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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=313262001-24042007>Anyone not interested in
some sentimentality, please delete my message now...</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=313262001-24042007></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=313262001-24042007>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. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=313262001-24042007></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=313262001-24042007>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. </SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> towntalk-bounces@riverdale-park.org
[mailto:towntalk-bounces@riverdale-park.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>OurDollMom@aol.com<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 23, 2007 8:48
AM<BR><B>To:</B> towntalk@riverdale-park.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [RP TownTalk]
Trains & Horns<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial>
<DIV>I really do not know how far away you can hear</DIV>
<DIV> the horn of an approaching train BUT I have always</DIV>
<DIV> heard the train horns crossing in the Riverdale area</DIV>
<DIV> between Riverdale & Berwyn Hgts/College Park</DIV>
<DIV> train track areas. And I have always depended</DIV>
<DIV> on the horns besides my eyes.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And the children depend on the horns besides </DIV>
<DIV>looking. I think parents have told their kids not</DIV>
<DIV>to play on the train tracks - but kids are kids - </DIV>
<DIV>what is playing to a parent - is not always playing</DIV>
<DIV>to a child.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My boys played games on the tracks as kids.</DIV>
<DIV>And you know I told them umteen times not to </DIV>
<DIV>play on the tracks. They used to sit on the side</DIV>
<DIV>of the tracks & watch the trains go by.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My dad & his brothers (in Branchville area) used</DIV>
<DIV>to walk the tracks - my uncle is 81 & still has </DIV>
<DIV>his trains & scenery up in his basement. The </DIV>
<DIV>other brothers have passed on now. I used to </DIV>
<DIV>have trains & layout under my Xmas tree & in the</DIV>
<DIV>attic. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On nice days in the past I have walked to the shop </DIV>
<DIV>and crossed the tracks in the Ravenswood area or</DIV>
<DIV>down at the far end of Lafayette.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There is something about railroad tracks & trains</DIV>
<DIV>that draw you there - maybe knowing how far &</DIV>
<DIV>wide a train travels & what adventures a train may</DIV>
<DIV>have seen. When in my early 20s - my girlfriend</DIV>
<DIV>and I hopped an open door freight train & rode - it</DIV>
<DIV>was scary on the way back to jump off a slowly</DIV>
<DIV>moving train car. Lucky we did not get killed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Since my car accident I have crossed a couple of</DIV>
<DIV>times....once in the snow - but using a hiking stick.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>At the far end of Lafayette people cross all the</DIV>
<DIV>time and sit along the side of the tracks eating</DIV>
<DIV> as they leave their lunch/dinner trash laying about</DIV>
<DIV> which I used to pick up daily. There is a path there.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>At one time there were crossing paths off and on all</DIV>
<DIV>along the train tracks between Riverdale & College Pk.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I do not have a problem with the new gates coming.</DIV>
<DIV>But I do have a problem with silencing all horns. </DIV>
<DIV>There has to be a HAPPY MEDIUM PLAN.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Emily</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black">
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