http://www.journal-news.net/news/story/121...se_121104_n.asp

In this article residents near railroad tracks are complaing about the noise coming from idling passenger trains that sit over night near the Martinsburg train station.

Am I the only person who reconizes that when you move next to a railroad (and it's not like they just laid the track, I think it's been there since the Civil War) you might have to deal with noises from trains, just like if you live next to an airport you might have to deal with noise from airplanes! Get a grip people.

BTW, this appeared in the Herald, and their article talked about how Boyd Avenue is the quintessential American street, but anybody from Martinsburg can tell you how Boyd Ave is more like Johnathon Street in Hagerstown. Here's that article http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=display...672&format=html

I'm afraid I don't agree with you on that one. If the facility was there before you purchased the land, then just as you consider the future of your property, you must also consider the future of the adjoining properties. Particularly if those properties are airports or railroad yards - it's unreasonable to think that the use of those particular properties would decline as time goes by and population grows.

In effect, this is a similar situation to the rezoning of the farmland that is such an issue in Hagerstown. They want to make the railroad's property less productive and less useful for their convenience. However, it has been done - National Airport (now Reagan Airport) was restricted from sending or receiving flights after 10PM years ago. When National was built, there was nothing around it, now they are just packing more and more stuff in there.

I have to admit that I wouldn't particularly want to hear a locomotive idling all night either, but you have to be fair to everybody.

If you live next to a railroad there will be trains, especially if your house is near the station which is the last stop for commuter rail. Get over it! My house is somewhat near City Hospital, but I don't complain to the city because ambulances are coming by at every time of the night because I chose to live in a house that is close to the hospital.

I don't know what the fuss is all about. When I lived in Michigan (Romulus,MI) our little home was surrounded by one of MI's largest train junction. All night and day I watched and listened to trains. I got so used to it I can not sleep without something in my room making a low humming noise (like a fan).

If you bought the house knowing that a train track or depot is behind you, I have no sympathy. Live with it.

So you are saying that once a company declares that a certain property is to be used for one purpose, it can only be used for that purpose forever? That's totally unreasonable.

If a company does not have the flexibility to use its assets to its best advantage, it will fail. And just because the property was not used for several years does not mean that it will stay that way. They should make every attempt to be considerate of their neighbors though; perhaps the neighbors can talk to the RR about installing sound barriers and everybody will be happy.

When I was a little girl, they built the DC Beltway directly behind our house. They came in and installed a tall fence, then began tearing up the woods behind our house. I can remember the big Caterpillar tractors tearing it up, and then when the Beltway was open, hearing tractor trailers on the Beltway at all hours of the day and night. Nobody ever asked my parents whether it was OK if they built the Beltway there, and it wasn't until about 15 years ago that they built sound barriers to buffer the noise. We got used to it.

Likewise, when the PA Turnpike was built, they made everybody who owned property adjoining it sign an agreement that they would not sue the Turnpike Commission for any damage to their property as a result of it being there. And that agreement flowed down to all future owners of the property, also. The property we owned until 5 years ago butted up to the Turnpike, and every time it rained, all of the water from the Turnpike came down on our property. The previous owner hand-dug huge ditches to funnel the water away from the house, but it still caused the septic system to run slow during the wet seasons. And the salt used during the winter to keep the road clear of snow got into a neighbor's well, and caused it to be unfit for use. But because of that Agreement signed in the 1940's, there was nothing we could do about it. So we lived with it.

People need to take responsibility for themselves and stop blaming others for their problems. They buy properties that they know are near airports, railroads, major roads, power lines, etc. and then complain because it's too noisy, it's too dangerous, it's too something-or-another. The airport/railroad/road/power line was there when they bought the property - did they think that the company was going to stop using their property because that one person moved in? C'mon use your noggin!

OK then, are you also agreeing that a company can complain about how citizen property owners use their private property, or does it only go 1 way - citizens can complain about how companies use their ground, but companies can't? As you said "Accepting responsibility goes all-ways". I'll bet you have definite opinions about that!

Personally, I don't want anybody telling me what I can do with my property, and in exchange for that, I expect that I cannot tell others what to do with their property. Believe me, if I didn't have that opinion, there are numerous properties I could complain about!

Chances are, the RR held a meeting to inform the community of the changes that they were planning to make to the property. If they didn't, then they briefed the city council or whatever Martinsburg has. Where were those citizens then? They don't care enough to do anything about it until it's actually in their yards. Then, the citizens want the companies (who have invested huge amounts of capital to make the changes the citizens didn't complain about when reasonable changes could have been negotiated) to eat the cost of those improvements because they were too lazy to show up and fight things when they began. And after the company is forced to eat those costs, the consumers complain because things cost more.

If those people missed their opportunity to do something about the change in use before it actually occurred because they were too lazy to go to the meetings, then they need to suck it up!

Aren't there standards that can be invoked to resolve this thing? From reading that first article, it sounds like there are, and the people are just asking for more monitoring to make sure the train yard obeys the law.

If there are standards in place, and they're complied with, then tough! If they're being violated, then the RR has to do something about it.

Seems to me it's just that simple. No need to criticise the people nor the railroad. Just obey the law and shut the ... up if it's being obeyed.

My beef is this, that exact railroad line has been in Martinsburg since I believe the 1840's or 1850's with a history of it being used as a major rail center. When these people bought their house they should've taken it into consideration that it's near a RR track, it's not like they all of a sudden built this new line where there has never been trains before. Plus, as Sheash pointed out, if they didn't want the trains to be stationed there overnight they should've gone to the hearing with the city council, but there were too lazy to do so.

Whoa, George! You don't need to be going down that road..... No, I don't know either the railroad OR the neighbors - I live in Southern Huntingdon County, PA. However, I've personally owned property in Fulton County, PA, Fairfax City, VA, and Prince George's County, MD, and grew up in PG County, MD. So I have a bit of experience with similar situations, OK?



Yes, In Fulton County and Huntingdon County, they could, because we don't have any ordinances. And we don't WANT any ordinances.

I, myself, went along with my neighbors to every city council meeting in Fairfax City trying to prevent them from building some condominiums because my son's walking route to school was on the road they were to be built on; the condominiums would quadruple the number of people living on the street, and therefore the number of cars my son would have to dodge to get to school. It turned out that we lost anyhow, but the City Council was made well aware of our feelings. I was down there last week - they've turned our old street into a speedway.

As for homeowners having a say in what businesses do, yes it does happen. In the Burke area of Fairfax County, the citizens control what is sold in the stores. I'm not talking about controlling porn, I'm talking about everything. You cannot get a slightly risque birthday card in Burke. All you have to do is read your newspaper to see that private property owners impose their wills of how commercial organizations may use their property all the time.

P.S. - IF frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their bottoms, too.

I grew up in a home where they built I-95 practically in my parents' back yard (well, more like a quarter of a mile from it, but with only a thin line of trees between them and it). The peaceful forest was torn down and a huge superhighway was built. But my parents knew from the start that it was a right-of-way for the highway so what could they do? Well...

They did what these people ought to, IMO, and what it appears that they ARE doing. They had the State send someone out to do noise surveys, many many times. As a result of those noise surveys, a sound barrier was finally built that cut the noise levels down to within legal limits. That's just how these things ought to be done, IMO.

All of the other arguments are well and good, but there are standards of what's considered acceptable that ought to be enforced. if they are, some people will still complain, but the RR will then have a powerful, positive defense.

Railways literally go through my college (the Tropicana OJ train) every day and night.

Horrible sounding French Gendarmes/Police/Sapeurs-Pompiers sirens blared every day and night in Paris.

Traffic blares every day and night by my house where I can see I-81 and I-70 from my front yard.

I've learned to adapt.