Regarding this issue with the train blowing its whistle and whatnot, it seems the town is divided. Perhaps a different point of view might help. I’m a stay-at-home mom that lives exactly behind the train tracks (as in I open the gate of my backyard’s fence and I can see the tracks). I have two toddlers, born in 2009 and 2010 respectively. I lived in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico for quite some time.
With that said, neither of my children was awakened nor scared by the train’s whistle when they were newborns, nor do any of us every get woken up by the whistle since we don’t hear it anymore. My kids actually like the train and look forward to seeing it pass, and count their engines and point out the wagons it pulls.
Being from a different country where trains were used in the 1800s, the train seems not only a big change in landscape but a welcoming symbol for those coming to Canada and setting roots here. Plus when my family visits from the Caribbean, the kids run to put pennies on the tracks… they put a lot of them since they can’t find them after the train passes. The only time the whistle becomes annoying, is when we sit down to watch TV and usually the whistle goes off at the exact moment you wanted to hear something. I like the train; my children are learning to count and read thanks to the train. I live with the train’s whistle day in and day out. I don’t mind it one bit.
Jessica González
Innisfail
