Dorchester Times: Residents Raise Concerns Regarding Blocked Railroad Crossings

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Residents Raise Concerns Regarding Blocked Railroad Crossings

Recently, several Dorchester residents have complained about the increasing frequency of trains blocking one or both southern entrances into town.

Often, the trains are standing still for 15, 20 or 30 minutes, which is a major inconvenience to town residents and others driving through our community.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which operates the rail, notes that the company tries to limit the amount of time any crossing is blocked on a mainline track.

They add, "Our business depends on keeping trains moving. Unfortunately trains sometimes experience conditions that force them to stop. Those conditions may be related to equipment, track or weather conditions. In those cases, BNSF works to correct the condition and to resume the safe movement of trains."

Dorchester recognizes that our community exists due to the railroad. We want to be good partners with those who provide rail services to our community and our region, and we will tolerate an occasional blocked crossing. But lately, the blockings have been taking place too often.

Nebraska law says the following:

A railroad company or a railroad track owner operating trains over tracks within the State of Nebraska shall not block a public highway-rail grade crossing, for a period of time in excess of ten (10) minutes, except if the train is moving in a continuous forward or backward direction, or if the train is stopped for an emergency condition, including an accident, derailment, critical mechanical failure, track or bridge washout, storm, flood, or other emergency situation.

If Dorchester's blocked crossings continue on a regular basis, we suggest residents call BNSF representatives who work on community issues at (817) 867-6418.

10 comments:

AnonymousJuly 9, 2014 at 10:20 AM
Does VD run this web site? I'm not talking about "village dweller" but the other "VD"
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 9, 2014 at 1:12 PM
Thank you for that phone number. I have seen the west crossing blocked for several hours when all they would have to do is back that train up a couple of cars. No excuse for that.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 9, 2014 at 4:52 PM
Ouch. THats not good corporate relations with that picture you guys posted.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 9, 2014 at 5:44 PM
If the time the crossings are blocked is significantly more than 10 minutes, call the Sheriff's Department and lodge a complaint. Get it on record so that a formal charge can be lodged in court if it continues.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 9, 2014 at 6:34 PM
I have tried to call the Sheriff numerous times about the tracks to the West being blocked. They say they cannot do anything about it....Well, who can? They should be able to give them a ticket when they block it for more than 10 minutes, but they won't. Maybe this blog can help get things changed! I will try the phone number listed next time.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 9, 2014 at 9:01 PM
Maybe someone should send these comments to BNSF although I doubt they would give a rat's behind about folks out here in the middle of the country. I have also heard that the County Sheriff's Dept. is no help. I guess you can't fight a big company like BNSF.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 10, 2014 at 8:56 AM
I seriously doubt BNSF is blocking the entryways intentionally, their engineers are just getting a little sloppy. I'll bet they do listen if you call to complain, remember they have a pretty big interest in nebraska since some guy named buffett is the majority shareholder these days
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 10, 2014 at 4:29 PM
The village board could pass an ordinance requiring BNSF to break the train at the crossings if they block it for more than 10 minutes. That was a solution in York County where it got real bad. Then the Sheriff has to enforce the ordinance if one does not already exist. However state statute is clear. If the Sheriff is not enforcing the law, maybe someone should lodge a complaint with the attorney generals office.

17-225. Railroads; blocking crossings; penalty.

It shall be unlawful for any railroad company or for any of its officers, agents, servants or employees to obstruct with car or cars, engine or engines, or with any other rolling stock, for more than ten minutes at a time, any public highway, street or alley in any unincorporated town or village in the State of Nebraska. Any corporation, person, firm or individual violating any provision of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.

Source
Laws 1907, c. 109, § 1, p. 384;
Laws 1907, c. 109, § 2, p. 384;
R.S.1913, § 5075;
C.S.1922, § 4247;
C.S.1929, § 17-225;
R.S.1943, § 17-225.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 10, 2014 at 8:51 PM
Sounds good, but $100 is chicken feed to a big outfit like BNSF. They'll just laugh.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 17, 2014 at 9:47 AM
BNSF is just like the government, heck it's worse, especially when the "law enforcer" can't do anything about it. what a joke!
thanks for the "call in #" so we can vent our problems to a machine that BNSF will pry never listen to
just saying
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."