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Dear Sask_Tinplater, I am about to make another mammoth posting, the likes of which you have probably seen before on this forum, but here I go.... As far as written newspaper persuasion for your cause, why not right an editorial, right a letter to the editor, and, better yet, give us the newspaper's adress and we'll right in as well. If you want I can even have some of my friends sign it and we'll call it "The Board of Directors of the KR&NP Railway;" the people of your town don't need to know that KR&NP stands for Kneading, Repaire and New Partes [:)]. The world is filled with idiots. And jerks. And when you have idiotic jerks, things get really ugly. But count your blessings: the proportion of idiots in your town is limited by your comparatively small population. Just think what vsmith and I have to contend with here in the single largest metropolitan area in the knwon universe (16 million people in southern California)! You want examples of idiots? People who think that the train cares that they are some stuck-up egomaniac who thinks he is world famous because he wrote a screenplay once (that's my near-to-Hollywood example), and people who try to get rid of all railway crossing arms and horns, and people who don't like Alco diesels (just kidding--Kevin)[:)]. But now for some actual arguements: 1.) The drive to get rid of horns and bells (and railways as a whole for that matter) started the second people no longer wished to stop to see a small SOO Line 4-6-2 drop off a reefer before hauling its local off to the next North Dokota hamlet--the moment people started opting for a cramped coach seat on a 737 instead of a drawing room on the Twentieth Century Limited. As I have said earlier, all too many people view anything keeping them from where they want to be as a horrible imposition onto their lives which are more important than anybody else's anyway. This is the root of most cases of racing trains to crossings--the other cause is mostly stupid teenagers who don't care that they'll end up as a quarter pounder if they race trains. Of course, here, none of us actually know what this is like since we are railfans and therefore intuitively stop the moment we see even a reflection in the crossing lights--in the hopes that doubleheaded Big Boys will come down the tracks, shaking the earth, even if it's a light rail line. But among non-railfans and those without respect for railways, all too often the thoughts are "can I beat this to the crossing" and, when they decide they can't (which would, icidentally, be one of the smartest decisions they have ever made), they become angry at the railway, not minding the fact that the cell phone in their right hand which they are talking on while drinking the next fad-beverage in their left probably travelled by train, as did the car they are about to put in the path of the oncoming train! 2.) Railways are no longer "cool," as I am sure you, bigboy4884, dougal, CNWfan5525, and others can attest to. That is why people are ridiculed for liking trains, and why people have less respect for them than the scrapper did for the historic steam locomotive rusting away in his junkyard. 3.) Essentially, we lost respect for railroads about 1.75 generations ago. This is why most people other than railfans (who have an omnipresent and prerequisite respect for trains), their families and friends (whom the railfans teach respect of railways to), and a few other people--who managed to retain common sense in today's society which is all too often more superficial and pretentious than it is substantive--are so positively clueless. And now, the less emotional and more logical arguements: 4.) Here in southern California, we have the new Gold Line light rail line, which I live near to and often bicycle and dive by. All along the line through South Pasadena (the city--not the southern region of Pasadena), residents have put up signs advocating "No Horns, No Bells, No Speeds over 30 mph," or some speed restriction like that. Firstly, to show how uninformed these people are, the light rail cars in use on the Gold Line don't even have bells! Further still, the "horn" is little more than a buzzer, which goes off only at grade crossings (not when starting or stopping), and which is so quiet that you cannot hear it from within a car next to the crossing with the radio off! Believe me: these horns could be a lot louder! Which brings up another incident familiar to me, which is loosely related: 5.) I volunteer frequently at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. Last November, we hosted A Day Out With Thomas for the second time. To show you how much these people disregard the reason horns exist in the first place, the museum switched out the typical railway horn of the fairly loud persuasion for a Pacific Electric trombone whistle on the locomotive powering the train (yes--I'm sorry but Thomas is unpowered). For those of you who don't know so much about Los Angeles interurbans, the PE trombone whistle is much quieter, and produces a sound similar to that of a louder--and improved--bottle being blown into. I admit, their were small children present, but if they don't like hearing the locomotive horn, then they probably aren't young railfans--it seems to be the non-railfan parents who are more often taken aback. But getting back on topic.... 6.) The Gold Line runs on what a decade ago was the AT&SF's Pasadena Subdivision, which, if I remember correctly, was constructed in the 1880's or 90's. This means that most of the residents of South Pasadena were living there back during the good old days of the Pasadena Sub, which had many full size-trains with full-size horns creating full-size music (which others call noise) as well as a daily eastbound and westbound Southwest Chief. Of course, the AT&SF probably had more legal muscle, but I never saw anyone complaining about the melodious song of the Southwest Chief, particularly when it stopped in Pasadena and invited a very young trainjunky29 into the cab....What I'm getting at here is that, in part, people don't have these fond memories of the railroads with which railroads and communities had a symbiotic relationship for often over a century. Also, what I'm saying is that the people of South Pasadena really have no right to complain, particularly when the new Light Rail cars create a fraction of the music or "noise" that the old trains did. Furter still, those people who moved in when the Pasadena Sub was torn up and before or during construction of the Gold Line have no right to complain, since they knew it was coming in anyway. And finally, those people moving to South Pas, as it's called here, have no right at all to complain, particularly since many of them moved to South Pasadena because of the transit oppurtunities afforded by the Gold Line. Get my drift???? 7.) The same people who are advocating the abolition of horns, bells, and other instruments of the railroad symphony, will be the first to profusely blame the railroads when somebody in a car gets hit, because there was no horn to warn him. 8.) Chama, New Mexico, (you know--Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway) does not have this problem. This is because the town of Chama (population 1,900) is dependant upon the railroad, and the tourism it generates, for its very existence. Without this, it would be a bump on the road between the county seat of Tierra Amarilla and Antonito, Colorado. And (surprise, surprise), their are no movements in Chama for the abolition of the steamers' whistles, nor for "grade crossing safety" improvements. In fact, every crossing on the line is gaurded only by the old x with "RAILROAD CROSSING" written on it, and to my knowledge there has never been anything even remotely resembling a car crash with a train in the line's 110 year history! Why are all these things? Because people there respect the railroads, the trains, and enjoy seeing a K-36 2-8-2 turn on the wye every afternoon. Additionally, almost all tourists there are railfans (aside from the area's incredible beauty and the train, and the beauty enhanced by the train's presence, there's not mush else to visit Chama for), often to the tune of 30,000 people each year. You see what a little respect for the railway accomplishes? It accomplishes a return to the symbiotic relationship between railway and community--one that has disappeared all too many places, although Chama never lost it. Furthermore, most people in Chama never lost interest in seeing the preverbial SOO Line 4-6-2 switching a local, although in their case it's no. 488 swithing in the yard. What this is all getting at, Sask_Tinplater, is that you should keep your pro-railway stance in your town. And maybe you should consider being the citizen who advocates for the railroad in your community. Being as there are only 1,000 people in your town (I know--it's not a terribly small number, since I've been in towns of 28 people, but you can understand, being as I'm from southern California), I would think that many people know you there, and being as you are probably well liked and respected by many of them, you might be pleasantly surprised about how many of them listen to you. And remember--railways don't buy horns to look pretty on their locomotives. Horns exist for a mulitude of reasons, not the least of which is to warn people of the train, without which, innocent lives would be lost because people did not know the trains were near. So really, you could say that you would be trying to save innocent lives. And if nobody does listen, then you will have known that you tried, and everybody will know that you are pro-railroads. I would find that preferable to not telling anyone in the community how I felt. Now as for idiots who run the crossings.... Go ahead and use these arguements if you want...although the residents of Langenburg will probably not be moved to the greatest extent by my unceasing examples from the Gold Line [:)]. And that statement about the quarter pounder, the train, and the car from the other thread might turn a few heads in your direction. I hope you enjoyed my random ramblings, Daniel
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