Remember the Beatles song "Rain"? It was first released in June 1966 as the B-side of the single "Paperback Writer." Silly as it may sound, that's what came to mind when I left the Norfolk Southern picnic last Saturday and thought about writing about the train. "When the train comes, they run and hide their heads, they might as well be deaf," Not exactly what John Lennon wrote but if you sit where I have sat for over eleven years or have ever visited my office at the end of Fairview Road you would understand completely.
You see my office is in a building that is about 30 yards from the tracks and as required by law the train engineer must blow the whistle as he nears the intersection of Fairview road. When approaching from the south it's not too bad if you are indoors, but when the train is headed south it can be an ear shattering experience. If you happen to be standing in the parking lot where a 30 foot tall cinder block retaining wall creates an amplifying "surround sound" experience, you best cover your ears or risk having to say "huh" the rest of your life. If you are inside, forget talking on the phone or having a conversation or trying to make an audio edit. You just pause and wait for it to be over.
Norfolk Southern invited Five Points area neighbors to their summer picnic on July 24th to help garner support against putting the forthcoming high speed rail on their tracks. The nice gentleman from Northfolk Southern explaining the large map of proposed routes informed me that if the Norfolk Southern tracks are chosen, the Fairview Road intersection will be closed and the building that I'm sitting in now will be taken for right of way. Well that surely solves the train whistle issue now doesn't it! But it opens up a whole new can of worms that I'll save for another session.
I wanted to talk about the whistle, so I mentioned I had read somewhere that there was some special safety equipment that could be installed at a crossing that would allow the engineer to fore go blowing the train's whistle. His reply was, "yes that's true, it's called a "quiet zone" and it requires a Four-Quadrant Gate system, and that, creates a funding issue". I quickly realized the the "funding issue" would be the community's. He explained further that NS has hundreds of crossings through neighborhoods and that these four-quadrant gates costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to install, so it's not feasible for NS to fund them because there's really nothing in it for them other than to be a better neighbor. While I'm all for being a better neighbor I do understand the businessman's point of view also.
So we will just have to wait until the NCDOT decides the fate of the Fairview Road crossing to even realistically wish for a "quiet zone" Meanwhile if you are anywhere near my office when the train comes, cover your ears, or better still " Run and hide your heads"
Warren Gentry
