17 July 2006
Blowing the Whistle on Sleepless Nights
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Waterdown resident Ed Mizzi is looking forward to some peace
and quiet once passing trains stop whistling behind his house.
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Hamilton Ontario - In the soundtrack of Elva Boyle's
life, there has almost always been a train whistle.
It was blowing when she settled on the edge of Waterdown 45 years ago and hasn't missed a day since.
"We've raised a family with it," the 77-year-old said on the porch of her Parkside Drive home.
"It's part of everyday living."
Not for long. The rail crossing will soon be silent.
The city has signed an agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway to cease the whistle thanks to safety upgrades at the level crossing.
Boyle points to a line of newer houses across the road as the ones that drove the change.
"The city people come out and (they've) never been near a track."
Ed Mizzi knew there was a rail line in his back yard when he bought his house 13 years ago. But back then there were only one or
two trains a day.
Now between four and nine pass on an average day.
"And I hear every one."
Mizzi started complaining to Flamborough council about the racket more than a decade ago. He'd almost given up the fight after
hearing the same refrain: You'll get used to it.
"I still haven't gotten used to it," he said. "It's the nighttime ones that are killers."
Councillor Margaret McCarthy picked up the cause, pushing it along the city's priority list. Councillors voted for silence last
week, giving Mizzi the pleasure of telling his neighbours that a better night's sleep and open windows are ahead.
"It will be nice I'm hoping."
But a few doors down, Linda Eisbrenner has already made peace with the whistle. She's signed the occasional petition to get rid of
it, but says it doesn't really matter to her if it blows or goes anymore.
"You just get used to it," she said, admitting she wasn't always so ambivalent. The sign with the big W telling the
drivers to sound the whistle is right in her back yard. Decades ago, she and her husband dug it up and moved it farther down the
track.
CPR moved it back. They tried again a few years later. CPR put it back again.
Neighbour Barb VanMol has also become accustomed to the whistle.
"It comes with the community," she said, adding it took a house guest to remind the family of the racket.
"He thought it was a tornado or something."
VanMol's more worried about safety than noise, she says as a midday train chugs by her house, pulling its whistle six times.
"If that's gonna save someone's life... you can sleep through that."
But the whistle is now redundant, said McCarthy. Warning lights and mechanical arms have been installed at the crossing to stop
traffic.
CPR also wanted the driveway of the Opta Minerals plant moved farther from the tracks. The work was completed last fall, removing
the final hurdle for stopping the whistle.
The city conducted a safety audit on the crossing this spring and sent the results off to CPR. They will share the cost of
insurance.
About 10 percent of the 400 communities the company passes through have banned train whistles.
CPR just has to notify its drivers and the whistle should be history by the end of the summer, said McCarthy.
"I'd love it to stop today," she said. "It's no longer necessary."
Few in the neighbourhood expect to miss the whistle, but Boyle knows she will. "It seems like country, like
home."
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