I have lived in Brooklyn for 25 years and I agree the honking by trains has gotten worse, much worse.

There are laws… something like “The Engineer may refrain from whistling” that exempts engineers from
honking horns . I believe all of Illinois is exempt. It does require double guard gates, but we have those on 11th and 12th. It is a rigamarole, but doable. But best to have traffic and trains on a different level.

But we must get together and lobby for an engineered fix, where the train, and the new MAX line does not bollox up the commute, make possibility of accident, and wake up innumerable neighbors a 4:12 AM each morning. We need cars and trains on different levels.

Thinking ahead…. If we ever get green and have fast trains between Eugene and Vancouver BC how are those zoomers going to go…. and isn’t Now the time to dig those trainways?

When I have guests, we have to stop talking and wait till the trains is gone. This happens 5 or 6 times in one evening.

I’m always turning up my TV because the train drowns out the sound completely. Forget about talking on the phone. I have to tell the person on the other end to hold on because I can’t hear them over the train.

A not-as-loud, less irritating train horn would be appreciated. The current one is nerve shattering.

Little toots dont work, its either all or nothing when your in court trying to prove yourself to a jury. Its my opinion that all grade crossings be eliminated, it would make things safer for the motoring public and train crews alike. Id rather go to work and not worry about the guy in the car that doesn’t appear to be slowing and if they are going to run the crossing.

Long story short, we blow the horn to save our butts and the companies butts. Its required by both company rules and federal law, I hope you guys get your quiet zone, they make me uneasy but I run through them daily and have not hit anyone in one yet. Ive had lots of near misses but never a collision in a quiet zone.

Best Wishes.

I wouldn’t mind them at all during the day (I’m of the opinion that noise is to be expected during the usual waking hours– sorry, swing/graveyard shifters!), and most of the time I even sleep through them at night. But when they wake me up (or if I’ve been woken up and am trying to get to sleep), they can be really awful.

I like Allan’s short toots idea, and it definitely seems like this isn’t just Brooklyn– maybe this is something that should be organized on a greater scale?

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/train_kills_woman_near_lacey.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1218939909101780.xml&coll=7

Many know me, and there is charm in our neighborhood that we have the train roundabout and that we have business dependent upon the railroad.

Last year, my parents moved in with me for about a year while their home was rebuilt after a house fire. They loved how the community stands together and is much more friendly than when they lived here. They wished their neighborhood was as good a place to live as mine.

The fact that the trains have changed how loud and how often they use their horns was a challenge. They would be trying to talk to their doctor or their contractor and have to stop the conversation because the train horns were so loud and continued for such a long time. Yes, as a child we had the trains and they used their horns. The style or type of horn was different – certainly not as annoying as we have today. We couldn’t remember them being as loud or as persistent, especially during the nighttime.

Being a business person in the neighborhood who has to talk to people on the East Coast, I am often teased that during conference calls, we have to stop talking because, even with the doors and windows closed, the train horns are so loud and so long. I’m often fumbling to try to find the mute so I don’t bother clients or business associates during a call.

The fact that they do this at 3:00 am as well as during the day is part of the problem. It seems reasonable to ask that the volume and length of the horn be adjusted.

I have to admit that one of my neighbors is just as concerned with all the dogs barking and people fighting in the middle of the night as they are the trains. Add all these noises together and it causes problems.

I love my neighborhood, my friends in the neighborhood, and the sense of community that we have here. Again, it seems reasonable to ask for a change in the volume and length of the train horns so that we continue to have one of the most livable neighborhoods in Portland.

As for the illegal extended closures of the intersection at 12th and Clinton, you can call 866-628-8867 to complain. You need to get the engine number(s). What I do is any time I’m stopped by a train, I get the engine numbers right away and then if the gate is closed for more than the allowed 10 minutes I call. You need to be persistent, they don’t seem to be all that interested in enforcing this.

Im very interested in your article as I am preparing to do what you are doing, except for the Kenton Neighborhood. The train noise here is unbelievable and at all hours of the day and night. I dont know yet which railroad company owns the line that parallels Columbia Blvd (both East and West of I-5), but I am hoping to find out soon.

Like one of your readers said, I dont mind an occasional horn, but, there are times where they blast the horn for nearly a minute at a time on a regular basis.

Thanks for any direction you can give me…

On the other hand, does anyone know why the train whistles last for minutes at a time? Was there some incident, someone/something got hit in a populated area and now the trains are forced to do this?

I want the whistles to tone down, and will sign a letter requesting such at the next ice cream social.

However, I would choose the NUISANCE of the whistle if it means a single life could be saved.

If you feel that you’ve had a comment wrongly deleted please email admin@brooklyn-neighborhood.org.

Regular train noise is to be expected when living in an urban area. A 45 second long whistle blast at 4:00 AM in the morning, like the one that awoke my household early this morning, is not acceptable. And I’m more conditioned to noise than just about anybody since McLoughlin is just 60 feet or so from my front door.

No body here is saying that this needs to be a silent neighborhood with no train or truck noise. That is never going to happen. What I do hear time and again, from people that do actually live and work in this neighborhood, is that we should work to reduce train noise when possible.