Then Jason will be the RR's best friend with that evidence for the lawsuit. Because you know in the idiot in the car's eyes it's always the trains fault!

I mean its going like 4 mph austin powers slow death scene

But a life is more important than a train. They should stop and protect. As freight traffic in the country continues to dwindle to truck, the time to stop and protect won't make any difference.

@@SWITCHMASHER Most rail traffic in San Diego is passenger, including LRT. Railroading is thriving in southern California like never before. Stopping passenger trains and LRT is illogical.

Someone should report this to the same person at the FRA that investigated San Diego's Quiet Zone. I do wonder if the low speed of the trains had something to do with it, but there's definitely something fishy with this one.

@@stphinkle - The rail speed limit in the NO HORN ZONE in downtown SD is only 15 MPH. That E&LS train looks to be going about 30 MPH, and it is a heavy freight train, not a 6 car Surfliner.

As a Danish citizen I´m amazed how safety is underrated in America. Regulations are there for a reason.

THANK YOU! I was going to ask the same thing too but checked the comments first. The crossings don't even have basic crossing gates, much less four-way protection. Does somebody WANT to get their butts sued off when a collision happens?

Just so you know, trains have to honk before a road, they have to honk thru the road...so when you have streets like this, it will be a constant horn all the way, even at that slow speed.

they're supposed to have proper gates, and quiet zone status SHOULDN'T mean trains cannot use their horns if someone is being an idiot.

@@themagitechie9955 I don't know what constitutes "proper" gates to you, but I don't mean the usual one on one side of the tracks and one on the other. I mean literally complete road blockage on both sides of the track with something more substantial than a flimsy arm with a couple of lights on it.

It's called, "Culling the herd" or "Mercy Killing"! Sorry, Zucchiniburg ! Offends your 'delicate senses', feel free, to step in front of a "HIGHBALLING", SD 90, and hold up your hand!

I'm out in the sticks too, most rural crossings have a sign and that's it.

You only have lava trains going through lava tunnels to cross.

You just proved why "bicycle riders" are so dam stupid! You state no no no no EXCEPT FOR THE SIGNALS....tards, like you, will ALWAYS ignore lights,signs, signals, crossing gates ect.

I wish I could put a stop to the ruthless engine drivers that pass my house and blow their horns as annoyingly as possible at all hours. Some of them blow their horns respectfully with a little da.......da......dah. And others blare them with what sounds like a half mile of blahhhhhhhhh.blahhhhhhhhh.blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhj. It's like the driver wants to share his miserable life with everyone who lives near the tracks. I can see why they have a no horn zone in that town.

A slowly moving train with a length of several miles takes ages to pass.

@@FrankHeuvelman well, that CERTAINLY makes the risk of losing your life worth it! At least you'll NEVER be in a hurry, again!

@@vernalc2449 I didn't say it was a valid argument.

@@FrankHeuvelman just emphasizing your point.

@@vernalc2449 Why? People in general don't listen anyway. Most have a 'far from my bed' attitude towards real physical trauma. Wait, was that a pleonasm? And what am I doing here in the first place..?

Because multiple studies done by the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration show that train horns reduce the number of crossing accidents. When the horns stopped being sounded at many crossings, it often resulted in 2x-3x the number or crossing accidents. I think this is because the sound of a train horn instantly puts the image of a train into someones head. Or because it tells people the train is close, and people are not as willing to try and beat it then. Another reason is if a crossing has two or more tracks, the possibly of a second train showing up after the first appears. A second train sounding it's horn tells people another train is approching, so people are much less likely to immedietly drive across when the first train ends. Even in quiet zones where train horns are banned, trains are allowed to sound horns when passing another train at a crossing. Basically, it's proven to save lives.

In countries with fenced and gated tracks, horn blowing isn't so important. And in some, not used at all for crossings. In the US they have the mandatory 2x long, 1 short, 1 long for every crossing. It does seem somewhat over the top to those of us outside the USA, especially through towns with closely-spaced crossings. But that's how it is. In Australia it's usually one medium-length blast several hundred metres before the crossing and another, often shorter, just before the crossing. Seems to be to the discretion of the crew how long and frequent the horn is sounded.

America is LOADED with really bad drivers. Some are even Darwin Award winners. The excess horn blowing is an attempt to keep the body count low.

Depends on what railroad owned the locomotive before

It could be an ex-Milwaukee Road locomotive.

In some cases, the original owner specified a smaller fuel tank to reduce the locomotive's weight for use on branch lines that still had lightweight jointed rail. Most of those lines have since been upgraded or abandoned.

Tooth picks?

more nerve wracking for the railroad legal staff..railroads are favorite lawsuit targets. I installed grade-crossing cameras in locomotives as an electrician and did so in almost every locomotive shopped to our diesel shop just for that reason.

why? ever see trains in asia?

horn is 120 dB at 100' , bell is 105 ish at the same distance.

lights barriers ,some people don't hear

Cars keep getting better at keeping "noise" out, that it impacts the ability to hear emergency vehicle sirens, the train horns, and truck horns, all of which are louder than that bell ringing.

A bell and a horn sound different to drivers. The bell sounds like "Excuse me, there's a train approaching the crossing, it might be wise not to cross the track right now." whereas the horn sounds like "IM A F***ING TRAING GET OUT OF THE GODDAMN WAY!"

@@jhonbus if you can hear

There is a line in a famous musical which although not about trains does offer some explanation, "Tradition!" And then there's the factor of Americans not being Japanese.

The Japanese government has spent the equivalent of billions of dollars to eliminate many railroad crossings from major roads (with the exception of streetcars/trams of course) and replacing them with overpasses. Also, for the remaining crossings, all drivers in Japan are legally required to come to a complete stop and look both ways before proceeding.

There are major differences in societal norms between Japan and the United States. Respect for Authority, obeying The Rules, and concern for the safety and welfare of others have been ingrained in Japanese culture for thousands of years. America, on the other hand has many citizens who, although still in a minority (I hope), have little or no respect for authority, hate rules, hate government, consider themselves "entitled" to do anything they like, and have no concern for the safety or welfare of others. Plus, in the event a motorist causes an accident, here in the U.S. they are much more likely to sue the railroad for damages.

All true, but you still occasionally read or hear about some random Japanese guy running amuck with a sword or knife. Crazy and stupid are truly international.

@@evanstauffer4470 I've got a healthy distrust of authority, a healthy skepticism of arbitrary rules, a healthy distrust of government in general, but you best bet I'm stopping for a train, because trains don't care about any of the aforementioned.

Pembine? Hey I've been through there!!! Escanaba & Lake Superior?

Advance yellow *(RXR)* and mee-mool lights *(o)T(o)* arenough warning. No need for horns blasting everywhere and not at just the grade crossing.

Gates arextremely expen$ive and require frequent inspection and maintenence. Unneeded. Mee-mool lights *(o)T(o)* not enough warning for you?

Do you expect gates at Stop signs or even at traffic lights? The Railroad Crossing crossbuck on its own really should be enough for people to slow down and check for trains before crossing and treat like any other intersection without traffic lights. Flashing lights were originally only used at busier crossings so that everybody didn't need to slow down and look for trains which would hold up traffic. But now they're expected everywhere.

Pulpwood is like corn...planted, quick growth, harvest. Slash pines, loblolly, etc grow in a decade or two. Replanted and thick green land two years later.

Building bridges and viaducts cost money. Money that the shareholders prefer to put into their pockets as dividend. It's called capitalism.

@FrankHeuvelman Sure, and thanks to the tax cuts they don't even pay their fair share of taxes. That is how much America loves it's super rich and doesn't care about infrastructure.

Where are you going to get the electricity when the Americans are tearing down their power plants and trying to cover their land with windmills that are already getting destroyed by their tornados? They want everyone to drive electric cars at the same time that they tell people not to charge them to avoid blackouts.

​@@allenra530Electrified freight trains are not a new invention. They are profitable in many other countries and have been so even before most of the windmills were built.

@@allenra530 You're such a GOOD, LOYAL, and OBEDIENT magaT cultist! Repeating what #Vonshitzenpants says, word for word. You forgot to add that windmills kill whales and refineries NEVER blow up, catch fire, or FAIL as they did in Texas a couple of years ago because BIG OIL didn't want to spend the money winterizing them!

Is it owned or leased? If leased, the lessor might not permit painting.

​@erie910 E&LS owns all the logos on their roster. They did lease each of 500-503 to start, but eventuality paid them off in a lease-purchase type agreement. BTW, 501 was not a demonstrator unit. It was built as MILW 22 in '73. Then became SOO 6306 after it bought remains of MILW. SOO traded thex-MILW unit for newer power, which EMD placed in their lease fleet as 6306 after some refreshing. See the "EMD Leasing" is still on cab sides. The unit was sold to Independent Leasing service, from which E&LS ultimately purchased the unit.

IF.... if E&LS had the cashflow for paint, that $ would be better spent on track maintenance. A properly performed strip, prep & paint application takes a Loco OOS for about 2 weeks & runs about $100k each.

Yes, I agree if they have the money, ELS should improve their physical plant first! That is more important than repainting equipment. What I can't understand is why isn't our Governor & the State of Michigan doing more to improve the RR's to insure the safety of our towns, against Hazmat spills, like the one in East Palistne, Ohio?

@@joebliss3609Why?……(Democrats)