Armstrong senior gets no rest as trains idle all night just 100 feet from her home

Photo: The Canadian Press

An Armstrong resident says she's getting fed up with lack of sleep and noise from idling trains in front of her house.

LeAnne Emery has lived on Okanagan Street for 27 years and knew when she bought the property that trains would run by.

But, she wasn't prepared to have them idle all night just 100 feet from her front door.

The problem first surfaced about a decade ago, but after complaining to CN Rail, the trains' idling location was moved – until last year.

"We were good for years," says the Armstrong senior, "but they've been back since last summer ... anywhere from 12 to 15 hours, the trains are running the entire time."

She describes the noise as "an annoying low rumble. The bass shakes the house."

Emery, 70, say she wakes up with migraines from the noise.

"I could live with it if it was during the day, but you have to turn up the TV to hear it and takes sleeping pills to get any rest," she says.

Emery says she ran down the tracks last week and spoke with a train engineer, who said he would pass on the complaint.

She's gone to the City of Armstrong, but was told they can't do anything about the problem.

The trains rumble outside her home Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights.

Emery says CN has said it will look into the matter and possibly change the parking area.

The trains apparently idle overnight while waiting for a new crew to arrive in the morning.

Emery says she's been told it's a "big deal" to shut the locomotives down and restart them in the morning.