Funny you should ask: "Why do the trains have to lay on the horn in the middle of the night?"

"A critic is a gong at a railroad crossing clanging loudly and vainly as the train goes by." Christopher Marley

It's a common town peeve: it's the middle of the night and the train is creeping its way through town when all of a sudden you're awoken from your much needed deep REM sleep by the blast of a train horn. We accept that the driver has to blow his horn upon coming to an intersection but why does it seem that more often than not he's literally laying on the horn? And as long as we're talking about it, why is it that from time to time they leave an engine idling all night long? Can't they just turn the thing off and start it back up in the morning?

Well, funny you should ask. I was just asked these two questions (again) not too long ago so I thought I would try and get a hold of someone at Progressive Rail and see if I could get some answers. On my first phone call, I got a real person (whose name is Joe) and asked him if he could respond to these two common complaints.

Delivery to ABC Truss

Why do the drivers have to blow the horn in the middle of the night?

Federal regulations is the short answer to that question. According to 49 CFR Part 22 (otherwise known as the Train Horn Rule), “locomotive engineers must begin to sound train horns at least 15 seconds, and no more than 20 seconds, in advance of all public grade crossings” regardless of the time of day. As Joe explained to me, every engineer is required not only to sound his horn before arriving at the crossing but until his engine has passed entirely through the intersection. What's the reasoning behind this rule? Simple: to prevent accidents. “Just the other day a driver in plain day drove into the side of a train in Faribault, Minnesota. So, if that happens in the daytime just imagine the risk at night?” Apparently “distracted driving” is a probable cause of this accident but the number one safety issue that Progressive deals with, as you may have already guessed, is intoxicated drivers. Joe acknowledged most of the drivers who drive at night are the newer guys so perhaps they err on the side of caution by laying on the horn a little longer than perhaps federally mandated (not, as you might think, to antagonize the locals).

Why can't they just turn the engine off rather than allow it to idle all night long?

“We get asked this question all the time,” says Joe, “and frankly, it's a NIMBY question (i.e. “Not In My Back Yard”). In other words, for every person who believes that they are being inconvenienced by the sound (and feel) of an idling engine all night would they rather they move the thing in back of someone else's house to do the same? I know for a fact that the person who asked me this question wasn't asking that. They were just wondering why can't they just turn the thing off and, like a car or a truck, start it up in the morning? Well, a train engine is not like your family car and from what I gathered from Joe's explanation is that it's just cheaper to keep it running rather than uncouple it from the cars it's pulling and park it in a quiet place somewhere. “The majority of the time, the train will pass on through after picking up or dropping off its load,” Joe informed me. “But once again we're bound by federal regulations that state that for every 12 hours of work, railroad employees are entitled to 10 hours of rest.” He's referring to the Hours of Service Act that was amended in 1971 because of longstanding complaints that crews were not getting adequate rest which was a factor in many accidents. Since that time railroad crews are limited to 12 hour shifts that must be followed by “10 hours of undisturbed rest” in a 24 hour time period. So, on the occasion that an engine is left to idle all night it's more than likely because of that rule. They have to rest their guys and if it happens that they're in town when their shift expires, well I guess that's the luck of the draw.

So, the long and short of it is this is the cost of doing business. Regularly the trains pass through Chetek delivering lumber to ABC Truss or hauling telephone poles from McFarland Cascade outside of Cameron or carrying sand to one of the many wash plants south of town. All this means jobs for local people, who live in houses and pay property taxes, who buy their gas and their groceries and eat out from time to time at our local restaurants. I guess when you frame the question that way the sound of silence might not be a good sound after all.

Do you have a question about stuff going on in town or about an ordinance you think is unnecessary? Message me at my Facebook page (Jeff Martin, Mayor) or at chetekmayor@cityofchetek-wi.gov. I may not know the answer but I probably can find out.