Is it just my imagination or are there an inordinate number of parks near rail roads. even when we go off the beaten path it seem like we hear trains. and reading reviews that seem to be one of the usual comments (next to bad management)
Never paid much attention myself but maybe the cheaper land prices are near railroad areas. Have stayed in a couple of motels and hotels that were near railroads as well.
I think it is mostly a function of the history of how our country was settled. Start with Native Amerian trails, which were followed by early explorers, then pioneers, wagon trains, and, by the second half of the 19th century, the railroads. A huge factor in where these pathways were located was the terrain. The shortest distance between 2 points may be a straight line but not when you are crossing the great variety of landscape in this country. In many instances, rivers provided a natural guide for all the aforementioned paths. Think Lewis and Clark following the Missouri. The rivers also provided the one thing you cannot do without - water. By the time we started to turn to automobles in the early 1900s, most towns were established and located near rivers and railroads. As we began to build roads they tended to follow the routes established by the railroads. That continued into the second half of the 20th century as our Interstate System was built. As RV Parks (NOT campgrounds) began to be develeoped, they had to be close enough to the utilities (electric, water, and sewer) that we all take for granted. This usually meant being close enough to town or the main roads to have these services available. This often placed them near the long established railroads. In smaller towns this probably puts you within a mile of the tracks. Even at that distance the sound can really travel in an open area or be magnified in a small valley/mountain pass. As advanced as we have become, most parks need to be close to needed services. A current example of this has been pointed out in several posts in other topics. Many parks cannot offer WIFI, cell service, and/or cable TV because there is no server in their area. How many of today's, parks would have been built if the developers of the park had to build their own (let's say 5 mile) road, pay the local electric company to add them to the grid, set up a (5 mile long) water and sewer system, etc. All that just so the customers can't here the trains. This material will not be on the final - or will it?
Jerry S. You hit the nail on the head. We all wish to have everything for a low cost. People and RxR tracks have been around a long time and I see no change in this. We live near a RxR track that has been here over 150 years and is in heavy use each day. We all think everything comes by a Wal-Mart truck. Good write up.
On our recent trip from Florida to Washington state and back, it seemed like we were always close to a railroad and I assumed it was becasue the roads and railroads were built (in teh olden days) along the easiest routes and this made them close together. We stayed near a switching yard North of Atlanta and there were about 3 trains an hour 24/7. It shook the ground. After a while, it didn't bother us that much though. They had to blow the horn at every crossing. In Southern Nebraska, the coal trains were abotu the same and the horn tooting never stopped. I discussed it with the residents and they said they didn't notice.
