Shhh!

“I heard that lonesome whistle blow.” If you’re a Hillsborough resident you know that there are at least two things wrong with that refrain from the old Hank Williams tune. The first is the use of the word “lonesome”. There’s nothing lonesome about freight trains in Hillsborough. In fact it seems like there’s another one passing through every few minutes.

It wasn’t always like this of course. When I came to Hillsborough in 1993, railroad traffic was infrequent at best. I live near the Norfolk Southern Railroad grade crossing at Beekman Lane. The Norfolk Southern is one of two railroads that pass through Hillsborough. They operate on the old Lehigh Valley Line that cuts across the northern portion of the township from Neshanic Station to Manville. The other company is CSX, which runs east of Rt. 206, from the Montgomery Twp. border to Manville.

Maybe 1993 was a down year for railroad traffic, or maybe the novelty of living so close to the grade crossing hadn’t yet worn off, but the train sounds didn’t bother me a bit. There were one or two trains during the day, and maybe one or two at night, (which we quickly got used to), but that was it. In fact, many of the grade crossings in the Township were ungated!

As the years went by, rail traffic increased, and gates were installed at the crossings. Instead of one or two trains a night, you could sometimes hear one or two an hour! For safety purposes, trains need to signal their presence as they approach each grade crossing. Because the crossings at Beekman Lane, Auten Rd., Valley Rd., and Roycefield Rd. are in such close proximity, there is almost no let-up in the sound.

The Hillsborough Township Committee, responding to residents’ complaints, has been moving forward with proposed “quiet zones”. The Federal Railroad Administration allows specific improvements to be made at grade crossings that would allow passing trains to not signal at each crossing. The improvements will be funded through an off-site contribution by a developer, and through the Township’s capital budget.

This is a great idea, but I have an idea of my own. I’ll share that idea with you another time.

Oh, and if you’re wondering – trains haven’t used whistles in 50 years. Maybe the new lyric should be “I heard that all too frequent horn sound!”