Buffalo News: Quiet Zones Come to Hamburg

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this is between cp-5 and cp-15 on the buffalo terminal subdivision. it would be interesting to see how many trains actually run on csx here day by day. i'm guessing closer to 50 per 24 hours.

She said she and her husband, Pete, knew that their Rogers Road home was next to train tracks when they moved in 40 years ago.

“When we moved here, there were only 20 trains a day,” she said. “Now they say there’s about 80, 90 trains a day.”

20 trains a day, there, in 1974? Between N&W and Penn Central both? That's utter crap.

What happens this winter when those flimsy dividers are knocked down by a plow or two and someone runs the gates? If the town is going to have a silent zone with some kind of lane blockage it should be a little more rigid. But like everyone else on these boards, I also think if you don't want to hear the trains don't live there, you knew there were active crossings there when you bought your house. Don't attempt to make a crossing any more dangerous to motorists and pedestrians then they have the potential to be.

obviously the tracks were busier than years ago too with more passenger trains and 4 tracks in the nyc days, and 2 tracks when it was nkp/prr. you gotta love how a few more oil trains, a couple cp run throughs, trains running constantly late due to csx's issues west of there, and the growth of the ethanol business too makes these people act like they are living at santa fe jct in kansas city.

Anything to fluff up a story to attract advertising revenue.

A similar thing happened at the Lancaster Airport out on Walden Ave. Years ago, I use to fly out of Lancaster. It was a dump! The hangers looked like the stalls in Marieneville, PA for the K&K. Somebody finally bought it and started making it into a real nice airport. New runway, hangers etc. Then new people started moving in along the quarry on the south side of the ex-DL&W. Just a handful of people successfully blocked the expansion and killed any attempt to make it better. No one will likely buy it now either. It will be left to rot.

Didn't the contractor tell them an airport is near buy? Probably kept his mouth shut. Contractors should be held accountable in situations like this. The airport should sue the contractor for potential lost revenue. We sue for hot coffee, why not.

Quite Zones don't work unless you have a guard by the crossing hiding out in a shanty to chase off trespassers! We get a good number of nimrods who have more close calls with getting run over in Tulsa, Oklahoma than anything else. Most of them are so called professional Photographers who say they did not see the No Trespassing signs or the Bright Yellow sign saying "Danger Remote control Locomotive in area cab maybe unoccupied". BNSF now issues $200.00 fines for first offence 2ed offence is a trip to the county jail for a 3 to 6 month stay!

Operation Life Saver volunteers asked by BNSF, The City of Tulsa, and the State of Oklahoma now patrol the tracks during events in the city and chase off trespassers on the Right of Way.

scharnhorst wrote:Quite Zones don't work unless you have a guard by the crossing hiding out in a shanty to chase off trespassers! We get a good number of nimrods who have more close calls with getting run over in Tulsa, Oklahoma than anything else. Most of them are so called professional Photographers who say they did not see the No Trespassing signs or the Bright Yellow sign saying "Danger Remote control Locomotive in area cab maybe unoccupied". BNSF now issues $200.00 fines for first offence 2ed offence is a trip to the county jail for a 3 to 6 month stay!

Operation Life Saver volunteers asked by BNSF, The City of Tulsa, and the State of Oklahoma now patrol the tracks during events in the city and chase off trespassers on the Right of Way.

WHat do trespassing has to do with this topic thread? What more, engineers STILL CAN BLOW whisle when s/he see something not right and being not safe from her/his train.

I DONT BELEIVE that BNSF would ask volunteers to walk on THEIR property to shoo-shoo trespassers... REALLY??? that's HUGE liablity issue on BNSF even if trespassers hurt volunteer in any way and volunteer can sue BNSF for putting him in harm way without any protections. That's law enforcement's job to do that.

lvrr325 wrote:

She said she and her husband, Pete, knew that their Rogers Road home was next to train tracks when they moved in 40 years ago.

“When we moved here, there were only 20 trains a day,” she said. “Now they say there’s about 80, 90 trains a day.”

20 trains a day, there, in 1974? Between N&W and Penn Central both? That's utter crap.

Agreed 100%. Greater Buffalo was much more industrialized back in 1974. IIRC, the area had 11 steel mills until the early '80s. They alone would generate alot of traffic. Adding in the waterfront business, LV/N&W piggyback trains, other industries in greater Buffalo and the amount Northeastern manufacturing traffic in general, I'm guessing Rogers Road probably saw 80-100 trains back in 1974. BTW, freight cars were smaller back then, too.

sd80mac wrote:WHat do trespassing has to do with this topic thread? What more, engineers STILL CAN BLOW whisle when s/he see something not right and being not safe from her/his train.

Trespassers have everything to do with this topic, IMO. Of course, trespassers are committing an illegal act, but do they deserve to die? In some cases, they may be inebriated, listening to music or otherwise distracted. The more warnings, the better.

Anyone who has moved to Hamburg since the early 1880s (yes, 1880s) knows there are two active RR lines on the west side of town and a branchline/shortline going through the middle of town. The rocks goes with the farm. The NIMBYs get no sympathy from me.

Matt Langworthy wrote:Trespassers have everything to do with this topic, IMO. Of course, trespassers are committing an illegal act, but do they deserve to die? In some cases, they may be inebriated, listening to music or otherwise distracted. The more warnings, the better.

Anyone who has moved to Hamburg since the early 1880s (yes, 1880s) knows there are two active RR lines on the west side of town and a branchline/shortline going through the middle of town. The rocks goes with the farm. The NIMBYs get no sympathy from me.

this thread is about quiet zone - No horning blowing at X grade. have nothing to do with trespassers. Engineers WILL STILL blow the horns whenever s/he see dangerous situations or idiots on or too close to the tracks... Move on...

sd80mac wrote:

scharnhorst wrote:Quite Zones don't work unless you have a guard by the crossing hiding out in a shanty to chase off trespassers! We get a good number of nimrods who have more close calls with getting run over in Tulsa, Oklahoma than anything else. Most of them are so called professional Photographers who say they did not see the No Trespassing signs or the Bright Yellow sign saying "Danger Remote control Locomotive in area cab maybe unoccupied". BNSF now issues $200.00 fines for first offence 2ed offence is a trip to the county jail for a 3 to 6 month stay!

Operation Life Saver volunteers asked by BNSF, The City of Tulsa, and the State of Oklahoma now patrol the tracks during events in the city and chase off trespassers on the Right of Way.

WHat do trespassing has to do with this topic thread? What more, engineers STILL CAN BLOW whisle when s/he see something not right and being not safe from her/his train.

I DONT BELEIVE that BNSF would ask volunteers to walk on THEIR property to shoo-shoo trespassers... REALLY??? that's HUGE liablity issue on BNSF even if trespassers hurt volunteer in any way and volunteer can sue BNSF for putting him in harm way without any protections. That's law enforcement's job to do that.

Tulsa area Operation Life Saver Program volunteers have been shooing people away from the tracks for little under 5 years now the program was well planed and our job is to guide people to the crossings and to escort them off the ROW should they try to use it as a short cut from the parking lots to Alleyway's between buildings that go to the ball park. There are 9 of us doing the job were provided with Flashlights, Orange Reflective vests, and a 3 Keys to open and close railroad locks on the gates by BNSF Police (there are only 2 BNSF Cops in the whole Eastern half of the state of Oklahoma!). BNSF, the City of Tulsa and the Tulsa Drillers at OneOK field Ball Park requested the OLS guys be there during Base ball season only when the season ends we turn in the BNSF Gate Keys and hang on to the rest of the equipment for the following season. The last game takes place Labor Day weekend. The location is a NO HORN ZONE and it is enforced by the City of Tulsa! The crossings are Greenwood and Elgin Streets both crossings have 4 gates each to prevent people from driving around them. The only railroad(s) exempt from the No horn rule are Union Pacific which only runs a train 1 in each direction Monday - Friday only when they have cars to interchange.

Isn't a "kicker" slang term for a frieght car that has a screwed up air valve so that when you apply the brakes it dumps the air for a full application of the brakes?

I was reading the end of this thread and something made me think of that.

lvrr325 wrote:Isn't a "kicker" slang term for a frieght car that has a screwed up air valve so that when you apply the brakes it dumps the air for a full application of the brakes?

I was reading the end of this thread and something made me think of that.

That is correct. Make just a slight reduction in air and bam! - the whole train goes into emergency. Not SUPPOSED to work that way, but as you say it's a defect in the brake valve on one of the cars.

sd80mac wrote:

Matt Langworthy wrote:Trespassers have everything to do with this topic, IMO. Of course, trespassers are committing an illegal act, but do they deserve to die? In some cases, they may be inebriated, listening to music or otherwise distracted. The more warnings, the better.

Anyone who has moved to Hamburg since the early 1880s (yes, 1880s) knows there are two active RR lines on the west side of town and a branchline/shortline going through the middle of town. The rocks goes with the farm. The NIMBYs get no sympathy from me.

this thread is about quiet zone - No horning blowing at X grade. have nothing to do with trespassers. Engineers WILL STILL blow the horns whenever s/he see dangerous situations or idiots on or too close to the tracks... Move on...

Respectfully, I think you missed the point. Sure, an engineer can blow the horn at the last minute in a quiet zone. However, a quiet zone eliminates being able to hear a more distant horn which would give the trespasser... or someone who has a legal right* to be on the tracks... a better chance to move to safety more quickly.

*-examples of those who might be on the tracks legally are MOW crews, RR management, etc.

Matt Langworthy wrote:Respectfully, I think you missed the point. Sure, an engineer can blow the horn at the last minute in a quiet zone. However, a quiet zone eliminates being able to hear a more distant horn which would give the trespasser... or someone who has a legal right* to be on the tracks... a better chance to move to safety more quickly.

*-examples of those who might be on the tracks legally are MOW crews, RR management, etc.

engineers are required to blow the horns prior to entering the work area.

How is it different than the area where there are no crossings for miles for trespassers? A lot of them dont get off until last minutes or never had chance to get off. most of them have earplugs to their ipad to listen to the music...

I believe that there are some quiet zone that have their own horn at there.. Do this place have some kind of alert other than bell and gates?

sd80mac wrote:How is it different than the area where there are no crossings for miles for trespassers?

The risk for tresappasing is proportional to population. Lengthy rural sections of track are less likely to get trespssers because 1. there are fewer people and B. there is less direct access to the ROW. Sure, a country kid can cut through Farmer Joe's field to get to the tracks, but there's a risk of being greeted by a dog... or a shotgun. Crossings are a much easier access point.

sd80mac wrote:A lot of them dont get off until last minutes or never had chance to get off. most of them have earplugs to their ipad to listen to the music...

Hence the need for more horn blasts, not less. Young people, in particular, love to listen to their music very loudly. The extra horn blasts increase the opportunity for them to potentially hear the appraoching train, as there are quick gaps between songs on MP3 players.

sd80mac wrote:I believe that there are some quiet zone that have their own horn at there.. Do this place have some kind of alert other than bell and gates?

No sir. There are no horns at the Rogers Road crossing itself.