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How close are you to the RR track?

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  • Member since
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  • From: Sahuarita, AZ
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Posted by phatkat64 on Saturday, June 12, 2004 12:50 AM
I'm a pleasant(quiet) distance from several CP and UP mains and spurs. One advantage of living near Chicago! I could get my big butt on a bicycle, and I'm just a short ride to several good spots! I really like that there's alot of not-repainted-yet equipment running switching duty. So in 2004, I get to see diesels from SOO, CNW, IC, and several other fallen flags serving yeoman duty on the rails here!

Carmine, CEO, CE, and Chief Bottle Washer - the Pacific Belt RR, in HO scale

Founded by myself, 1975!

How are we going to get new recruits, when we ourselves are being priced out of the hobby!! Take your trains out of the box and play with them! That's why they were made! 

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Posted by FJ and G on Friday, June 11, 2004 1:57 PM
There's a nasty curve on NS in Gainesville VA where I live. Tracks are about 30 feet atop an embankment. Directly below is a trailer park. Also nearby is a propane company and 3 gas stations. Several trains have derailed in the last few years. One took out a gas station, severely injuring or killing one of the workers. Another time, tank cars loaded with propane overturned there, fortunately at very slow speed.

Just a matter of time.
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  • From: Willoughby, Ohio
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Posted by spankybird on Friday, June 11, 2004 12:45 PM
There is more than one way to do this. Here is a map of how close we are to the tracks.


Rick, as you can see, we are very close to the Captians.

tom

I am a person with a very active inner child. This is why my wife loves me so. Willoughby, Ohio - the home of the CP & E RR. OTTS Founder www.spankybird.shutterfly.com 

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 11, 2004 12:23 PM
Tom, my dogs weigh 65 and 47 pounds, respectively [;)] We're going to the Captains game tonight, weather permitting, and have family stuff tomorrow. If Sunday's weather is crummy, I'll give you a call.
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  • From: Willoughby, Ohio
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Posted by spankybird on Friday, June 11, 2004 12:14 PM
Hi Rick, Great Photo. I tried to post a map from Magquest, but it didn't want to stay.

I think I live a little closer than you, mybe by 4 or 5 houses. And mybe my dog is smaller than your dog.

YOu should call me this weekend, and we could get together[?]

tom

I am a person with a very active inner child. This is why my wife loves me so. Willoughby, Ohio - the home of the CP & E RR. OTTS Founder www.spankybird.shutterfly.com 

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 11, 2004 12:08 PM
Close enough (about 1/3 mile) to enjoy the sounds:



(Tom: the red dot is the intersection of Rts. 20 and 615 in Mentor)
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 11, 2004 9:49 AM
Not my home, but my office is about 200 feet from the CN mainline through Wilkes-Barre, PA...train just went by about an hour ago.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 10, 2004 12:52 PM
My house is about one mile from the North East Corridor. My office is about 200 feet from the West Trenton CSX freight line. When I was growing up, I lived on a hill in Ringoes, NJ. You could hear BRWRR #60 making it's trips back and forth to Flemington (and Lambertville, back then). The sounds of steam power were part of my life. I hope to hear that engine once again... but that may not happen, from what I hear. [:(]
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 4:11 PM
BNSF9838; It's all about the money man! I work on a short line railroad and at any given time I could be running CSX power UP ,BNSF,NS,GTW,ICorCN, every thing from old junk GE stuff to the newest MAC 90's and leased power of all kinds!!,,,,Yes it is weird!
I remember the day when you would never have seen mixed power anywhere!!!
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 7:04 AM
Hay spankybird you are right,ever sence the split up of CONRAIL has brought new life to the strange ways the railroads run today.What REALY kills me is......I saw pure UP power up in the north east and now the BNSF railroad runs pure BNSF power on NS and CSXT rails.The home railroad home front has changed so much that that It's like almost unpridictable any more. You stand track side on your home rail line hopeing to get shots of your own home RR when over a sudden (or in my case on the BNSF) a set of pure CSXT power or a set of pure NS power on a coal train shows up at your location.
It realy makes me wounder sometimes.But thing that makes so angry is when Im railfanning on the BNSF is when Im all worked up to shoot the train.I look through my view finder to my surprise......Oh my god.....pure UNION PACIFIC power ON BNSF rails.
That makes me so mad.Why can't the railroads just keep their power on their own home rails?
BNSFfan.
  • Member since
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  • From: Rolesville, NC
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Posted by ChiefEagles on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 6:12 AM
I live a long ways from any tracks [7 miles]. Can occassionally here one train but the vehicle traffic is so loud here. 20,000 plus vehicles a day pass my house. Bypass over due will be built in a couple of years. Before I retired, my office was a few blocks from the two [three tracks] main lines of CSX, NS and Amtrac. NW is thrown in there somewhere. Seems some of the NC Railroad [yes there is one with a commission] is leased by NW. The NC Railroad trains are run by Amtrac [K-Line models one of the engines].

 God bless TCA 05-58541   Benefactor Member of the NRA,  Member of the American Legion,   Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville Laugh,   KC&D QualifiedCowboy       

              

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 6:05 AM
I use to live in an old Amtrak passenger car [Placid Lake] it was very nice and very quiet I Think this car was a Great Northern car at one time then after I moved out it became one of the cars on the American Europen Express train, Now I live by the CP rail and the CSX within 4 or 5 blocks.
I highly recommened old stainless steal Passenger cars for club houses or entertainment rooms!!!!
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  • From: Yukon OK
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Posted by okiechoochoo on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 11:16 PM
I live approximately 200 feet or a little less from the Union Pacific main. Hear them all day and all night. Some of them rumble the ground pretty well.

All Lionel all the time.

Okiechoochoo

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 7:48 PM
I live three miles from the Susi Q RR track that runs through Riverdale NJ. I can hear the trains when I stand outside the front of my house at 6:00a.m.
Bill
www.modeltrainjournal.com
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Posted by aiireland on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 6:06 PM
C&NW track used to be at the end of the block. Now it's a bike trail / walking trail that i use all the time! UP main line runs a few miles away. I enjoy hearing the horns and rumble of the trains as i drift off to sleep. esp. in the spring and fall when the windows are open.

ai
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  • From: Willoughby, Ohio
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Posted by spankybird on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 6:06 PM
One thing that I have noticed, since ConRail has been taken over by CSX and NS, we have alot of different rail lines on our track. In the ConRail day, we would basicly only see ConRail. Now I see UP, BN, and Santa Fe just to name a few. And of course NS and CSX.

I am a person with a very active inner child. This is why my wife loves me so. Willoughby, Ohio - the home of the CP & E RR. OTTS Founder www.spankybird.shutterfly.com 

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 5:08 PM
I live about 5 miles from the old B&A line...now CSX. I can hear the horns at night or during a quiet day. I live in Southern Mass.
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 4:53 PM
I live in BLAIR,nebraska.
All I have to do is walk less a 1,000ft. up to the UP main line,or just look out my front window.
BNSFfan.
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  • From: Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted by 4kitties on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 11:08 AM
When I was a child in South Bend, Indiana, a GTW double-track spur ran right behind our house. Now, as an adult living in West Baltimore, the nearest tracks are about 4-5 miles from my house. One set belongs to CSX and the other is the Amtrak Northeast Corridor. I can often hear the horns when I'm outside or have windows open. Sure wish I could've bought a house in nearby Halethorpe, though, where I could've been in view of the tracks.
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Posted by cnw1995 on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 8:30 AM
I live about 4 miles from the UP's Harvard sub that runs from Chicago to Janesville, WI - not much freight action (mostly at night) but lots of Metra. With the weird dissolution of Illinois' whistle laws, I'm starting to hear the horns at night.

Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 8:29 AM
When I was a child in the Bronx, I lived about 6 short city blocks (maybe 3 long city blocks) from the 3rd Avenue El. After I turned 13 we moved to the suburbs, a town called Mamaroneck in Westchester. Mamaroneck has a station on what is now Metro North's New Haven line, a 4 track main line that runs from New Haven, Ct to Grand Central Terminal in NYC.

The street we lived on, Halstead Avenue, ran parallel to the tracks. We lived a about 2 very short blocks from the tracks. On a quiet summary night, with the windows open, you could hear the trains go buy. The house was also about 3 blocks from I-95, so we actually heard the highway more than the trains, due to the difference in traffic volume.

After I got married, we lived 2 blocks from the White Plains station on Metro North's Harlem Line for about a year. This line was only double tracked.

Now we own a home in Yorktown Heights, and we have to drive about 15 minutes to get to the closest station on the Harlem line in Katonah. But what we usually do is drive 25 minutes south to North White Plains & get the train there. The station has a huge parking lot.

Tony
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  • From: Holland
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Posted by daan on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 5:37 AM
I live 500m. away from the mainline to Vlissingen, but Dutch railways are mostly passengertrains. Though the harbour in Vlissingen east gets cartrains twice a day, hauled by double headed 6400's most of the time.
Also within that reach there is a museumline with steamloco's and small b switchers operating every weekend and every holiday.(We hear the wistles,smell the antracite en hear the steamengines leaving the station).
Daan. I'm Dutch, but only by country...
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Posted by Dr. John on Monday, June 7, 2004 6:21 PM
We are several miles away from any railroad tracks. I do cross the CN / IC mainline each day going back and forth to the church office (about ten miles from our house.)
When the winds are right, I can hear the trains on the CSX (former L&N) mainline several miles south of us.
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Posted by DSchmitt on Monday, June 7, 2004 6:12 PM
My office is less than 300' from the UP (former SP) mainline in Marysville CA and about 3/4 mile from the former WP main line

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by cbojanower on Monday, June 7, 2004 6:08 PM
used to be about 500 feet above the main UP tracks through UT. It was great. Sadly we moved and no more watching the trains go by, when the wind is right I can hear them still
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Posted by guilfordrr on Monday, June 7, 2004 6:00 PM
Well, when I lived in Michigan, we lived right next to the tracks! Now I'm a few miles from a short coal-hauling railroad which I think is owned by Norfolk Southern.
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  • From: Beaverton, OR USA
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Posted by garyseven on Monday, June 7, 2004 5:07 PM
1/4 mile from Willamette and Pacific. The 4449 has gone by on several occasions.[:D]
--Scott Long N 45° 26' 58 W 122° 48' 1
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 7, 2004 4:59 PM
I can't hear the train near me, but I can sure feel it and Its always under our feet!!! [:D]

The subway is about 20 or 30 feet below our house.

It is the L train, AKA the Canarsie line, Back in the 70's they used to call it the LL.
[:D][:D] Grandma calls it a pain in the neck. [:D][:D]



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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 7, 2004 4:36 PM
I currently live two blocks from the pota***erminal where the potash loaded
hoppers are brought by NBSR/CN Rail from Sussex.I hear both road units as trains
are brought in and the courtney bay terminal GP-18 as shunts cars.as a boy I
lived on a spur leeding to the Brookville lime where dad worked.the main line
was 100 + or - feet from the house.I recall watching cars rolling by as sat in my
dining room.

American lost a greater son whom led her through
the storms as faced a storm in life but now walks streets of Gold.

David Brown

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