[RP TownTalk] Trains & Horns

[Nancy]

Anyone not interested in some sentimentality, please delete my message
now...
 
When I bought my house almost 4 years ago, I was actually attracted by
proximity to the trains. When I was a little girl, I used to take walks with
my Daddy (in Takoma Park) and we would stop to watch the trains go by. We
made a game of counting the cars, or counting the coal cars, or counting the
flatbeds, or whatever. Back then, there was almost always a caboose. Every
once in a while, somebody was on the caboose that you could wave at. 
 
I'm a long block away from the tracks, so the noise isn't nearly so great
for me as it is for others... but I LOVE hearing the train horns. That and
the town clock [which I've noticed is, once again, not chiming!], those are
the sounds of my neighborhood. 

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From: towntalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org
[mailto:towntalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org] On Behalf Of OurDollMom at aol.com
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 8:48 AM
To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
Subject: [RP TownTalk] Trains & Horns


I really do not know how far away you can hear
 the horn of an approaching train BUT I have always
 heard the train horns crossing in the Riverdale area
 between Riverdale & Berwyn Hgts/College Park
 train track areas.  And I have always depended
 on the horns besides my eyes.
 
And the children depend on the horns besides 
looking.  I think parents have told their kids not
to play on the train tracks - but kids are kids - 
what is playing to a parent - is not always playing
to a child.
 
My boys played games on the tracks as kids.
And you know I told them umteen times not to 
play on the tracks. They used to sit on the side
of the tracks & watch the trains go by.
 
My dad & his brothers (in Branchville area) used
to walk the tracks - my uncle is 81 & still has 
his trains & scenery up in his basement. The 
other brothers have passed on now. I used to 
have trains & layout under my Xmas tree & in the
attic. 
 
On nice days in the past I have walked to the shop 
and crossed the tracks in the Ravenswood area or
down at the far end of Lafayette.
 
There is something about railroad tracks & trains
that draw you there - maybe knowing how far &
wide a train travels & what adventures a train may
have seen.  When in my early 20s - my girlfriend
and I hopped an open door freight train & rode - it
was scary on the way back to jump off a slowly
moving train car. Lucky we did not get killed.
 
Since my car accident I have crossed a couple of
times....once in the snow - but using a hiking stick.
 
At the far end of Lafayette people cross all the
time and sit along the side of the  tracks eating
 as they leave their lunch/dinner trash laying about
 which I used to pick up daily.  There is a path there.
 
At one time there were crossing paths off and on all
along the train tracks between Riverdale & College Pk.
 
I do not have a problem with the new gates coming.
But I do have a problem with silencing all horns. 
There has to be a HAPPY MEDIUM PLAN.
 
 
Emily
 



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See what's free at AOL.com <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503> . 
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