# Rochelle RR Park



## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

I have been watching the Trains webcam at the BNSF and UP crossing at the Rochelle, Illinois railroad park. The other night 6 trains came through in about 15 minutes. There are houses immediately adjacent to the diamonds, wouldn't that be a great place to live as a train fan? 

Except of course when you tried to sell the house. When the wife of prospective buyer asks, "honey, what is that noise outside and why is the house shaking", you tell them it is caused by loud flocks of birds in the trees and it will pass shortly?


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## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

Been there twice, it is a great place to railfan. But after a while I might even get sick of the noise. Few crossings real close, maybe if it was a quiet zone it would be more tolerable. I live within 1/2 mile of BNSF's Staples Sub where there's around 40-50 trains a day. Some nights the conditions are just right and the horn sounds like it's right out the bedroom window.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Here in town we're about two miles from where the main UP line crosses Kansas. On a clear night, the crossing blasts are quite audible. We almost bought a house about a tenth of a mile from one of those crossings, which would have been a problem: the trains come through between 4:30 AM and 11:30 PM and I'm pretty sure our kids wouldn't have slept through it--at least at first. I'm guessing whoever bought that house regrets it. There's a set of crossings right in the middle of town which service the grain elevators (three of them) a plastics manufacturer, and the refinery. Those are a lot closer, but fortunately are only in use during the day.

When we first moved here, the president of the bank was setting up an account for us (small-town America at its best) and she mentioned that she and her husband bought a house right next to the tracks (even closer than the one we looked at) and sold it two years later. When they went house hunting again, if her husband could even faintly hear a train horn from inside a prospective house, he said it wasn't the right place for them.

I love trains, but I need my sleep


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

I presently live within hearing distance of a line in south Jersey, so I occasionally hear the horns. 
I do remember living near a busy siding as a child in the early 50's, still coal fired locomotives on the line. I can still see my mother running around the house closing all the windows and trying to get some of the clothes off the line, after she determined the direction of the wind direction. LG


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## work4fil (Jan 4, 2008)

We lived at the end of Dunsmuir yard, where the SP would cut in their helpers to go up over the Siskiyous. All was well, listening to the trains coming and going, with the exception of Amtrak.

The eastbound Daylight would blow through at 1:50 AM and the westbound at 4:50 AM. It took me almost a year to get used to that whistle, which was far and away more obnoxious than the dozens of freights that rolled through day and night.

Now, we can barely hear the BNSF which is seven miles away.

Fil


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I used to think that would be neat till I saw a couple videos of a couple derailings where LPG tanks exploded and destroyed several nearby properties and then that crash in canada which destroyed the entire town made me totally rethink being next to busy tracks.


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