Looking out my car window; the noise was incredible.
I’ve had to wait at more train crossings since moving to Norman six weeks ago than in all of the rest of my life. In fact, within a week I had waited at a crossing more than ever before. The tracks run right through town, diagonally NW to SE, so that even though I am pretty much due north (well ok, slightly NE) of campus, I have to cross the tracks twice a day. There is one road that goes under the tracks, but, because of the aforesaid diagonal nature of the tracks, it would be a longer route.
Today was the first day I was in the front row; I had been waiting to take pictures.
Train coming
The noise level was atrocious, though. Somehow when you’re on the train it doesn’t seem that loud. And the whistles sound nice when you’re travelling. Kind of like horns on a ship; let’s you know you’re getting somewhere, and more somewheres, as the whistle blows whenever you go through a town. Not a lot of towns from Chicago to California, so we appreciated the whistles when we made that trip. Here they are a nuisance. Even from the house (windows closed, central air on) you can hear the trains. It took me a week to sleep through the night trains.
Train going, and going
No caboose, or pushing engine, so I haven’t got a shot of the end of the train.
The station is in the middle of town, about 3 miles from the house, so all train-riders can easily visit. Of course you’ve got to get to Oklahoma first.
I was listening to NPR on the way home today. At OK state level they have a “Secretary of Energy and Environment” … which seems a bit at cross purposes. The radio hosts asked the current holder of the position; he said good energy production is good for the environment. But then they asked him for an opinion on climate change and so forth. Answer, to paraphrase: Oh, I believe we affect the environment with everything we do, every day of our lives. But more than that? Well, stuff like global warming, I just don’t know about it.
One of the worst things about living here (and don’t get me wrong; it’s a great place to live in many regards) is the stench. Yesterday morning the air reeked of petroleum when I went out to pick up the paper (one of the nice things about living in a small city next to a bigger metropolitan area is that you get the Wall Street Journal early in the morning). Felt like we were living by a refinery, or maybe east of Bakersfield (though I don’t know that east of Bakersfield smells this bad). Thank goodness for that central air/heating.
Love the sounds of train whistles at night. We heard them all the time when I was small. My mother used to tell me to imagine where the train was going, where it had been,and where we could go if we were on board. What an opportunity for dreams.
Love the sounds of train whistles at night. We heard them all the time when I was small. My mother used to tell me to imagine where the train was going, where it had been,and where we could go if we were on board. What an opportunity for dreams.