  Ok, first a little business, then a little rambling. My friend Scott is a dick, BUT, since I am one of the best friends any guy could have (are you listening Kasey Kahne?? ) I am still going to do as promised....Scott, today's meek blogging efforts are dedicated to you and the "stupid computer" you are trying to install.
Ok, train whistles. In my home town (Kasey Kahne - that would be in Wisconsin) we don't have much of a railcar transport system, at least not as large as in Iowa and Nebraska, so I wasn't familiar with trains and their aforementioned whistles until I began my undergraduate program at Iowa State University (Go Cyclones!!). Upon moving to Ames Iowa, I discovered how important the BNSF is to the state of Iowa. Ames is a relatively small town with two major BNSF tracks running right through town. It was kind of annoying when you needed to meet your peeps at the local drinking establishment downtown, or you were late for class and you lived not so much on campus, but other than that, not really a huge deal. My senior year, I lived on the edge of town, in a duplex that was one small block from the tracks and a RR crossing.
Fear not loyal blog readers, I was on the proverbial "right side of the tracks". Knowing full well that the trains went by at least every twenty min. (on a good day), we could still sleep with the windows open at night. The trains never shook the walls and the train whistle didn't both you.....because of an amazing and wonderful investment that the City Of Ames had made....a little something I like to call electric train whistles.
These humdingers were hooked up to the same thing that triggers the arms of the RR crossing bars and the flashing lights, so as soon as the train hit that, the bars went down and the electric train whistle sounded. This electric whistle made it so that the train conductor did not have to toot his horn. The sound of the whistle was like a train, but was specially designed to direct the sound down the road of the crossing, and not let the sound spread out all over hell.
What a wonderful thing. I would love to go to the Lincoln City Council and recommend the installation of these babies near my apartment. And here is why: So there is a BNSF line (two tracks)with a RR crossing at least .50 miles from my apartment in Lincoln.
The trains go by there at 25-30 min. intervals, 24 hours a day. I know this because I have been woken up at night by every single one of those suckers. If you are in my apartment, and the windows are open and the train goes by, you will swear the train is in the parking lot......regardless of the fact that it is at least .50 miles away and down a hill from me. There are people that live in nice houses right next to the RR crossing. I feel even worse for them.
Maybe they will jump on my electric train whistle bandwagon too.... Furthermore....if my electric train whistle campaign can't get a foothold, then I would like to have a little chitty-chat with some of the train conductors. I know that they are just doing their job, but for the love of God, is it really necessary to do four to eight little sharp hoots and then blare the SOB for two miles before and after the crossing? It's like Ron White says: " HEARD YA ". So, I realize that this hasn't solved my problem, but as I can hear the train going by right now, at least complaining about it on my blog has made me feel a little better.
Maybe, if I wanted to be really childish about my angst towards the train, I could run down there and throw rocks at it. 
