To an all-railroads-are-evil type, doing anything that calls attention to the railroad's presence is bad. Tank cars are the ultimate evil!

As far as I'm concerned, if they're empty, park 'em anywhere that they're not in the way. But if they're loaded, they need to be in a safe and secured (and patrolled) location - like on a refinery's property or in an active, secured railroad yard. The "storage in transit" facilities used by chemical companies are another example of a suitable location for storing loads. Parking loaded tank cars in unsecured, random rural locations for extended periods, whether or not they're near houses, isn't a great idea.

Are they parked on a yard track or shoved up a tail track from the wye?

Schellville in Google: [www.google.com]