Trains, trains, trains... Oh, did I mention? There goes another train....

RV Parks are frequently located near railroad tracks. Obviously not a "feature" for a housing development to be located nearby, but we're transients, so we don't care, right?

Well, the railroad track that runs by here - on the *other* side of the freeway, I might add - not only is a very active railroad (I think these tracks continue on along I-10 all the way to the park where we stay in Marana, just north of Tucson) - but they also cause quite a shaking every time a train goes by. The whole rig shakes. Really. A lot.

As I said before - the tracks are on the far side of the freeway from us - I would estimate 1500-2000 feet away. I would say that the trains traveled much closer to us at the Marana RV park (the tracks were on the same side of the freeway as the RV park and we were just a short distance away). It is hard to know why the trains create so much vibration here - could it be that since this is earthquake prone area that the ground is less stable in some way?

Dwayne did some research on the railroad traffic. He found that:

• Union Pacific owns the right-of-way. Union Pacific is primary railroad for the western 2/3s of the country. There has been some discussion about using the right-of-way for passenger commuter trains (high speed rail) but Union Pacific doesn't want to do that because of the liabilities that would imply if there were accidents.
• What they ship into California: intermodal (electronics, TVs, appliances), assembled automobiles, grain, corn, stone and gravel
• What they ship out of California: intermodal, stone and gravel, food and beverages, assembled automobiles, auto parts
• Isn't it odd that 3 of the top 5 things shipped are both shipped in and out?

 

• Union Pacific Train Information 
• State by state guide to Union Pacific routes