You go-Randy!That attitude always irritates me too-I like the train whistles!

I second your motion above; keep the train whistles, for the greater good.

 That train has been rolling through these parts long before you Mr Bates ever dreamed about living here. I always find it very funny how someone who chooses to live in the vicinity of the existing train tracks will complain about the train noise and horns, that's idiotic if you ask me. Try moving or wearing ear plugs or better yet DON'T live next to the train tracks if you DON'T like the noise. STOP YOUR WHINING......................

"Its always the stupid people that get killed", says Picturethis, as he crawls out from the wheel of his air-bag equipped car, still upset about the wait at the signalized intersection, only some of which he retrieved by passing the guy waiting to turn left by using the shoulder which had been engineered free of obstructions...

Thanks to folks who don't think people should be killed for a moment's inattention, distraction, or mistake of judgement, it is much safer to drive a car than it was just a few decades ago.  The notion that unsafe conditions "were here first" didn't stop folks from figuring out how to make things better.

Most RR crossing accidents are at unsignalized crossings, and that is where your googled lawyers make their money.  Red flashing lights and bells costs about $300k (about the same as traffic lights) and would be far more effective than whistles.  The addition of a few feet of extra length to the gate arms would prevent most of the drive-arounds that occur at gated crossings now.  Figure your own calculus for lives saved per buck.

Railroads have and they simply calculate that  it is cheaper to kill people and pay lawyers than to fix crossings and save lives.  These are the same companies who refused to use  Westinghouse's safety air brake for 20 years, preferring instead to have brakeman scramble across the top of moving cars turning brakes one at a time.  They refused to use knuckled couplings for longer. 

Our country has shameful RR crossing accident rates, similar to a third-world countries.

PD I"m glad you brought that up, and I agree with you  Railroads have enough money, they can and should make sure all RR crossings have signals in order to save many lives, This indeed should be dealt with.   HOWEVER, I still want their whistles to blow.  There are many places, especially in populated cities where conductors should blow their horn.  I have seen many people who walk across the tracks (not at RR crossings) to get to the other side.  The RR killing rate is bad, but it could be worse without the whistle.   I have a buddy who is a retired conductor...you know the kind that hears a train rolling down the tracks and whistles blowing even when there isn't a train for miles around. lol  Yep. I gotta love that guy...anyway he mentioned this very thing to me a couple years ago.  It certainly would have made his life less stressful if there were signals at every crossing and it would save many lives.

You tell em Gube... lol

DonMar, Darn right,  for the greater good.  (smile)

I never said it's always the stupid people that get killed. If someone intentionally drives around or under the crossing arms and gets themselves killed, I would hardly qualify them as rocket scientists. As for unmarked crossings, in the majority of cases, there is a clear field of view for someone to "look both ways before crossing", the same thing you were taught before crossing the street. Just the other day 2 girls were run over when they were sunbathing on the railroad tracks, 1 lost a foot and the other lost a leg or two. Shall we blame the railroad for not posting no sunbathing signs? While a very unfortunate incident, a little forethought would have prevented a lifetime of disfigurement. By your tone I can only surmise you would sue Colt for their pistol being used in a fatal shooting. All I am saying is "Take responsibility for your actions, if you aren't willing to face the results, don't do it!"

Then I'll say it .......ONLY STUPID PEOPLE GET KILLED BY TRAINS AT R&R CROSSINGS.......

Years ago I was going to Benz over on Dennison and the R&R arms were down because a long train was stopped right before the intersection.I waited like 5 minuets the said screw it I along with another car went around the R&R arms to get to the other side. I made it but the car behind me got hit by  a train that we couldn't see coming because the first train was blocking our vision. The 4 people in the car that got hit where lucky ...They all walked away without a scratch......This my Friends is why I say if you get killed at a R&R crossing then it was most likely caused by a stupid move on your part.

picturethis... don't pay attention to PD.   He/She does have a tendency to jump on people using rather lame excuses.  PD is not a happy blogger...   I read PD's posts because they are sometimes informative...I do not read PD's posts for his/her communication skills.  lol

I'm not against whistles either.  They are also required by law, although a few towns and areas have gotten special regulations to reduce the noise, normally these are accompanied by improved crossing controls to compensate.

Of course I was putting the words in your mouth to make a point about road safety, Picturethis. It was meant to be amusing - I hope you don't pass on the right either.   But I'm not a big fan of the Darwin Awards.  You've never done something really, really dumb?

As for the two sunbathers, I doubt if they were the first and only kids to use the rail yard that way.  A responsible community or company, noting that the area was being used by teens might have erected fencing to reduce its attractiveness and availabilty to them.  Sensible development principles might also reduce the conflict between railroads and communities.  

As for unsignalized crossings, no doubt there are most often adequate sight lines to allow their safe passage IF the driver is not inattentive, distracted, or using bad judgement.   But it is exactly to protect against inattention, distraction, and bad judgement that we have guards on power saws. 

The one and only time the whistles "annoyed" me was during the production of The Vagina Monologues. It was held outside at the old art center. But kudos to the cast, they simply stopped and waited each time - and there was several times that night, lol.

To me, the trains, whistles and all, are part of Tehachapi's charm. 

Really, really dumb move, gube.  If I had MY way, that crossing would have big honking gates that you wouldn't be ABLE to drive around, instead of those bare-minimum sticks that practically invite your stupid chicane action.  Because I care...

Wow Gube.... good point.  I can see that happening to many people.  

PD, geez louise... that's almost as extreme as my neighbors idea of putting speed bumps every 1/2 mile on Sand Canyon rd so that these crazy drivers will slow down.   I don't think we will get new RR gates either, but, I am glad you care. (smile)

I love the whistles and think they should be used before every intersection.  I've heard that the likelihood that a train engineer will hit a car and kill someone is 100% over their career (through no fault of theirs!).  However, I don't see any point in putting big railroad signals with arms at every freaking crossing.  I can't even fathom how much it would cost!  All those rural crossings...

The only case I've ever heard of where an intelligent person was hit by a train was when a girl stopped at the tracks (on a very foggy day) to listen for a train- and then some idiot flew up behind her, rear-ended her, pushing her onto the tracks infront of the train.  A signal wouldn't have done a thing in that case.  I myself almost was hit by a train once- it was a total failure of the designer of an intersection to anticipate large vehicles, coupled with two blaring blind spots.  I didn't get hit- I got the hell out of the way.

PD I was a lot younger and dumber then.....today I would never pull a stunt like that..........................And I'm sure those 4 guys in the car that got hit felt even dumber.........I have always kinda felt a little responsible for that accident because if I did not illegally cross those tracks then the car behind me wouldn't have tried and got hit........Oh well better them then me.