OH, THE RAILROAD RUNS THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE HOUSE.

Once upon a time, warehouses and factories would locate hard by the tracks, the better to be served by the herds of switch engines that would fuss about gathering and distributing cars.

Contemporary industrial facilities prefer to locate on larger plots of land, preferably with lots of acreage for truck loading docks, and the rail access often by way of an intermodal terminal.  Those old warehouses and factories, if they're not Superfund sites, are frequently close enough to tony downtown tavern districts and office buildings to warrant conversion to lofts.

But the trains still run, and safety is of the first importance.

Charles Engberg was aware that a railroad runs past a former warehouse, converted into condominiums, when he and his wife bought their unit there four years ago.

And, yes, Engberg likes trains. But he's less enamored with the loud horn blasts the trains make in his Walker's Point neighborhood several times a day - especially when there could be lower-volume alternatives.

So Engberg is leading a campaign to get train engineers to use a quieter method for warning motorists and railway workers of their approach. So far, Engberg's efforts have rumbled through City Hall and are now making the rounds into the federal bureaucracy.

Others who live and work south of downtown Milwaukee, in the Historic Third Ward and parts of Walker's Point, are on board.

I suppose it's scant consolation that the Amtrak Hiawathas have Genesis diesels rather than steamers of Classes A, F-5, F-6, F-7, and S-2 digging in on the climb up from Menomonee Draw to Florida Street and getting soot on the hanging plants.