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November 24, 2013 at 6:39 am #609749
Roses518MemberHi West Seattleites,
Is anyone else out there getting really frustrated with all the noise pollution from the trains? We live in High Point and lately it’s been non-stop whistles and horns all night and all day (whenever we’re home from work). It’s just driving me bonkers and I don’t know if anything can be done about it but this is not the occasional whistle I’m complaining about. This is non-stop every 4-5 seconds. It’s really getting awful. Helpful ideas or empathetic fellow sufferers?
November 24, 2013 at 2:12 pm #800437
kayoParticipantWow. I was just coming here to post about this. I just want to know why it is necessary to literally honk non-stop over and over again for long stretches of time all night long. It has been awful lately. I had insomnia last night and it certainly did not help. It seems especially loud between 3-5 am, but I pretty much hear them all night. There was one especially flat sounding horn last night that sounded like a donkey braying outside my window over and over again. We live in North Delridge so trains are on the other side of Puget ridge from us, but we can still hear them loud and clear. If I knew there was some legitimate reason for the non-stop honking, it would help, so someone please explain why this is necessary. Wondering if there is some agency we can complain to as well.
November 24, 2013 at 2:14 pm #800438
kayoParticipantI typically use earplugs, but they often fall out in the middle of the night. Even through the earplugs, I can hear the honking though. It is very loud.
November 24, 2013 at 2:25 pm #800439
kayoParticipantI found some information online. http://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0104. It explains a lot because the stretch those trains are crossing has multiple intersections with roads and federal law requires them to honk a certain sequence at each crossing. Hence the repeat honking. I don’t know what can be done. There is something about creating a quiet zone, but I doubt this would be allowed given the number of street crossings that are down in sodo and the number of trains. I think quiet zones are more for single track areas.
November 24, 2013 at 5:09 pm #800440
JayDeeParticipantKayo:
Try these ear plugs. One pair last me 2 months:
November 24, 2013 at 5:15 pm #800441
JayDeeParticipantI’ve postulated that the still winter air and the temperature inversions reflect the sounds from the RR over Puget Ridge into Delridge based on equal-angle reflection. The inversion layer is usually 1-2000 feet above the surface. MetPatrick might know the exact number–remember that persistent fog? About that high. So it may get less noisy as the regular, non-Bizzaro Nov/Dec weather comes around.
November 24, 2013 at 9:05 pm #800442
WSBKeymasterPreface: I am the LAST person you will EVER hear say “Oh, somebody already tried that” in the context of “Don’t bother” – I believe that if something matters to you, you should KEEP bothering.
So this is just in the spirit of letting you know about an effort five years ago. It **seemed** to be about as much of a boulder to budge as the issue of low-bridge openings during rush hours … but rules change, administrations change, procedures change, so just take this 2008 story and the links therein as background:
https://westseattleblog.com/2008/08/west-seattle-train-noise-neighbors-track-down-help/
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Tracy
November 25, 2013 at 12:20 am #800443
kayoParticipantThanks Tracy. It is really almost unbearable at times. I don’t have the energy to follow up on this and it seems like an impossible boulder to budge as you say. I will buy some of those earplugs though and see if they help. The ones I have just pop out after a while. Between kids, snoring spouse and noisy trains, sleep is hard to come by for this mom.
November 25, 2013 at 9:34 pm #800444
F16CrewChiefMemberI use to be a freight train conductor for BNSF and I can tell you there are some quiet zones in some pretty busy areas. Most notably, down by the Spaghetti Factory. Downtown Wenatchee also is a whistle free zone. Typically in these areas, the train crew will only use the engine bell (ding, ding, ding) through these areas as precaution. The train crew is allowed to use the whistle should a dangerous condition arise. But it’s not impossible to get a whistle free zone. I just don’t know how myself. FYI…the new golf course Chambers Bay is a whistle free zone too.
November 25, 2013 at 10:45 pm #800445
trickycooljParticipantYou might have heard the fog horns on the ferry last night. I was shocked as I was waking up this morning to hear the long blast of the ferry horn from High Point. I thought, huh must be foggy today better get moving traffic will be bad. Sometimes our friendly industry neighbors are helpful…
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