Train noises in South Tampa (Westchase: to buy, construction, quality of life)

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by planedition

Well, what do you consider "near a rail line"?

I was driving down Westshore Blvd last night at 1:05 AM and I heard a train blowing its horn over and over and over (how many times does a train have to do this, by the way? any train experts out there? the horn just kept going and going and going for a good 10 minutes until I was far away and couldn't hear it anymore). I looked around and there was no rail line anywhere nearby. This was between Westshore and El Prado Blvds.

I can only imagine how loud this is for people who live near it.

There is always strength in numbers. The more people complain, the more they will have to listen to the complaints.

Unless the people have more money than CSX who has been there much longer then those houses, there voice doesn't matter.

The train track you probably heard crosses over westshore by interbay, Manhattan at Iowa ( maybe 1-2 miles north of interbay), then dale mabry a little north of gandy, then runs next to the expressway and crosses Euclid, el Prado, bay to bay and so on. Thats a lot of crossings in a very short distance.

[crazynip]

Originally Posted by planedition

Well, what do you consider "near a rail line"?

I was driving down Westshore Blvd last night at 1:05 AM and I heard a train blowing its horn over and over and over (how many times does a train have to do this, by the way? any train experts out there? the horn just kept going and going and going for a good 10 minutes until I was far away and couldn't hear it anymore). I looked around and there was no rail line anywhere nearby. This was between Westshore and El Prado Blvds.

I can only imagine how loud this is for people who live near it.

There is always strength in numbers. The more people complain, the more they will have to listen to the complaints.

Google earth it. It runs down Polk street in downtown tampa, crosses kennedy near North Blvd, then parallels the crosstown to Gandy, then heads toward port tampa. Bunch of streets it has to blow for. It was probably paralleling you the whole way.

Of course I am doubting your entire story, unless you had your windows down or had a convertible, there is no way you could have heard it from so far away.

[carol_sp]

Originally Posted by Tim Tim Tim

you guys bought houses near a rail line and then complain that the rail line makes too much noise, This makes no sense at all. Its like buying a house next to TIA and complaining about the airplanes.

Next we are going to have people complaining about the smell of the ocean because they moved too close to it.

The problem is that when most of the people bought their houses the train did not run in the middle of the night. I've talked to people who live in the area for over 10 years and they told me they never heard train horns in the middle of the night until about a year ago.

Nobody complained about it before because the trains used to run during acceptable hours. We could always hear the horns but not in the middle of the night!

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by crazynip

Google earth it. It runs down Polk street in downtown tampa, crosses kennedy near North Blvd, then parallels the crosstown to Gandy, then heads toward port tampa. Bunch of streets it has to blow for. It was probably paralleling you the whole way.

Of course I am doubting your entire story, unless you had your windows down or had a convertible, there is no way you could have heard it from so far away.

Maybe in the middle of the night with the windows down sitting at a light with the wind blowing in the right direction you could faintly hear it?

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by carol_sp

The problem is that when most of the people bought their houses the train did not run in the middle of the night. I've talked to people who live in the area for over 10 years and they told me they never heard train horns in the middle of the night until about a year ago.

Nobody complained about it before because the trains used to run during acceptable hours. We could always hear the horns but not in the middle of the night!

I understand how its annoying but there are no hours of operation of trains and that track is just like a highway for them. they can use it whenever they want to and the odds are quite high that they are going to change there routes from time to time.

I doubt that one is going anywhere though, they just did a ton of work on it and if I had to guess, it would be because there going to use it more. There is some huge gas storage company there at the end of the line, id assume ships are bringing it in? Thats definitely not going away!

[carol_sp]

Originally Posted by crazynip

Google earth it. It runs down Polk street in downtown tampa, crosses kennedy near North Blvd, then parallels the crosstown to Gandy, then heads toward port tampa. Bunch of streets it has to blow for. It was probably paralleling you the whole way.

Of course I am doubting your entire story, unless you had your windows down or had a convertible, there is no way you could have heard it from so far away.

Actually, planedition is correct. If he was on Westshore South of Gandy I am sure he could hear the horns for a while due to the proximity to the Manhattan tracks and also the tracks the lead to Rattlesnake. It does keep going and going for about 10 minutes.

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by carol_sp

Actually, planedition is correct. If he was on Westshore South of Gandy I am sure he could hear the horns for a while due to the proximity to the Manhattan tracks and also the tracks the lead to Rattlesnake. It does keep going and going for about 10 minutes.

El Prado is several miles NORTH of gandy, not south.

[crazynip]

They own the tracks, they have been there longer than any house in the area, and can use them when they want. Like the signs say, expect a train at any time.

[planedition]

I was in the Beach Park area SOUTH of Kennedy NORTH of Gandy driving south toward Gandy on Westshore, which is very deserted at that hour (except for the cops hiding in the shadows) and I heard it clearly. Had my windows open. Glorious time to be out and about in this weather.

I find it interesting that Carol SP who's very familiar with this issue says that it is a recent phenomenon, in other words, that up until recently CSX or whomever obviously did not think it was a good idea to bleat these horns at the wee hours. The fact that it's a recent change means there is opportunity to reverse the decision.

Driving at 1 AM last night you could hear it clearly and again, I was NOWHERE NEAR TRAIN TRACKS. I was in the Beach Park area. Are there train tracks in Beach Park? I don't think so. You can hear it in Beach Park. I dunno how much more specific I can be.

[Tim Tim Tim]

The decision wasnt to start honking the horns, it was to start using that track at that hour.