train track and then dart over it when a train is coming - but trust me on this one -people do it and it happens more often than you think.

[moving2tracy]

Originally Posted by MaryS80

Wouldn't the solution be if you don't like train noise not to but a house near train tracks. Those tracks have been there since the 20's and 30's. Up until 10-15 years ago Wylie and Sachse were little podunk towns. Honestly this is about as bad as that idiot who bought a home near Lower Greenville then complained the noise, or the idiots who bought home near love field and complained about noise.

If you want quiet move out to the middle of nowhere and surround yourself with acreage. It's so silly that people but homes in areas with noise issue then proceed to complain and then feel entitled to have everything to change for them.

Or they by a house near a large city airport, and show up at City Council meetings crying because they can't sleep at night because of airplane noise. I agree, they knew train tracks were there, but they have to gripe about something or they aren't happy. I used to lay there at night in Wylie and even with the windows shut and the a/c running, hear the trains, I kind of liked it. It felt "old school" and neat.