Editor:
Re: Life along a rail route, April 27 letters.
I read David Johnson’s letter regarding the train whistles and couldn’t agree more.
The trains have been around a long time and people have also lived with them a long time, without complaint until lately.
As mentioned, when looking for a home in White Rock do people not research the area or spend any time there before they purchase and then complain about the noise? I knew someone who purchased a townhouse in Fort Langley very close to the tracks, and then complained about the train! Well duh… you didn’t see the tracks? She sold within months of moving in.
Train whistles can be loud and annoying if you’re trying to sleep, but I can hear them from where I live and honestly, I like the sound. I’ve lived in three different homes in close proximity to the trains with no thought of complaining.
Unfortunately, the ocean view does come with the price of whistles and trains.
Rerouting the trains? To where? So that someone else can complain about the whistles?
Home buyers and real-estate agents – do your due diligence and research the area. You wouldn’t buy under a flight path if you didn’t like the sound of planes soaring overhead and definitely couldn’t call the airport/airlines to have the planes rerouted!
And yes, please look both ways before crossing, as well as stay off the tracks.
Barbara Christie, Surrey
• • •
In answer to David Johnson’s response to my letter (Silence heard on train whistles, April 18), yes, I guess I am “entitled”… entitled to an opinion.
Johnson would like to shout down my opinion because he may have lived in the area longer? I’ve lived in White Rock eight years. Is that long enough, or does it take 10, 15, 20 to be a legit White Rocker?
During those eight years, the noise of the train whistles has increased markedly due to more coal train traffic and energetic and nervous engineers.
My opinion is shared by my neighbours, some with the writer’s esteemed 25-year qualifications.
My point is that we can make all of our lives better here by silencing most of the train whistles. The full control of the pedestrian crossings with lights, barricade arms and soft tone bells will allow the trains to pass through with minimal whistling.
I don’t need a patronizing history lesson. I know the railway was here first, and I know the railways built Canada. I do not support relocating the railways, and have previously voiced that, in this very paper, as a costly pie-in-the-sky vision.
As I sit writing, I’m hearing the belligerent whistling of a coal train going by. Some engineers toot nicely, while others seem to be refighting the War of 1812 using U.S.-based BNSF as a proxy!
This is nothing at all like Johnson’s nostalgic remembrance of days gone by in a small town.
The funds are budgeted and available. So, let’s just get on with the crossing work.
Mike Campbell, White Rock