railway 10 metres from flat - would you buy?

Jowo_2

Yeah, I definately can tune out the train noise compared to cars or people. I like to give the passengers on the Orient Express a cheery wave from my garden. I've lived twice very close to railway lines and don't see any great disadvantages.

I forgot to mention in my original post that overnight maintenance work can be very noisy. At one of the properties, the railway bridge gets blighted by huge graffitti which I reported to Network Rail a few weeks ago but don't hold any great hope that they'll deal with it.

MrsManda

I live quite close to a railway line, in fact it was the main reason we bought the property. From a resale point of view, how close are you to the nearest station? By road my house is less than 100 metres from the train station and as both my husband and I have to commute this was a major selling point.

Ours is a 24hr line and apart from the occassional freight train you can't hear the trains at all whilst in the house (windows have double glazing). My main thought on buying so close to a trainline was vibrations which I don't think you'll get on an electric line - have you been in the flat whilst trains have gone past? We looked at alot of houses near to railway lines when we were trying to find a house and decided against quite a few new builds because when trains went past you could feel the house shaking.

sunshinetours

MrsManda wrote: »

I live quite close to a railway line, in fact it was the main reason we bought the property. From a resale point of view, how close are you to the nearest station? By road my house is less than 100 metres from the train station and as both my husband and I have to commute this was a major selling point.

Ours is a 24hr line and apart from the occassional freight train you can't hear the trains at all whilst in the house (windows have double glazing). My main thought on buying so close to a trainline was vibrations which I don't think you'll get on an electric line - have you been in the flat whilst trains have gone past? We looked at alot of houses near to railway lines when we were trying to find a house and decided against quite a few new builds because when trains went past you could feel the house shaking.

Our last was similar to that - probably 100 /150 metres in a straight line from railway and only a 3/4 minute walk to the station which was very convenient. Only really hear train in garden if wind was blowing from that direction and no noise from it indoors

That is somewhat different IMO to having a line run a window height past your property only 30 feet away!

sharkie

Tony_M wrote: »

....which backs onto the main Victoria to Brighton line. Knowing the area and driving past the house I can see how close the lines are to the garden which is quite small. ....

There is a big difference between a local metro service and the main line service.

Beside all of the above, a few tonnes travelling at 100mph does shake the ground and the surrounding area somewhat more than a 20mph train. Just make sure that your area does not have any stress cracks due to movement.

historically gardens next to railways tend to be very long to absorb the vibrations. My parents always told me to never buy a house next to a railway, but buy two streets up. My friend who at the time lived in Wembely bought on the other side of the road, paid a higher mortgage premium, but this was less that the track side houses.

Mr_Thrifty

Sounds grim, what you wanna live in a dump next to a railway line for!!!

lynzpower

That location will never suffer for the resale I think its sounds fine!

FWIW I live 2 mins walk to a major interchange
Have got the tube line running directly under the flat
Am on a major arterial- and I mean major route and the traffic and siren noise from the nearby hospitals and police stations are almost constant

central london will always have noise of some sort, if its not trains, its traffic, if its not traffic its planes, if its not people going somewhere, or a business doing something, then it will be something else.

Anyone who lives in London IMV has a much higher tolerance of street noise than others- otherwise- how could we stay here- we'd move!

fintey

Funnily enough my son has recently sold his flat with a railway line running right behind it.He has never found it a problem except maybe in the summer months if the window is open and hes on the phone he has to ask you to hold on as there is a train coming and he cant hear you for a few secs.Obviously people viewing ask if the train noise cause any problems and he has told them honestly that after living there for only a short while he really does nt notice them.He asked his estate agent for any feedback from prospective viewers who did nt want to buy and nobody really said the trains were the reason,the flats been sold and he s moving next week.