It's always cool to see your little brother do something that reminds you of yourself...Well most of the time. My brother lives in a town called FT. Bragg, Ca (on the Mendocino coast). He's 12 years old (20 years younger than me). He loves trains. Last week someone wrote to the newspaper in town, the FT. Bragg Advocate, that he has lived in the town 15 years and he thinks the train blows it's whistle to loud. Well, my brother didn't want to take that, he wrote the following letter to the paper.....

Dear Editor,
I am a twelve -year old student attending Fort Bragg Middle School and I was reading the Advocate News the other day, while I was looking at the letters section I saw that Dan Banks was complaining about the " over-zealous use" of the skunk train whistle.
I found that got me pretty mad. The train does not blow its horn to remind tourists about the train,they
blow the horn to warn pedestrians and cars that a the train is coming and that they need to stop. Sure
they have those crossing signals and gates but I have seen numerous people go around them even as the train was drawing near. Also it's the law that trains blow their horn at every crossing, And is it the Skunk Trains fault that their tracks go through five city blocks to get out of town? I think not.
Sure the trains horn is loud but can't you take two minutes to stop what you're doing and listen to the majestic sound of old number forty-five, the Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikado struggling to get that heavy train rolling, blasting its whistle at every crossing to warn people of its advancement upon the road, or listening to the raw power of the Diesel number sixty- six, using its fifteen hundred horsepower, ground shaking engine to pull that same train out of FT. Bragg, on their way to Northspur and back.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the train doesn't blow its horn for the heck of it, or to remind tourists about the train, they do it for safety reasons, and I for one Love it.
Joseph Hefner
FT. Bragg Calif.

You go Joe!