So how many were at CN rail meeting?

Barrington residents sure made their voices heard Wednesday, railing in huge numbers against the proposed Canadian National deal to buy the Elgin Joliet and Eastern railroad.

According to Barrington Village President Karen Darch, the final head count of people going into Barrington High School's gymnasium was 5,109, way more than the 3,000 organizers had predicted would attend. They gathered for the Surface Transportation Board's public meeting on CN's $300 million proposal, which would quadruple the number of freight trains traveling the EJ&E in the village.

"Could you ask for a better turnout?" Darch said.

However, some estimated attendance was much lower than that and the gym was configured to seat only 3,280. So how accurate was the count?

Barrington police opened only one of the entrances so officers could take a more accurate head count of who was heading in and out. Police were armed with hand-held counters and clicked when someone entered.

While police officers said they tried to avoid counting a person more than once, media members and other staff coming in and out of the meeting may have contributed a bit to an inflated final count, officers doing the count conceded.

On the other hand, the event lasted almost seven hours and few stayed for the entire time, meaning that attendance was likely significantly higher than the number present at any given time.

An open house from 4 to 6 p.m. included CN displays and tables where residents could give testimonials for a report to be compiled by the Surface Transportation Board at a later date. Public comment was taken from about 90 people between 6 and 10:40 p.m. It's likely many people elected to only browse the open house and leave before the public meeting, Darch points out.

"I have no reason to not believe them," Darch said of the police tally.

CN officials did not take an official crowd count.

Barrington High School District 220 officials said the gym has 2,900 bleacher seats. On Wednesday 380 folding chairs were placed on the gym floor to create a 3,280 seating capacity. A bleacher section at half court divided the gym into two sections: one for the public meeting and the other section for the open house.