RiverLINE vs. NIMBYs

I have lately noticed a corner property about a block from the Palmyra station with 2 lawn signs 'Mute the Toot'.

Patrick,
Those signs have been up for about the last 4 years, maybe longer.

The "mute the toot" signs can stay up until H*ll freezes over and they won't accomplish anything. FRA rules, ya know?

I worked on the light rail study back in the 1990s that recommended a route from Camden to Mt. Holly, following the former PRR Pemberton Secondary. That project died after a vocal group of New Jersey residents found meaning in their lives by showing up at every "community outreach" meeting and making exactly the same stupid, anti-rail comments (One woman repreatedly remarked, "I have a two-year-old, and he'll try to chase down the train and get run over". I wanted to ask her, "Do you also let him play in traffic?"). They would bring a loud air horn to each meeting and sound it every two minutes to "simulate" the noise of a train horn.

So I bought a house in Merchantville (on the originally proposed route) and it got built on the Bordentown Secondary instead. I haven't heard anything lately about NIMBY issues.

But the River Line sure is a nice ride. I use it to get to New York; the closest station is about a mile from my house. Oh, and between the River Line, the NJT Atlantic City line, and all the local freights into and out of Pavonia Yard, we hear lots of "toots", all hours of the day and night. I love it.

I think the real issue is where these people (nimby's) are getting there info from. Most people will listen to what they want to hear, and not the truth of the matter. Anybody who just says things like the train will run my son over, or they bring an air horn to a meeting to simulate a train horn, is simply following someone else's lead. They don't know the truth of the matter...it's just that someone else is anti-rail for whatever reason and that's what they want to listen to and believe and so they make a stink.

All I have to say after seeing what the horn sounded like on YouTube, is perhaps these people would like to pay for a retrofit if they have a problem with it. Is it an FRA requirement? The HBLR horn is much easier on the ears, perhaps those could be fitted unless it isn't practical.

What I meant by "FRA requirement" is simply that horns have to be sounded at rail/highway crossings. There is nothing in the reg about *how* the horn should sound. But the horns on the River LINE cars seem (to my ears) to be quieter than those fitted to Conrail or Amtrak diesels. I do agree that they don't sound very euphonious.

From my house in Merchantville, I can hear train horns on the River Line, on the Conrail trackage out of Pavonia Yard, on the former Atlantic City Railroad, and of course on the NJT Atlantic City Line (which encircles our town). I think most of them sound rather nice. I enjoy hearing them.

The best comment I have heard on this subject came from the general manager of the Baltimore light rail line. It was violently opposed by a family that had purchased the former PRR Parkville station as a dwelling. His comment? "You'd think that, when people buy a railroad station to live in, they won't mind it when a train comes by once in a while".

NellieBly wrote:

The best comment I have heard on this subject came from the general manager of the Baltimore light rail line. It was violently opposed by a family that had purchased the former PRR Parkville station as a dwelling. His comment? "You'd think that, when people buy a railroad station to live in, they won't mind it when a train comes by once in a while".

That is priceless. It's amazing what people do when logic isn't plugged in. Reminds me of a proper house along the right of way along the northeast corridor. They even put up a "happy holidays" lit sign for the trains passing. Would love to live there some day!!!

You know... if you buy a house next to a rail line, or even buy a former train station as a house to live in, (if it's next to a rail line) EXPECT that a train might come through. Don't listen to to the real estate agent tell you... "oh that line's abandoned, your fine" It may be abandoned but can always come back on-line anytime. The point is... if you don't like trains don't buy a train station house.

That line is abandoned while they do switch work for several months, then after moved in & settled HERRRRRRRRRNNNNT HERRNT HERRRRNNNT *clickity clackity -- clickity clackity* for 5 minutes every 2 hours.

I collect stories of that kind. My personal favorite was one my sister-in-law told. A friend of hers was shown a house in North Jersey that backed up to a rail line. Concerned, she asked, "How many trains use that line?" The real estate agent told her it was seldom used, and the rumor was that it would be abandoned and she'd have a bigger back yard. She moved in, and complained to my sister-in-law about the constant train noise. It turned out the line in question was Conrail's River Line. Hey, whatever it takes to make a sale!

To hear real estate agents talk, the whole world is full of rusty, never-used railroad tracks.

Another favorite story is from Jim Wrinn, the editor of Trains, who likes to talk about stopping at a diner on US 30 east of Cheyenne, WY, right next to the UP main line. Now, this is the busiest rail line on Earth (in terms of annual tonnage), at over 400 million gross tons. He got to talking to a waitress, who said, "You know, I've worked here three months and I've never seen a train on those tracks!" Must have spent a LOT of time in the bathroom.

It seems that a lot of home buyers forget that the real-estate agent represents the seller -- the guy who's trying to unload the house. Not the best source of objective information. I recall when Penn Central discontinued floating operations to the Long Island and instead ran a daily freight from Selkirk to Fresh Pond via Beacon and Hopewell Jct. there were anguished cries from neighboring property owners who had been ASSURED by the real-estate agent that the line was going to be abandoned.

People are also incredibly lazy and cannot be bothered to actually research the status of railroad lines near their possible future homes. Meanwhile, they can spend countless hours texting while driving and surfing on Facebook. And if they have money and political indfluence, the poltician looking for re-election will come the community meetings swearing the train will never come back, so help him. The mayor of Bethlehem did it to get rid of the Bethlehem branch for his Greenway...still has not been built and traffic backs up all through town.

Meanwhile, gas is well over $4 a gallon. Sigh...

Pacobell73 wrote:People are also incredibly lazy and cannot be bothered to actually research the status of railroad lines near their possible future homes.

AMEN!

I worked with a woman who lives in a development next to then Conrail's, now Norfolk Southern's, spur from Alburtis to the old Trojan Power (I think it's now Geo Chemical or something like that) plant that's between N. Cedar Crest Blvd. and Mach Chunk Road in North Whitehall Twp. Anyway, her developement has a homeowner's association, and they tried suing the realtors and the builder because "they weren't told" of the trains. How the heck, they didn't see the tracks is beyond me! They couldn't find a lawyer who'd take the case because they had little chane of getting a settlement, let alone winning. However, they did apply for whistle waiver so the trains didn't have to blow their horns at grade crossings. When it expired, nobody from the HOA bothered to file for an extention. One morning my coworker comes to work complaining that a train horn woke up her entire family early in the morning. I started laughing because I had read in a newspaper a couple weeks earlier that the no-horn waivers were about to expire and very few orginal applicants had renewed.

Heck, I live about 140 yards from a lightly used NS spur line. They run maybe 3 or 4 trains a week in the winter and one or two a day in the spring and early summer. I've had neighbors complain about the train. One time a former neighbor was complaining about the train, and she got annoyed when I told her I didn't mind.

Pacobell73 wrote:The mayor of Bethlehem did it to get rid of the Bethlehem branch for his Greenway...still has not been built and traffic backs up all through town.

As for Callahan... I've met him a few times, and I can't say that I was impressed by him! He wasted our tax dollars on a "Skate Park" for kids who aren't old enough to work and pay taxes, let alone vote. He also refused to repair the flood control pumps next to the old Lehigh Valley main line.

Traffic does back up, but thankfully not as bad when the steel plant, until the early 80's was operating near or at full capacity. That was a nightmare drive. Since NS was intent on abandoning the Bethlehem branch the city should have turned it into a road to bypass Daly have and to reduce traffic on 4th St./Hellerotown Road.