Willow Glen was successful and the railroad moved to North Willow Glen, which was already part of San Jose. As a result, North Willow Glen has been subjected to the negative effects of freight and passenger railcars pummeling through their neighborhood over the years, leaving debris, graffiti and noise in their wake.

North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association President Ken Eklund has called the residents' relationship with the railroad "dysfunctional" at best. In the past, neighbors have been so fed up with the railroad's neglected grounds and the company's lack of maintenance, residents have trespassed onto railroad property to pick up trash and paint over graffiti.

Although noise from the railroad is commonplace, when Caltrain's maintenance at 2 a.m. on a November weekday last year sent clamors throughout the sleeping neighborhood, Eklund decided to take the railroad to task.

Eklund, also a Fuller Avenue resident, contacted the office of San Jose District 6 City Councilman Ken Yeager in an effort to get answers from Caltrain. Eklund wanted to know what maintenance was being done and why the neighborhood was not notified of the late night work.

Eklund obtain few answers from Caltrain but did receive an email apology from Caltrain after Yeager, a vice chair on the Caltrain Board, connected the two.

But now more than ever, the railroad was on Eklund's radar. He began to notice the plumes of blue smoke billowing through the neighborhood and began researching air pollution caused by diesel locomotives.

"Each cloud can be several thousand feet long, and it drifts down among the houses and around the children playing on my street," Eklund said in a letter addressed to San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzalez, Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez and Yeager on Jan. 28. "If it is thick enough to cast a shadow, it is certainly thick enough to cause asthma, lung disease, heart disease and other ailments."

In the spirit of Willow Glen activism that stems back to 1927, Eklund demanded a say in how the railroad operated. He has noticed that trains depart from San Jose Diridon Station and accelerate as they reach the North Willow Glen and Gardner area, belching plumes of smoke into the neighborhood.

"I have come to believe that one of the reasons that railroad agencies regularly violate the health and safety of their neighbors is that there is no effective means by which neighbors can communicate their concerns ... or to notify them when self- policing is necessary," Eklund wrote.

Less than two weeks after the letter was sent, Eklund and North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association board member Dan Erceg and Greater Gardner Coalition chairman Kevin Christman met with Caltrain to discuss their concerns. Yeager's council aides Tony Filice and Megan Doyle also attended the meeting.

"We want to be a good neighbor," Caltrain spokeswoman Jayme Kunz said.

Kunz attended the meeting with Caltrain Chief Operating Officer Chuck Harvey and Harvey's assistant, Mark Simon. She said Caltrain maintains its properties once a month or as needed. When extensive maintenance is scheduled, Kunz said, Caltrain notifies, via flier, all individual businesses and residents within at least an eighth of a mile.

But in terms of air pollution, Kunz said, Caltrain operates at a higher standard than federal passenger rail requirements. Caltrain plans to electrify the rail corridor, using no fuel, by 2013. In the interim, the company has switched to low-sulfur fuel, which results in lower emissions, and is upgrading its trains to run cleaner.

"Air quality is an ongoing concern in the Bay Area," Kunz said. "We want to be part of the solution."

Caltrain is not the only company that enjoys the right-of-way through North Willow Glen. Union Pacific Corp., which operates freight trains, uses Caltrain's tracks between San Jose and San Francisco. This railroad company, however, is subject to different environmental standards than the passenger rail.

But reaching Union Pacific Corp. is much more difficult. The company's offices are spread across the nation, so any concerns need to be directed to Union Pacific's office in Chicago, or residents can lobby Congress.

After talking to Caltrain, Eklund said, he realized that Union Pacific's trains may be causing the worst of the air pollution. But for the time being, Eklund plans to keep his fight local and work with Caltrain.

For neighbors in North Willow Glen and Gardner, simply sitting down with Caltrain was a sign of progress after years of acrimony. "It was great just to have the meeting. We usually don't get that level of response from them," Eklund said, pleased that Caltrain promised better neighborhood outreach.

This is something that Yeager, who has served as a conduit between the neighbors and Caltrain, has been working toward. As a result of Yeager's involvement with the Caltrain Board, Caltrain has been more neighborhood-friendly and willing to compromise.

"It's a whole new day for Caltrain, and it being willing to meet with the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association proves that," Yeager said.