NIMBYs...
I lived in Andover, MA which is one of the biggest NIMBY bastions in the US. The snobs moved in during the last 25 years I lived there. First they built huge mansions right next to the old farms, which were there for over 100 years, complained about the smell and then forced the town to change ordinances to get the farms closed. A few years later, they built big houses next to the railroad tracks. The B&M put in this mainline where it is today back in 1843, having moved the original 1821 line out of town back then. The NIMBYs complained about the noise and smell from the trains and got a horn blowing ordinance enacted. Much later some developer built $350,000-and up condominiums right next to the old Ballardvale railroad station. This was once a factory and small freight yard. If these people reach out their bedroom windows, they'll touch the trains that past. They're now complaining about trains running at night because it keeps them awake.
It gets better... The same NIMBYs that complained about the train horns also are the same ones that run crossings. The gates were down one day for quite some time, heck a freight was moving at its normal 40 mph if that speed as it crawled across Essex Street. I was there waiting at the crossing, actually ecstatic that there was a train coming for a change, when some snotty blonde lady pulled up behind me in her fancy car. She kept blowing the horn at me and gesturing me to move, which I didn't. Are you crazy? I motioned to her when I looked back. She then revved up her engine, squealed her tires and peeled around me only to get clipped by the freight that was coming by. She wasn't hurt but her fancy car surely was. Yes, I stayed and played witness to the event.
In Boston, down in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, the Arborway Trolley line was closed in the 1980s due to a "cost cutting move". The wire remained in place and so did the tracks, which were even upgraded to new standards for the LRVs. Recently the MBTA was going to restore the line for service, but nope. They came out in throngs, even brought in their kindred from other towns nearby to fight the proposal in court. The "T" then gave up and gave them stinky busses instead.
Now for a couple more, I could go on...
Plaistow is the first town over the New Hampshire border on the B&M mainline to Portland Maine. At one point they had, commuter rail service to Boston and still have a big parking lot built for it. This past year the town wanted to bring back the commuter service to Plaistow, making it the terminus stop on the Haverhill line - the same one I use to go to Boston. The proposal was made and meetings were had. The NIMBYs showed up by the hundreds, way more than the actual population in Plaistow! They came in from snooty Atkinson and Hampstead, to complain that the MBTA might park their trains there overnight and the lights, noise, and smell might be bothersome. They threatened lawsuits and state intervention should this go through, so the town gave up. Instead, our stops here in Haverhill are more crowded since these people drive down over the border and park at Haverhill and Bradford.
And now the final one...
In Winchester MA, TIGH Trucking and Logistics has a cold storage warehouse. They've been in the same location since I think 1918 and have always had freight service - not as much in recent years, but still have an active siding. Word got out that they were going to start receiving a few more boxcars on a daily basis. The NIMBYs came out in throngs again to fight the increased freight traffic, and even brought in out of towners. One woman, who was interviewed, was actually a real estate agent from Lexington, and didn't even live in or near Winchester or those railroad tracks!
NIMBYs... This is why the news media does what it does when it comes to railroads. Railroads are always bad.
John
