lvrr325 wrote:1. The economy isn't going to be bad forever, and if it is we're all doomed anyhow so may as well live by the tracks.
2. Big wrecks like the Onieda one are not that common, I know it's CSX and all but trains don't crash on a weekly basis, and if you buy one far enough from the tracks the worst case is you have to evacuate for a while while they clean one up or let it burn out. How many wrecks have caused a gas leak that killed people in the entire country in the last 50 years? Do you need more than two hands to count them on?
No train's wrecked out behind this house I'm in since it was built in 1955. I think one time I got stuck when one broke down, I just had to go the long way around to get back here.
Yes, as a matter of fact, you do need more than just two hands to count them on, plus some of your toes. Just in the past thirty years alone, there has been at least a dozen fatal incidents involving derailed chemical tanks and flammable/poisonous releases. I don't have time to look them all up again and point them out here. But off the top of my head, just a couple weeks ago, was 14 ethanol tanker cars slamming into waiting vehicles at a crossing near Rockford, IL. Google "Rockford derailment" for that one.
Then you have these chlorine and propane wrecks;
Graniteville, S.C., January 2005, NS through freight rams a light engine tied up over night on a siding
Minot, North Dakota, 1/18/2002, Ammonia and propane "whale-belly" tanker cars derail and stack up early in the dead of the morning
San Antonio, TX, 6/28/2004, BNSF /UP collision on a siding===>
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/state-l ... d-1.990000
Texarkana, Arkansas, 10/15/2005, UP wreck seven train cars and a tankcar containing flammable gas derailed in a rail yard. Cop car dash cam Video of explosions ===>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw_bnS-qcds&NR=1
Alberton, Montana, 4/11/96, Montana Rail Link
Youngstown, Florida, 1978, Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay train derailed chlorine cars creating huge cloud killing 8.
Rockford, IL, 6/20/2009, CN train derails 18 tank cars of ethanol all over grade crossing ===>
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7887004
scarnhorst wrote: I lived on a dead end road near Port Byron and had to cross the tracks to get to the house which was a mile down the road. Trouble was CSX took the crossing completeley out for reconstruction on a Friday and did not complete it till the following Tuesday. You can sure bet a number of calls went to the county Fire Control Office about this issue. I went as far as a threat to sue CSX for lost time and wages from work in which they settled out of court.
Point of the story don't move on to a dead end back country road with a RR crossing at one end of it.
Yep, this is especially true if a wreck occurs anywhere along this stretch of track blocking your escape/ rescue route. You'll be trapped without escaping by foot, ATV, or helicopter. This exact scenario killed a couple residents and the train conductor as he sought refuge in a nearby home after a rural UP wreck in Texas or Arkansas. In such a case, you better have a pathway leading away from the tracks cleared and maintained for quick escape by all terrain vehicle, or run like hell, unless you are fortunate to have a helicopter readily available.
These incidents do not scare me so much that I wouldn't buy a house near tracks. The likelihood of these occurring is relatively slim, and most times, nobody is hurt. Just need to be VERY aware of the implications should this occur. Hence property values are usually diminished in locations such as these.