Hey Sloopy,Quick question, was just sitting around watching football tonight and it seemed like there were a bunch of LOUD freight trains rolling through the Sloop. My condo isn't really near the tracks (about 4 blocks away) but I hear the horns non-stop tonight. Any ideas? Thanks for your input.
And another reader writes:
Can you write on your blog commenting on the trains blowing their horns for 10-15 seconds at a time every night? I can't figure out why the trains have been doing this lately...
And another:
Has anyone else noticed the excessive train horn blowing that has been coming from the west side of the Sloop?! Any idea what this could be or how we can make it stop? I've especially noticed it at night from about 8-10pm and it has been much louder, frequent and more obnoxious that usual. It seems to be coming from the train station just south of Roosevelt and Clark.
We haven't heard anything, but we imagine some other readers have...if so let us know what you've heard this and have any insight as to why this might be happening.
(Hat Tip: MT, MH & SZ!)
38 comments:
Move back to your suburbs then if you want piece and quiet. The freight trains have been rolling through the South Loop for years and years, before you were here. The South Loop was never meant to be residential. Don't like it? Move away. You people complain about everything.
I'm at 14th and Michigan and was annoyed by it as well last night but have no answer for why they were so sustained. A cow on the tracks?
Did anyone else hear blast noises on Sunday afternoon? There were numerous noises which kind of sounded like fireworks, from south of 18th St.
Although it was during the Lions-Bears game, it wasn't fireworks because I was watching the game on TV and the noises happened at random times. Also, the blast noises continued well after the game. I thought maybe there was a movie shooting but I couldn't find any info on that. I heard similar noises several weeks ago but I assumed it was due to Transformers filming. Maybe it was some street fest fireworks or something?
@RealSlooper
Great analysis, I can tell you really put some thought into your response. Clearly, the readers are not concerned with the existence of train tracks or the inherent noises, but the unusual increase in train horns on a particular date at a particular time for prolonged periods of time.
Claiming you are an original Slooper isn't much to brag about, you should feel lucky people from the suburbs were willing to invest in this area and gentrify the cesspool that existed previously.
14th and State for years and have heard train horns from time to time which is to be expected. This last week I have heard the same change in behavior as well. I've gone out on my deck to pinpoint the source but it is difficult with all the tall buildings redirecting sounds but my best guess is the metra station right next to the river at 14th Street. Its a 5 second loud horn at 30 second intervals, for about an hour or more. Its funny, I pictured a "cow on the tracks" (or person or car) scenario as well.
Maybe it's "RealSlooper" that should quit blowing his horn... big dummy! And to "MarkChicago", the SLoop wasn't created by suburbanites, get your history straight! The city purchased the land for the first developments from George Halas. Suburbanites wouldn't dream of living here...
The topic is about the recent rise in train horn sounding over the last couple weeks. I thought it was because my windows are open again after a couple humid months kept my a/c on, and I just didn't notice. But there is something strange going on when the horns sound for such long periods of time. I believe the old single-track train bridge adjacent to 18th street is the culprit. There might be construction or repairs there causing the trains to sound longer warnings.
@RealSlooper ...you are a tool..why even bother writing something out like that. Its amazing how everytime someone addresses a simple concern about noise in OUR NEIGHBOORHOOD ...where we LIVE...and SLEEP...some DB like you bothers to state...hey why dont you move back to the suburbs?? The SL was never meant to be residential? thats like saying Manhattan was supposed to be a native american village...why are there skyscrapers there?? lol
@Anon on September 14, 2010 9:09 AM ....those explosions you hear a single ball fireworks shot off from Chinatown. The Chinese like explosions..i know..its being going on during the weekends since i can remember
This is happening every night, for about the past week, between 8 and 8:30. this is a new, prolonged and LOUD horn. I am a longtime south looper and got used to the usual sounds, but this is annoying!
We were sitting outside eating dinner at a restaurant on Taylor St in Little Italy and could STILL hear the train horns! I don't think the decibel level needs to be that loud and obnoxious, esp since none of the other trains' horns are this bad.
@Anon
Let's not to get into the weeds about who developed the land, my point was about who lives here now.
"Move to the suburbs" is not a constructive way to deal with negative externalities, however, it comes up often in these threads.
Definitely been an uptick in horn frequency and length in the last week or so. -Chicagoan for 41 yrs
In reference to the fireworks:
I live at 18th and Michigan, and I hear fireworks from the Sox games all the time. Sometimes if the wind is blowing right, I can even hear the Navy Pier fireworks. That just tells you how far away sound can travel.
I haven't been home lately to hear the train horns though.
You trains get off my lawn!
Quit crying you overly sensitive yuppies. You better address Fioretti about this like you all do with every other minor issue.
I guess all of you are crabby, uptight, a-holes due to the excessive loss of sleep due to the train horns.
You all are pathetic and need to move out of the South Loop and even better yet out of Chicago.
You all are the same people complaining about chicken bones on the street and lights flashing in the unit on Prairie. Wah wah.
RealSlooper = Neighborhood creep
Realslooper's tone is a bit uncalled for but I agree with his message. Sloopin.com has become a b*tch fest about whats wrong with the neighborhood.
Please dont move away though we have enough vacant condos.
@RealSlooper, I like you. I live in the sloop too, we should get together sometime. I lived in the burbs but moved back to the city recently with my wife, kids, and pets. I was able to find a garage for our mini-van and beemer in the sloop too! Love the hood, hat the poseurs! Let's get together for dinner sometime and talk trash about these poseurs!
I heard the long train horn last night for the first time. I only noticed it because it seemed particularly long, otherwise it likely would have remained background noise. I for one will not be worrying about it. If you have your windows open before 10 PM, you should probably expect to hear some noise.
As for the blasts, they are often fireworks from Soldier Field. Luckily football games are not that frequent! People at Lake Point Tower in Streeterville have to deal with the same thing from Navy Pier fireworks much more often.
Where's the wahmbulance when you need it?
@RealSlooper
When you're having conversations with yourself as Anon, use spell-check on your Boost mobile phone.
@Whining Anon
Sorry every Sloopin.com post doesn't give you double-rainbow wood. It's a blog, people discuss things...some of them bad(loud).
The horns are going off AGAIN. Even with all our windows closed, the horns are increasingly annoying.
@Real Slooper: this has nothing to do with losing sleep. In fact, if it was at 2AM, it probably wouldn't be much of an issue as most working people would be sleeping right through it. But it's hard to relax after a hard day's work with blaring horns going off every 15 mins between 8-10PM.
Would just like some info as to whether this is temporary or if it's gonna be like this every night...
We have a noise ordinance that these horns are clearly in violation of when they blast continuously from 7pm to 10pm.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/doe/supp_info/noise_ordinance.html
Upset? Call 311 and complain.
Unfortunately the City has no jurisdiction in regards to the trains (non-cta) we'll just have to get use to it. Most people call it city life...oh well.
"Under federal regulations, engineers must sound the horn to warn railroad maintenance employees or contractors working on the tracks."
Any idea if any work is being done on the tracks? If so, then it is temporary, so we should deal with it to ensure the safety of those working on the tracks.
http://www.fra.dot.gov/Pages/1773.shtml
This is akin to moving in next to a stockyard and complaining about the smell.
Do your homework next time.
Sunday's fireworks were pairs of (very loud) skyrockets fired at intervals along the route of the Festa Maria Incoronata procession, which started somewhere in Bridgeport and ended at St. Therese Chinese Catholic Church in Chinatown. That church was originally Santa Maria Incoronata back when it was an Italian neighborhood.
As usual, or alderman has done absolutely nothing about it - even before he was running for mayor!!! Oh Wait!! He was running for mayor from the first day he got elected as alderman. So much for the 2nd Ward's version of Hope and Change.
I agree. Fioretti has been a HUGE HUGE disappointment. He needs to go. I vote for [fill in the blank with your choice, as anyone would be better than Fioretti].
All you people hating on Fioretti must not have lived here during the days of Haithcock. The difference is night and day. Now, we actually have an alderman who responds to phone calls and emails. I'll take Fioretti all day, thank you very much.
It's pretty amusing how the anonymous posting problem on this website has now come full circle.
The Alderman has done nothing about what? The train noise? Come on... the trains are blowing their horns to piss you people off. What exactly do you want him to do about it?
I like Fioretti and I think he has done a great job growing the area. The previous poster is right Haithcock was an absolute nightmare.
I moved here under Haithcock and I agree that the neighborhood is a ton better under Fioretti. I have only once contacted his office about something and he picked up the phone when I called and let him know my concerns. He actually gave me his personal email address to follow up with him on it so it didnt get lost.
I dont want him as mayor because I want him to stick around as our alderman
Fioretti is going a very good job . . . calls to his office get answered/returned and issues get addressed in an a timely fashion.
Despite citywide cutbacks, my (Printers Row) neighborhood looks/functions better than it did during the Haithcock-era.
Write your Congressman or Senator, this is not a local issue.
The horn blasts continue! Has anyone solved this mystery yet?
Yes, Amtrak is testing locomotive horns at its 14th & Lumber shops, to be sure they meet FRA standards. I guess they check a few each evening.
Thank you Dennis for the info.
RealSlooper ... nice try, douche nozzle. What does "RealSlooper" even mean? You are one of a select few real people inhabiting the South Loop and everyone else is imaginary?
Please choose which most accurately describes your situation:
a) You could no longer afford to live in the South Loop when your rent went up and what was not "meant to be residential" became a home to us "overly sensitive yuppies". I wasn't aware that yuppies even exist anymore ... are we still in the 80s? I suppose if you call having a "job" and paying a "mortgage" and loving city life is what characterizes a yuppie, then guilty as charged.
b) You actually live in your mom's basement in the suburbs and like to stir s*** up on the internet due to a lack of anything resembling a life.
c) You were lucky enough to have bought into real estate back when the South Loop was a cesspool and there was nothing even resembling a neighborhood in this area and someday you will be able to sell your home for a handsome profit no thanks to all of us "overly sensitive yuppies" who helped drive your property value up.
Whatever it is that's making you so ridiculously bitter I hope you find a cure for it, or else it may be time for you move it on out.
D. Real South Looper is with the GSLA, who could give two cents for what residents think.
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