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Let me tell something about blowing the whistle. I was an engineer for CSX for 27 years, retired early 3 years ago. First, most young engineers are whistle happy, reminds me of guys who insist on driving a diesel pickup for the 'Look at me, mine's bigger than your's' factor. They like the attention and the ability to aggravate the hell out of people. On the flip side of the coin, is the fact that many morons are allowed to drive a car and they have this unfailing urge to get across the tracks, lest they be delayed for 10 minutes. When they lose the race, they lose big. When I had to walk back and see the hunk of twisted flesh enmeshed in a ball of tin that used to be a car, it's not something for the faint hearted. Especially when it's about 16 years old. Baby clothes strewn for 100 yards down the tracks is another haunt to relive over and over for the rest of your life...all because they just had to beat the train. One effort to prevent idiots from killing themselves is the use of a a very loud whistle, in hopes these folks will be jarred out of their stupor before running out in front of 35,000 tons of oncoming train. Now, all that being said, do you think I enjoyed listening to that horn? DUH! I am almost deaf because of it. Even at that, I tried to use it sparingly. Sure enough, the official crossing sequence is 2 longs, a short and a long. On our right of way, the whistle posts were 900 feet from the crossing. The rules specified that we would commence blowing at the post and until we passed the crossing. Engines now are equipped with a black box...similar to an airliner. It records everything thing an engineer does. When he sounds the whistle, the sequence, the duration, bell operation, the speed of the train, rate of acceleration and deceleration, throttle position, amperage generated, and brake application and the amount of air applied. Now, if Mr. Engineer hits one of these idiots, the first thing the NRSTB (National Rail Safety and Transportation Board) pulls, is that black box. They're going to see just what the engineer did to endanger the public. He sounds that whistle not only to clear the right of way...but to cover his a$$.
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