Flat next to railway line

onetwothreefourfive

NobodysChild wrote: »

That's plenty close enough. My nearest station is over 15 miles!

Yes, but where I am there are about many other flats which don't back onto a railway line an easy walk from the station, so its not a unique selling point here. It might be in the countryside.

Just these flats I can afford to have a small 2nd bedroom/study, which will be difficult elsewhere on my budget.
I'll maybe go and look at them seeing as it obviously doesn't put everyone totally off. I just don't want to buy it, and then not be able to sell it.

Dr._Shoe

I was in the RAF and a train rumbling past is nothing compared to a lightning taking off on full reheat! You soon get used to that too.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I used to live in a flat that backed on to the Piccadilly line. Got used to it quickly, never really noticed the trains, but the late night engineering works were noisy and annoying.

Anatidaephobia

onetwothreefourfive wrote: »

Yes, but where I am there are about many other flats which don't back onto a railway line an easy walk from the station, so its not a unique selling point here. It might be in the countryside.

Just these flats I can afford to have a small 2nd bedroom/study, which will be difficult elsewhere on my budget.
I'll maybe go and look at them seeing as it obviously doesn't put everyone totally off. I just don't want to buy it, and then not be able to sell it.

There's no denying that it will put some people off but you'd still be able to sell it again. If this is the only flat you can afford which comes with a second bedroom then presumably the price is lower than other flats of similar size because of the location/railway so just remember that this will be the case when you sell it too...

princeofpounds

You really need to be there when it's operating to understand. Noise varies a lot, depending on the thain speed, braking, track type etc. Having lived next to a slow line it was no problem; quieter than passing cars, no problem whatsoever. Know someone living next to a railway bridge; the high speed trains make an awful noise. They moved.

Also, once or twice a year they do some kind of grinding operation on the rails. That is really loud and typically done at night. It's not a big deal at all, passes by within two minutes or so. But if you don't know what it is, it'll give you a fright!

Dan-Dan

You need to tell us what sort of line it is to get an accurate response , is it main line , branch line or the overground?

We have the west coast mainline running across the back of our house , to be honest , if a virgin goes past and your chatting in the garden , you cant hear each other talk , and if its a hot summers day and you have the patio doors open , you have to turn the TV up.........but , were nowhere near a station so dont have the announcements and the stopping and starting etc , also , you do get used to them , i have never been woken by works , or trains since weve been here

I did a lot of research before buying , to see where sidings were and points etc etc though , and in the end , we made the right choice , we got the house at a good price as you do get less buyers of properties like ours near a train line , plus we will never get neighbours at the back of the garden

In the nice weather , its actually really theraputic to sit out with a drink watching the world (commuters and intercitys , freight trains , even the odd steam train) go by

moneyistooshorttomention

stator wrote: »

Spend a night at Premier Inn. They always build those things next to major roads, see if you can sleep with constant noise. I'm sure you could find a hotel next to a major railway line too.
If you can't, don't buy a flat next to a railway line.
Personally I wouldn't, I need complete silence

That wouldn't be a test that would work for me personally.

I most definitely would get thoroughly upset/tired/etc after a night spent (trying to) sleep by a major road.

On the other hand, I might well be okay with a night beside a train line.

Reason = fewer "vehicles" and I accept public transport noise and can even find something soothing in noise from (regular type) trains. But I get upset/disturbed by noise from cars.

duchy

My parents house backed onto the main London to Brighton line -with 100 foot garden and the train embankment was on a level with my bedroom window.

It took about two weeks for us to stop noticing the trains when we moved in (and at the time the house wasn't double glazed) Our house had a balcony on the back and we were so used to the noise we'd sit out on it having normal conversations or sunbathing. Visitors would comment - as a previous poster said but you simply don't notice.

Trains ran all night once the Gatwick Express was introduced- it never woke me the only thing that did was the one or two nights a year maintenance was done but it was quieter than the council digging up the road outside the house and less frequent.

The Purley train crash happened right by their house - although the carriages that went down the embankment fell down the other side off the track. I don't know anyone in the area who wanted to move as a result of the crash.

Looking at Zoopla the difference in house prices in that road (nice suburban road with trees and mainly 3 bedroom thirties built houses with garages is only about 15 to 20K comparing those on the side with the railway line at the end of the gardens versus those on the opposite side of the road.

Like Dan I agree it's quite nice to watch the trains sometimes-I have fond memories of waving at the Brighton Belle pullman as it flew post as well as the excitement of a rare sighting of a steam train

nicegirl

We live next to a very busy dual carriageway. I'm quite a light sleeper but the noise doesn't bother me.

The only problem is that it's very noisy with the windows open, so we really suffered with the heat this summer at nights! But you could get round this with a fan I guess.

londongirl

My flat backs on to a tube line - i like it and find the noise comforting but maybe I'm wierd! When i lived in a really silent residential cul-de-sac for a year the first week i couldn't get to sleep becuase it was so dark and quiet!
I'd rather overlook a train line than a station though -admittedly my current flat has double glazing which helps too but people who come to my flat say they can hear the trains whereas i literally don't hear them anymore unless they whistle. My old rented flat looked over the station car park and a couple of hundred yards from the tube station - no double glazing but what woke us up wasn't the trains but the station announcements (oh and the engineers playing football in their breaks in the station car park when they were doing engineering works on the line at 4am!! - yes we did complain about that!)

That's just a tube line though with the occasional cargo or whatever, perhaps a high speed mainline train would be different and more noisy. Doubt it would put me off still.