Poggy1165 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 People have it soft these days. When I were a lad in Gorton we had railways on all sides of us - that is to say a half mile or so walk would always bring you to one or t'other, and there were always engines whistling and blowing off in the distance. I used to go to sleep most nights to the sound of a steam engine shunting the coal siding at Belle Vue. We had Peacock's famous buzzer blowing two or three times a day, which could be heard from miles away. Funny thing is, folks seem quite happy to put up with the roar of traffic on A roads and Motorways 24/7/365, but let an engine whistle in the distance and you might think Beelzebub and his legions were camping out in their back yard. In my old job I used to get similar problems with people who bought a house next to a school playing field and were apparently amazed by the fact children - well, you know, sort of played on them and made noise. Perhaps they thought the land was a grasshopper sanctuary or something! Perhaps there should be some sort of government sponsored house-swap scheme. I'd love to live next to a railway; if it happened to have steam engines, I'd be delighted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Just recently on South Today a couple were complaining about a school next door ,they knew it was there when they moved in but they still talked injunctions or buying most of the feild so as to stop the noise.My feelings were ,get a life.!!!!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 16, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 16, 2012 This sort of thing has gone on for years and for some reason all of those involved always seem to have 'voices' that are stronger than their brains. Nearly 40 years ago we had a bloke complaining about fumes from locos at our stabling point with their engines running - he claimed to have got hold of some measuring equipment and produced some horrendous figures. The BR scientist who came to study the problem said the figures were truly remarkable as the levels the bloke claimed to have measured in his back garden were not only way above what a dieselengine could possibly pump out but were several times the fatal level for anyone exposed to them. Some years later some twit at Newport began complaining about the 'increased noise' from East Usk marshalling yard - on the opposite side of the line from his house - we proved conclusively that the level of work in the yard was at its lowest for 40 years, that it had been far busier when he first moved in and that his house was built a good 10-15 years after the yard had been opened. Faced with that lot the local council promptly withdrew support for him and refused to take the case to court. But the daftest one I ever came across was also the most expensive for those involved. In the early 1990s someone bought a house on the opposite side of the road from Sheepcote Lane curve near Clapham Jcn - although they allegedly looked out of the upstairs windows when viewing the property they somehow failed to notice piles of track and ballast on the railway formation beyond the road. However some time after they had moved in they did notice that the line was being used by empty Eurostar trains (running between North Pole and Waterloo) and they didn't like it one bit - so for some obscure reason they sued the people who had sold them the house for failure to disclose that a railway was being laid (quite why they didn't sue the solicitor who acted on their behalf for failing in Searches never became clear). As the case got near to the High Court the solicitor acting for them had the bright idea of seeking information from the railway - which proved that trains had been using the line before the house was built, that the line had never been formally closed (although the track had been taken away) and that the relaying and intended use of the route had been in the public arena long before they purchased the property and would have easily come to light in any adequate search. I actually finished up on this occasion briefing the defence barrister and following presentation of evidence from me and a surveyor the Judge gave a decision without trying the case in open court and awarded £12,000 in compensation to the defendants - which just about covered their legal costs although they then applied for costs (don't know what happened to that). But that time the nimbys got a well deserved, and expensive, hammering Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Those last two posts just illustrate so well this wierd sense of 'entitlement' that some folk seem to possess these days, where their 'rights' are more important than any other individual's or community's..... it defies belief sometimes, it really does! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bon Accord Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Those last two posts just illustrate so well this wierd sense of 'entitlement' that some folk seem to possess these days, where their 'rights' are more important than any other individual's or community's..... it defies belief sometimes, it really does! It's everywhere you look though, in all walks of life. In my own little world the embarrassing nonsense that the Union reps come out with at partnership meetings being a prime example - "it's our right to have this....." etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted September 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 16, 2012 Not exactly train noises but in my village some people recently complained in a public meeting about the Red Arrows flying noisely overhead during the daytime - clearly they had never experienced Avro Vulcans taking off at 3am with full afterburners during the 1970s!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted September 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 16, 2012 saw in the paper last week, there's another case of one person complaining about a town clock chiming through the night so, of course, the council have instigated procedures to find a 'solution'. clock's been there for decades at least and no-one else has complained (wish i could remember where it was, oops) same thing happened in burntisland a couple of years ago, went through all the rigmarole of seeing if the chimes could be disabled at night etc., but initially they stopped it chiming at all! locals protested to get the chimes back but it took a good while, a hell of a lot longer than it did for the council to react to the initial complaint. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevpeo Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 That may be Kendal in Cumbria! A local hotel owner is trying to stop the Town Hall chimes operating overnight. The same thing happened in Ulverston a few years back ISTR. kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted October 4, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 4, 2012 another one, although common sense seems to have prevailed http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/northberwick/articles/2012/10/04/436986-church-bell-wont-be-silenced-/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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