Home @ 17 Dec 2012 08:24 am by Christina Waters
I am getting lots of email from folks who are beside themselves with rage and frustration over the very loud, invasive “holiday” train currently busy lowering property values in the Westside. And all the way downtown.
Interrupting concert performances, waking babies from their naps, causing post-traumatic stress, threats of moving from the area—all of this because some person of influence had a bright idea. Does no one ever consider the consequences of their actions?
This YouTube comes from an irate neighbor Jesse Corona who is determined that whomever perpetrated the unbearable and persistant train horn will put on the brakes.
Train whistle yes. Loud and persistent train whistle no.
i hear that whistle blowin…and that grinch a groanin…come on christina…those babies can’t sleep all day…that whistle gives me such nostalgia for my boyhood in wisconsin…so what if it’s now electronically enhanced…it’s very quiet in bonny doon…pretty quiet downtown
Well. Get over it if you want the commuter train as planned with the aquistion of the rail line running across Santa Cruz County. I personally am all for a train and even in my back yard!
But…the rail line’s been in use for a very very long time, it was only the last 4 years it’s been silent due to the cement plant closing. The train from Davenport carrying cement and lumber used to come through town twice per day. The sound of the train is the rebirth of the use of the line, and Iowa Pacific has brought 95 jobs so far to Santa Cruz County.
I lived on the westside for most of my life. I am happy to hear the sound of the train again.
I’m fine with the train it’s the horn. We’ve live (100 feet from the tracks) in the same house for over 40 years and I love trains but this horn is so loud that it is causing anxiety in the neighborhood. Loud noise is a proven fact to cause anxiety. I know how it’s supposed to sound and it’s too loud. I have elderly neighbors who are almost in tears and confused by this. I’ve talked to Amy Helstop from Iowa Pacific and they don’t even know if the horn is in regulations. Iowa Pacific just bought this horn a couple of weeks ago and the Horn manufacturer guaranteed that it would meet regulations. They are having an official come this week to check it. Hopefully it’s too loud and they can recalibrate it towards the lower side of the regulations. The horn needs to produce a minimum sound level of 96db and a maximum of 110 db at 100 feet forward of the locomotive. We tested it with our unofficial decibel meter and it read 115db. 115db is equal to sandblasting. It’s just something that we all have to try to fix together so next season we will all be happy & merry!!!
This is something that got emailed to me and I’ll pass it along below.
I would suggest that everyone ask their neighbors to do the following three things to log their protest to this nuisance:
1. Email the city council: citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com
2. Call the Regional Transportation Commission: (831) 460-3200 (better yet, stop by in person at
1523 Pacific Avenue and ask to see Executive Director George Dondero )
3. Call the appointed representative from the contracted Chicago-based train company Iowa Pacific, Amy Helstop: 831.212.2891.
I love it! Finally some feedback worthy of the name “diversity.”
It’s wonderful to see the sheer variety of comments—usually either pro, or entirely con. Very little in between.
If you’re happy, I’m happy - but I still contend that all I meant to criticize was the sheer unending stuptifying persistence of the horn/whistle.
I love trains.
I love train whistles.
I too have lots of romantic images and memories entwined with the sound of a whistle blowing in the night.
But not all the frickin’ time!
Keep the comments coming.
Christina
Imagine the rage and frustration if someone were hit by that train, something that seems to happen with alarming regularity with Caltrans on the San Francisco peninsula. Then you would have another group up in arms because the horn wasn’t loud enough or used enough. Too bad the noise factor wasn’t given enough consideration prior to the decision to run this train service.There seems to be no solution that will satisfy all affected, very glad I’m not withing hearing distance of this nightmare.
OK, Christina, let’s see some data. Enough of this emotional turbulence. How many trains, how many times a day, for how many minutes? How is that different from the previous freight service (which I remember as 1 -3 times per day)? Is the volume of the horn, in decibels, different than that of the frieght train? If so, why? Get some facts (besides number of babies awakened), put your argument in order.
For me, I’ve lived a block from the tracks for 12 years, and half a mile from the tracks for the 12 years before that. 24 years total. I *looooove* that sound! More! Bring it on! Once in a great while it wakes me up — excellent! There’s only a few things I’d rather be woken up by.
Rail and trail, it’s an awesome project. Outdoor recreation, car-alternative, sweet! A couple eggs get broken to make this omelette, but everyone benefits.
CS Lewis said that “Hell is Noise. In Heaven all is Silence or Music.”
@paulcocking: paul, what with modern electronics and amplification, I’m sure I could arrange for a 24/7 replay of ” such nostalgia for my boyhood in wisconsin” outside the back door of Gabriella. Let us know when you are ready for a high DB dose of nostalgia, for both you and your customers.
I lived on the tracks for 10 years folks,
and this is what the train sounded like then.
It ran at least twice a day. We have become accustomed to 4 years of silence.
The train brings jobs and activity to a vacant line. They are required to use the train whistle as much as they are. Thank you for a lively discussion all.
I live next to the Soquel Fire Station and with regularity the paramedics roar out of the station with sirens blaring, disturbing the peace and mixing up traffic to confusion levels. But, would I or anyone else even think about quittening their sound while they doing their necessary job? Of course not, there are some things one has to accept for the betterment of society–the Greatest Good Classicsl Liberals have called it. A whilstle baring train is one because it prevents accidents but that train also represente a means. that we are committed to doing our part to ease global warming and reduce traffic in our neighborhoods..
Good point Bob - I think the gist of this brouhaha is the sheer frequency of the blaring whistle. I agree completely that we need to (finally!) get to the transportation point that Europe has been at for over a century.
Perhaps those who have kvetched the longest and loudest about this issue will take comfort in knowing that the whistle stops……on Dec. 23.
best
Christina
If someone had held their ear up to my head last night at around 10:00 pm(like one does with a sea shell to hear the sound of the ocean) they would have heard that damn train whistle. I like trains and I like train whistles and am not opposed to more public transportation. But there are different types of pollution and noise is one of them. That whistle is LOUD. Did you hear me? Can’t wait till Dec. 23rd.
It’s a really bad sounding train whistle!!! The tone is unpleasant and grating. Check out the Amtrak trains on 4th street in Berkeley. A better sounding whistle would not be as grating on the nerves.
We are VERY happy the train trips have stopped. We live about a half block from the tracks and in years past, the sound of the train rolling by several times a week has been a pleasant one. But this! This is horrible. The blasts go on and on within our hearing for 4 to 5 minutes (I have timed it), and the blasting goes on for 34-45 times (I have counted)! Some of the blasts last 6 to 8 seconds or more! Dinner conversation with guests must be suspended for several minutes while the train goes by - the interruptions make it impossible to talk. It goes on during dinner and past 8:30 pm! The train noise interrupted performances of Music for the Feast of Christmas at Holy Cross Mission the first weekend in December - a 30-year tradition in this town. The music was being recorded and the train blasts were quite prominent around 8:20 pm. I attended a holiday fair at New Leaf Market and the train seemed to go by about every half hour, causing many people to plug their ears. The noise is incessant, excessive, and way too loud. Many people on my street are very upset. Can’t they pick a less grating whistle sound, dial down the volume, and perhaps limit the number and length of the blasts?
I enjoy the glowing faces of little children as much as the next person, but must the peace of all the neighborhoods in the train’s path be destroyed? I dread the summer, when we like to work in the garden and eat in the back yard with friends - it will be impossible to be outdoors. I hope they will do something about this horrible intrusion into our lives. When the train is running, we literally have no peace.
We are seriously considering that we may have to move away from our home of over 30 years. The problem is, who would buy our house now?
Get used to it group. The Bike people and the do righters pushed the train path on us for a bike path and a means to get the cars off the road. Well, the county had to buy it, with pushing from bike people, with funds that require train service, there is no way around this one. So, Next time a plan is put forth by bike people, think about the possible unintended consequences