That train that runs right through campus....

Colleges and Universities A-Z Grinnell College
1

I google mapped the campus and found the train bisects the entire campus, complete with unguarded crossings. Is this an infrequent train? Freight? Passenger? It struck me as an odd thing to see (a train running right through the campus).

How big a deal is this train? Noise?

Thanks!

2

Since no one else is answering…It’s a freight train and I believe it runs once a day (sometime mid morning?) for a few minutes. Most people are barely aware of it. Last year someone was fooling around - tried to jump on - and got hurt, but it was a big deal on campus because it happens rarely.

3

If I’d known that there is a college at which a freight train runs through campus occasionally, I would have added it to my own college list.

4

LOL Even with the train, I did not find it very easy to get to Grinnell. May that is partially my fault because I needed specific times and couldn’t get them but a passenger train would have been appreciated!

5

My son is a freshman at Grinnell and is home for Fall break (yay!!) so I just asked him. He says the train is not a big deal at all. As far as he can tell, it comes through only once or twice a day, usually at night, and is about three cars long, so it passes quickly and no one seems to notice it. LOVING his experience there, by the way…

6

So glad that your son is happy there. My son is a sophomore and I remember waiting for that first break to assess how he was doing and he really liked it and still does!

7

I’m a third-year and don’t ever hear the train. You get used to it real quick and it kind of just becomes something that, if you hear it, is kind of a joke or a homey-feeling frankly. My girlfriend is from Grinnell and she says that it never bothers her either. It’s like birds or something; just a sound that happens.

8

Here is a disturbing commentary. When we visited Grinnell this summer, the campus tour crossed over the railroad tracks which are completely open, and my daughter, who attends a boarding school outside Boston remarked, “They couldn’t do this at my school; they know what would happen.” Grinnell is a lovely school which offers the perfect mix of intellectual pump and balance. I will be very happy if my daughter chooses Grinnell.