Riverside Train

[north miami]

I do agree that they lean on the horn sometimes a little longer than necessary.
[/quote]

My dear,sharp Grandmother lived at the Florida Christian Apartments on Edgewood.............she said that the conductor had a girlfriend in the neighborhood and he wanted to impress her with a special 'hello'.

[valdetour]

I had the same problem and there's nothing that can be done about it as they have to blow the whistle at every crossing and there's numerous ones in the area.  I finally became able to sleep through it. Good luck and I agree with you that it's an unnecessary nuisance.  At that hour, it's dark and the train has it's lights on.  If one cannot see the lights as they stop at the crossing, they shouldn't be driving or walking.

[ChriswUfGator]

That damn train is so annoying at 5am. I hear them all day, but that particular one is just obnoxious, I know the exact one you're talking about. I thought I was the only one who noticed it, but apparently not. I live at the very end of Cherry St., I'm as far as you can get from the tracks without going swimming, and it still wakes me up. Feels like it rattles the windows. I don't know if it's actually louder, or if the neighborhood is just quieter at that hour, but either way it's awful.

How many cars are really out at that hour anyway? Ock, how does one go about making a crossing into one of those "quiet zones" you mentioned?

[A-Finnius]

That damn train is so annoying at 5am. I hear them all day, but that particular one is just obnoxious, I know the exact one you're talking about. I thought I was the only one who noticed it, but apparently not. I live at the very end of Cherry St., I'm as far as you can get from the tracks without going swimming, and it still wakes me up. Feels like it rattles the windows. I don't know if it's actually louder, or if the neighborhood is just quieter at that hour, but either way it's awful.

How many cars are really out at that hour anyway? Ock, how does one go about making a crossing into one of those "quiet zones" you mentioned?

Thank you.  This train is highly annoying and I have yet to get used it.  It still wakes me up 2 - 3 times a week.  If you're being bothered by it down by the end of Cherry St then you can only imagine what it's like up here by Gilmore and Stockton.

I rarely hear one at any other time of the day but the one that comes through between 4:00 and 5:00am lays on it's whistle like there was a damn body tied to the tracks.

[Dog Walker]

Maybe Ock can answer this question.  If I recall, European trains have a higher pitched horn or whistle that they don't blow as long as American trains do.  It doesn't seem nearly as loud and disturbing.

Maybe our horn blowing requirements are a hold over from when there might be wandering livestock on the tracks.

Maybe if they didn't blow their horns at all we could get a little Darwinian action on the idiots who go around the arms.

[Lunican]

This might be of interest: http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/FromOldSite/pdforphan/floridaban.pdf

[ChriswUfGator]

This might be of interest: http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/FromOldSite/pdforphan/floridaban.pdf

LOL, that report says that the bans were only applicable if;

All affected highway-rail grade crossings are required to
be equipped with crossing gates, flashing lights, bells, and
special highway advance warning signs.

So with all of that, the rate of accidents still went up with no train horn. So translation, some idiots ran the crossing anyway and got hit. AFAIC, that's darwinism at its finest, and no reason to get me up at 5am.

[Ocklawaha]

Okay gang, the old railroad "hippie" will attempt to educate you on some of the finer points of railroading, warnings and greetings. Perhaps you'll find some comfort in this, at least you'll understand what is being said, and who is saying what.

The horn is REQUIRED on the train, and not by any whim of the engineer alone. What is generally not known is that the horn is "speaking" a railroaders language, and every note has meaning. (well at least 90% of the time anyway).  Here are just a few:

Sound             Indication

Succession of
short sounds     Used when an emergency exists, or persons or livestock are on the track. When crews on other trains hear this signal, they must stop until it is safe to proceed.

=                 When train is stopped. The air brakes are applied and pressure is equalized.

= =                 Train releases brakes and proceeds.

o o                 Acknowledgment of any signal not otherwise provided for.

o o o                 When train is stopped: means backing up, or acknowledgment of a hand signal to back up.

o o o o           A request for a signal to be given or repeated if not understood.

= o o o         Instruction for flagman to protect rear of train.

= = = =         The flagman may return from west or south.

= = = = =         The flagman may return from east or north.

= = o =         Train is approaching public crossings at grade with engine in front. Signal starts not less than one    quarter mile before reaching the crossing, if distance permits. If distance does not permit, signal starts soon enough before the crossing to provide warning. Signal is prolonged or repeated until the engine occupies the crossing. This signal is used to warn employees when the view is restricted.

o =                 Inspect the brake system for leaks or sticking brakes.

I do agree that they lean on the horn sometimes a little longer than necessary.

As you can see, it's not by choice, this is by no means the "complete" language either, as there are probably about another 20 codes in the book on most railroads.  They are not only warnings, to they confirm movements, orders, requests etc... to train crews, and crews on the ground for safety purposes, (and some by LAW). In the event you happen to be at the long end of 80 cars of freight, waiting on a dark stormy siding for Amtrak to pass, and your radio set goes out in the rain... Your still up to the minute on what is going on.

My dear,sharp Grandmother lived at the Florida Christian Apartments on Edgewood.............she said that the conductor had a girlfriend in the neighborhood and he wanted to impress her with a special 'hello'.

Completely possible, but the tradition would be "oo" as an answer to a signal not otherwise listed... Ever wonder where the Red Light District started? Follow the lanterns! How about your son or daughters X-O-X-O? Follow the railroad! The old "Shave and a Haircut" whistle is usually reserved for children waving, otherwise it's "oo".

I had the same problem and there's nothing that can be done about it as they have to blow the whistle at every crossing and there's numerous ones in the area.  At that hour, it's dark and the train has it's lights on.  If one cannot see the lights as they stop at the crossing, they shouldn't be driving or walking.

Good point, and you REALLY don't want to start down the slippery slope of wiping out whistles, because right behind that comes law suits, and gate crashers. Some of what you are hearing isn't even the horn directly, rather it's the doppler effect on the horn sounds as the train passes your location, the same effect is playing hell bouncing off of buildings and walls, but I doubt we'll see a movement to remove those either. Just remember a train horn sounds so much sweeter then churning metal, crushing bones and shattering glass.

Maybe Ock can answer this question.  If I recall, European trains have a higher pitched horn or whistle that they don't blow as long as American trains do.  It doesn't seem nearly as loud and disturbing.

Maybe our horn blowing requirements are a hold over from when there might be wandering livestock on the tracks.

Maybe if they didn't blow their horns at all we could get a little Darwinian action on the idiots who go around the arms.

True, in the old days the EU steam locomotives used a warning device known as a "Peanut Whistle."  Some of the famous and better researched WWII movies such as "THE TRAIN" or "SCHINDLERS LIST" have cameos of EU steam and peanut whistles.  The history channel can't tell the difference and almost always mixes the steam trains up in it's documentary's, so you MIGHT hear a "Santa Fe" peanut whistle... (mostly because they are stupid and can't tell a 20' foot, 4 spoked wheel box car, from a 8 wheel, 250,000 pound, 90 foot long, Norfolk Southern, hydra-cushioned, box car.)

If you get up to Charlotte, Tampa, New Orleans, Dallas, Memphis, Little Rock, Houston or Baltimore, ask your streetcar motorman to demonstrate the air horn. These soft horns were used on Interurban Railways throughout the nation until General Motors killed them.

As for being a hold-over from the wandering cattle days? Uh, they STILL wander in much of the American Southwest. But the reality is right after the first successful warning sounded, some clever telegraph? operator caught the idea that we can use this to talk between engine and crews. So while radio wasn't common until the 20Th century, the railroads had a form of it from the 1830's.  Even those codes borrowed from the steamships and riverboats, and today the USPS uses the three "ooo" before backing trucks!

I rarely hear one at any other time of the day but the one that comes through between 4:00 and 5:00am lays on it's whistle like there was a damn body tied to the tracks.

Not really. If there was you'd be hearing an urgent, staccato "oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

How many cars are really out at that hour anyway? Ock, how does one go about making a crossing into one of those "quiet zones" you mentioned?

http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/PubAffairs/TRAIN_HORN_RULE_FactSheet.pdf


This link should answer most of your questions. Be advised that even with the quiet zone, the engineer may still feel the need to sound the horn. I would suspect anywhere where a large building is near the tracks and crossing and restricts sight distance is not going to be all that controlled.

I would also push two issues along with my neighborhood request. INSIST that the city install crossing gates on all 4 corners of a crossing, affording a 100% shutout of traffic.  Two (this is my own "Rule") Get the railroad to work with local communities and re-institute the "MARS LIGHTS" or "GYRA LIGHTS" on the front of the locomotives. These lights have a near searchlight beam that rolls in a pattern such as a figure "8" some distance ahead of the trains. Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Coast Line, both used them, and Kansas City Southern and others still do.  At night, even from a distance, the beam popping up the trees, surrounding buildings, sweeping the right-of-way, etc... can be instantly seen and recognized for miles.  I can tell you in my opinion, there has never been a finer warning of a fast night train.  The alternating "ditch lights", the ones that look like auto headlights on the front of new railroad equipment, do not have the range, or command the attention of the original styles.

http://www.youtube.com/v/9qifrQQp4eQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1


OCKLAWAHA

[Dog Walker]

Ock, I swear I saw a locomotive with one of the mars lights going down the FEC track towards St. Augustine just last year.  They are indeed attention getters and quite spooky on a dark night.

[Ocklawaha]

Ock, I swear I saw a locomotive with one of the mars lights going down the FEC track towards St. Augustine just last year.  They are indeed attention getters and quite spooky on a dark night.

You certainly could have, the FEC has been buying locomotives on the used market and has GREATLY expanded their fleet. The benefit for "train spotters" is variety of models, and a broad scope of optional appliances.

Anyone still unclear on WTF a "Doppler effect" is, go back to that video. The Doppler effect can be heard loud and clear as that first train passes the camera and the air horns pitch changes radically.


OCKLAWAHA

[Ernest Street]

To state the obvious...Aren't there still people out there that have installed Train horns with compressors and tanks into their cars and trucks?
I knew a Realtor at the beach that had one in his Mercedes....and saw one recently at Lowes with 6 trumpets facing back on a lifted truck, aimed at the average vehicles windshield...

[ChriswUfGator]

To state the obvious...Aren't there still people out there that have installed Train horns with compressors and tanks into their cars and trucks?
I knew a Realtor at the beach that had one in his Mercedes....and saw one recently at Lowes with 6 trumpets facing back on a lifted truck, aimed at the average vehicles windshield...

Yeah they're around, but thankfully most of them aren't up at 4:30am blowing it at my house. Like that train.

[deathstar]

Jaxlore, there are some mornings when it's foggy and cold outside, where I swear the damn train is floating down the river it's so loud lol. I live close to Lakeshore & San Juan.

[jaxlore]

i live further up near roosevelt and mcduff, so i wonder if the firestation and a few other buildings in the way might deaden the sound. But i am also used to the sound of constant road noise from roosevelt so that might also contribute to my sleeping through it.

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/D5Du2Gx8nIQ?fs=1&hl=en_US