N&W in 1911--Whistle

[NW Mailing List]

In my youth I lived just across the street from the main line of the  
Reading Railroad between Philadelphia, Reading and points west.  Thr  freight 
that ran towards Philadelphia  at 3 a m would whistle from  the Stowe Yards 
just west of Pottstown through the station (two blocks from  our house) and to 
the end of town.  One night it was late and I sat bolt  upright in bed for a 
few minutes until it finallhy passed.  Then I was able  to go back to 
sleep.  On nights when the train  was on time it never  bothered me and I slept 
through its passing.
 
I guess it is a matter of what one gets accustomed to.
 
Neil K Yerger (78 years of age)
 
_audreyly at aol.com_ (mailto:audreyly at aol.com) 
 
 
 
In a message dated 8/1/2010 2:03:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 19,  1911
 
THE GRAHAM DAILY NEWS
------
WHISTLE IS SILENCED
------
Had Made Early Morning Hours Hideous for Graham  Sleepers
    A new whistle placed on the engine of the  Norfolk and Western pumping 
station here last week made the early morning  hours hideous for Graham 
sleepers, and upon complaint, the thing has been  stopped.  No such a whistle 
had ever been heard in Graham as this one,  and almost the entire population 
of the town will admit that they never want  to hear another like it.  It 
developed that the only real service the  whistle performed was just to let the 
sleeping population of Graham know that  it had been installed.  The sound 
of such a whistle at an unusually early  hour in the morning is said to be 
fine for the boy who has been up all night  and is tooting it, but any Graham 
snoozer will testify to the fact that to the  person who sat up late and 
wants a couple hours more sleep, such a noise is  unappreciated at 4 o'clock 
in the morning.
------
Gordon  Hamilton


________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To  change your subscription go  to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the  NW-Mailing-List archives  at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20100802/6c1e2aef/attachment.htm>