A Columbia family says their Christmas is ruined due to a loud CSX train parked outside their home in the Olympia neighborhood.
The Columbia resident who called WACH FOX News to complain about the train wishes to remain anonymous. The man said the train is parked but the engine is running.
He said he first noticed the locomotive at Nevada and Olympia streets on Tuesday afternoon when he got home from work.
"You can't even drown out the noise of it with the TV," he said.
When he called CSX to complain, he says a company spokesperson told him the train would be gone by nightfall. After nightfall came and the train was still running he called again. This time, they said a work crew would come down from Spartanburg on Wednesday to remove the noisy engine.
By Thursday the company told the man that the train would stay for the holidays.
"We can't sleep, we can't do anything," he said.
The train's fuel meter read 310 gallons Thursday morning. The resident says that means the train could be running through New Years -- A thought that he says is unbearable.
Efforts to contact CSX about the train were unsuccessful after calls to several different numbers. All lines had messages saying no operators were available to take our call.
Update 12/24/09 2:32pm:
Late Thursday afternoon after this story was posted for several hours WACH FOX News received word that the train's engine was turned off. Residents say they are thankful and it's just in time to enjoy Christmas morning.
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