www.CostaRicaTicas.com

the last several months a three car train comes by the amistad like clockwork at 8 am and lets loose with the airhorn full blast.
at first i thought maybe it was only during some type of construction or movement of materials, but after the last trip idk.
one morning i counted 19 seperate blasts of the horn and the conductor was trying to be musical about it.
another day he let loose with one like 20 seconds long.
you guys who stay in the penthouse rooms know what i'm talking about, it sounds like a dude with an airhorn standing next to your bed. brutal.
so i started watching this train and every time i see it not only is it only three cars, but i have NEVER seen anything on it but dirty looking men laughing and riding on the flat cars. wtf????
is it possible that this is an intentional nuisance to roust the brethren in barrio amon?
it has made my stays miserable at least in the morning. is it that bad in the other rooms or do you really experience the horn noise the same?
i don't guess you hear it at SL or HH, castillo et al.
could bill be behind it?
i'm thinking it could be an edict from a politician to annoy. just seems too strange and i think it just started the last year. at least in the AM

Never noticed it at the Castillo.

Yep, I even reported it on my TR. The first time scare me shitless. I though that maybe the building was on fire and that was the CR fire alarm but I was just to tire to even investigate. I spoke to the front desk and they told me everything about the damm train. After that I was just too tire and would care less. Will be in room 312 in about 36 hours.

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Hit them fast, Hit them hard and NEXT!
A good chica is like a good carpenter - No wood gets wasted!!!

It's the centro tico-train that runs all the street bums to work every morning, how did you think they got back and forth to work everyday?

_________________

Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

We already have the lawyers writing a letter on behalf of us and the hospital. It is intermitent. We may not hear it for weeks and then it comes through 3-5 times a day for a week. They are moving heacy equipment to Heredia at this time and in the future rumor has it that it will be a commuter train but we have yet to clarify. Unfortunatly we have no control over the horn but are working on it.

Matt

In CR the grade crossings are not protected by either gates or flashing signals. Motorists are suppose to stop at the crossing and look for an oncoming train and not proceed if a train is coming.

That is how it is suppose to work.

In reality motorist just drive across without looking and will even block the tracks if traffic prevents them from getting across. An approaching train seeing a car on the tracks blow their horn continuously until the car moves.

Surprisingly the system works quite well, unless you are near the track trying to sleep, as there are very few train/vehicle collisions.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Is this the same train that runs by the Scotland Apts. at 5 AM? I remember Novice saying you get used to it after a couple months.

_________________

Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

I do not think they are the same train. The one described in this post seems to more of a work train. It is reported to be 3 cars in length and to operate sporadically.

The tren interurbano is the commuter train that runs between the pacific train station and Pavas and the station and San Pedro. It starts about 5:00 AM in the morning and is up to 10 or 12 cars in length and operates every weekday.

The Pavas line is no to far from my casa and Novice is correct you do get use to it.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

The train track that goes by the Amistad leads to Heredia. The government is reinstituting commuter train service between Heredia and San Jose just as it did a few years ago between Pavas and San Pedro, Montes de Oca. That is the line which passes near the Scotia Apartments.

On that line (Pavas to San Pedro) in addition to sounding the horn, the train is usually accompanied by MOPT Mounties, traffic officers on motorcycles. They leap frog between intersections as the train meanders along its route.

The train that goes by Amistad carries construction equipment, materials and personnel to and from the job site which is repairing the tracks and over crossings.

Irish Drifter explained the reality of no railroad crossing safeguards. At this time, on the San Jose to Heredia line, except for the train horn, there is no other warning against felony stupid – people who cut it close by crossing in front of an approaching train.

An additional observation

I have seen the bodies of people who have been hit by fast moving trains in the US. The body is usually unrecognizable as a human. It is more like a piece of goo. But the trains here do not go fast nor are they as heavy. However, I am certain that anyone hit by one of those narrow gauge trains would be turned into goo. Perhaps recognizable as a human form but nevertheless goo.


The tracks run close to the Amistad, be careful.

As you point out the trains here travel very slowly and are most likely not as heavy. Not sure about the "goo" part but I know there has been at least two fatalities registered. A Fuerza Publica officer was taking himself and two other officers to their homes in Alajuelita at the end of their night shift. The commuter train hit their car killing the driver. In the other incident a women was crossing the tracks in Sabana Sur to get to work and the train hit her.

Have not seen the transito police riding shotgun for the train for quite awhile now, at least on the Pavas section. They did that when the service first started but seem to have stopped.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

The last time I saw them was about six months ago up by the Mall San Pedro where the tracks cross the pista by UCR.

But then again, I don't out much at night.

drunk monger turned to goo..
i'm thinking more of sniping a train engineer

Once upon a time in a major American city there were some old wine-o’s (in the days before they became homeless) who used to hang in front of an old downtown four story fire station. The top floor of the fire house was occupied by a low profile police department firearms unit. The fire fighters and police officers parked their personal vehicles on the side of the fire station which was unfenced.

After finishing a short-dog, the wine-o’s would cross the street to the firehouse parking lot and relieve themselves on sides of the fire fighters and police officers personal vehicles.

The fire fighters and police officers were determined to modify the behavior of the wine-o’s and in doing so, get them to move out of the neighborhood. The firemen and policemen brought in some B-B guns and from the open windows of the upper floors of the fire house, began to take target practice at the knights of the open road as they slept on the side walk across the street from the fire house.

The wine-o’s got the message and moved on.

I am not suggesting that you shoot B-B guns at the train but you may want to contact INCOFER, the government agency which operates the trains and ask them if they can find an alternative to tooting the horn.