This unattended train sat near the Cheney Rodeo Grounds during Thanksgiving weekend. The exhaust from five days of continuous idle caused respiratory irritation among residents of the areas.
By DAVID TELLER
Staff Reporter
Marie Shepard's Thanksgiving weekend was tested by a train that sat near her residence, idling continuously, from the Wednesday before the holiday until the following Monday.
Not only did the crack and hiss of an air pressure release valve disturb the family's sleep during the entire weekend, but diesel exhaust permeated her property, which is adjacent to the Cheney Rodeo Grounds.
She woke up with an irritated throat she knew wasn't the onset of a cold.
“By Sunday the air was smelly and stale around our farm and we developed a cough,” Shepard said in an email.
A concern of Shepard's was the pollution the train engine generated. She believes that much exhaust is harmful to the environment.
The animals she owns were clearly staying away from that end of her property despite their range of movement being limited by a fence.
With diesel prices near $3.50 a gallon, she speculated on the cost of the waste of fuel.
Complaints to the county are futile.
Very little can be done, Ron Edgar, chief of technical services for Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority (SCAPCA) said.
Because trains are non-road engines, they are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is independent of county government, Edgar said.
The county doesn't have regulations or ordinances on train exhaust and has little jurisdiction over the railroad companies.
“There isn't anything specific in any rule we have,” Edgar said. “There's nothing we can do to determine if they were in any violation.”
Most trains are manufactured in Erie, Pa., and are diesel-electric, producing 1,500 – 3,000 horsepower, depending on the model and age of the engine.
Because diesel fuel coagulates in cold temperature, the decision of whether to stop the engine is a decision truck drivers and train conductors constantly face. Most decide to leave the engine running.
For truck drivers, it is simply a matter of warmth. Most 18-wheel trucks have a “sleeper” for long haul drivers.
Shutting off the engine is shutting off the heat while they sleep.
Train engines are difficult to start. When the weather is cold and the fuel is the consistency of gel, they are even harder.
The impasse between having a functional train engine in which delivery deadlines must be met, and having clean air and peace and quiet, is delicate.
But there is hope, courtesy of Kim Hotstart.
The train abandoned near the Shepard property is believed to be owned by Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad, based in Cheney.
The president and general manager, John Howell, said in a Dec. 17 letter in response to a letter from Diedre Fitzgerald, air quality specialist with SCAPCA, the railroad company is in the process of installing stand-by engine heating systems in the locomotives they use.
The heaters are manufactured by Kim Hotstart of Spokane. Howell said he expects to have all of their engines equipped with engine heaters by mid-January.
Engine heaters will maintain engine water temperature above 100 degrees when outside temperatures drop to 10 below zero.
According to Hotstart, the two-cylinder diesel engine recharges locomotive batteries and is small enough to install on the walkway, inside the car body or in the nose of the locomotive, as space allows.
On Dec. 19, the droning groan of a train idling again pulled the Shepard family from a sound sleep.
For some, the changes can't come fast enough.
David Teller can be reached at [email protected]
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