You get get to the age when you are forever saying, “What in the Sam Hell?” You’re thinking life is too short people, why do you have to be so damn stupid? 3 years ago RAGBRAI (a rolling bicycle powered drunk fest) came through Ames and stopped for the night. The main camp was at Brookside Park, right next to the train tracks. At 3:30 in the morning the train came through. It must have been a heavy one, it took nearly 20 minutes to get through town. It blew its horn every 3 seconds, for a 4 second blow. All – the – way – through – town (half a dick does it for half second blows all the way through town). Ain’t no way anyone was sleeping after that. It was a clear, quiet summer night where you could hear a squirrel fart at fifty yards. What kind of Dick does that? With crossing arms and localized warning bells there’s absolutely no legal requirement for Dick to wake the town.
That started me on my learning quest to find out what kind of idiot does that? Then it started coming back to me. 25 years ago the Ames City Council actually tried to deal with this. The second picture above is a fruit of that project: “No Horn Crossing” signs. They made a big production of it for “downtown” people complaining about being unable to sleep because of train noise. They talked about crossing specific bells, crossing guards and flashing lights. Because of their new and improved genius, trains would no longer have to blow their horn. And for the most part it worked. Except for one Dick.
And they didn’t. Except for 1 and 1/2 men (boys really). Probably 30 trains a day go through Ames, depending on the day of the week, Thursdays and Saturdays seeming to have the most traffic. Those guys are mature adults and emotionally balanced. But! There’s one guy… on RFD’s train show they talk about RR people can tell who’s driving by the way the horn blows, everyone has their signature. Another thing I found out is that regulations are different for a “protected” crossing (gate arms), than a unprotected crossing, no arms. Then they wrote the regulations over a hundred years ago when they only hired men to drive trains.
They wrote in a caveat, assuming only adults would ever be driving trains. They said in effect, if something comes up, that we didn’t anticipate, and you need to blow your horn to warn someone, blow that horn! Union Pacific has a couple of morons that took that to mean they had carte blanche to blow their damn horn whenever they felt like it! That’s not what it says! “And if, for any reason you see a need in an emergency, the horn can be blown” (rough translation). Well Dick and a half see a need every morning the entire way through Ames. That’s not how emergencies work. Emergencies don’t happen every morning, the entire way through town.
And of course the Federal Agency that deals with trains doesn’t give a shit. The City Council threw up their hands. The police could probably issue a disturbing the peace citation but never would. The people of Ames could get off their ass and complain, but never will. And I’m left shaking my head. I live a mile and a quarter from the tracks and it wakes me up, I can only imagine what its like for those in the immediate vicinity. Seriously. Can you imagine what its like for people in the first 4 – 6 blocks of the tracks?? I can’t imagine. I remember when I was looking for a house, the 3 criteria was: Not in the flood plain. Away from the students. And away from the tracks.
That was 30 years ago. I used to think I was such a poor sleeper for other reasons. I used to think the reason I slept longer on weekends was because my body was finally catching up for the lack of sleep through the week. Uh-huh. It was because dipshit didn’t work Saturday and Sunday mornings! It took me forever to figure out I didn’t happen to wake up when the train horn was blowing, I woke up because the train horn was blowing. So in the end I’m left shaking my head. Why do the powers that be let one Dick ruin an entire town? On July 29, 2019 TV channel 13 did a story on the downtown revitalization project in Marshalltown. Turning lofts and old warehouses into downtown apartments. It never took off. Know why? Funny thing, no one wanted to live downtown, the trains made it unbearable.
Iowa life 
I used to work at Harold Pike Contruction Company in Ames over twenty years ago. The Pike Construction office and warehouse are right next to the railroad tracks–just south of the tracks. It seemed like a train came through there every 15 minutes. We would be talking in the carpenter shop and then a train would come through. We would have to stop talking till the train passed.
I have heard that the Union Pacific line that goes through Ames is the second busiest line in the United States. I think the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe line that runs from Texas to California is supposed to be the busiest line in the United States.
I think at one time Pike and Consamus Dental might have been in the same little strip off Clark. Second busiest?? Just our luck. Later there was a chiropractor there too I think. Nebraska has some of the neatest rail lines. You can see them for miles! And some old wooden bridges.