House next to railway?! advice please

macaque_2

Just as an after thought, I would be content to live near a railway line (subject to the provisos stated earlier). If this happened to be within walking distance of Croydon station, I would see this as a major plus.

JSH_2

We bought our dream house a couple of months ago. It's 30 feet from a busy railway line. It was a worry when we were looking and I really wrestled with it. However, I reckon we would have paid £320k for it without the railway line and we paid only £260k. I have to say, despite my concerns, we don;t hear the trains now - they disappear into the sub-concious! All of the houses by us are occupied and the agent (who was selling my old house) said it would not be a barrier to selling. Hope this helps

egamar

JSH wrote: »

All of the houses by us are occupied and the agent (who was selling my old house) said it would not be a barrier to selling.

An agent would say that two six-foot razor wire fences with a minefield in between overlooked by two machine gun towers, search-lights and infra-red detectors stopping you getting in through your door wasn't a barrier either!

You gotta love 'em.

Woby_Tide

epz wrote: »

cant exactly let the kids run about in the back garden alone when there is a busy train line.

? thats what a fence is for

matmad

jonewer wrote: »

Scary thing is that Croydon is actually quite nice compared to Selhurst and Thronton Heath :eek:

Well we're really, really lucky 'cos we live in Thornton Heath right next to the railway line!

We've been here for 14 years and don't notice the trains anymore - probably because they're drowned out by the police sirens/helicopters, planes (under a flight path, several probably) and general hubbub of local anti-social behaviour.

The freight trains do shake the flat a little, it took a while when we first moved in to work out what it was. Tons of trains go past every hour (including the Gatwick Express) as it is the Victoria/London Bridge line. We do notice a lot of black deposits on the side of the flat facing the railway line, on the windows and curtains.

It's not too bad with double glazing, and my kids sleep through it all in the summer with the windows open. I find it quite interesting as we have a good view down onto the tracks and sometimes see the steam trains come past.
We also live 2 minutes from the station, so have never needed a car.

Bit of a pain in the backside when another person chucks themselves under the train and the whole thing grinds to a halt - mind you it's a bit quieter for a while.

olly300

I lived next to a railway line in 2 properties over 5 years and the trains didn't bother me. The slow trains stop at the station and don't make any noise the fast trains if they didn't stop did blow their horn but I got use to it as I could work out the timetable. In fact I has sleep problems when the trains went on strike!

The only problems you may have is:
1. If you live next to a tunnel as the trains have to use their horns
2. If you live next to a platform as the platform announcements can be very loud. The opposite side of the road to me lived next to a platform, and had to complain to the train company , SWT, to turn the volume down on the announcements.
3. If they are doing track replacement works. Minor engineering works won't disturb you however major track replacment works are likely to keep you awake due to the bright lights and heavy machinary, and cause annoyance due to road closures and large lorries blocking the road. However these works are done rarely.

Oh and if some one tries to burgle you they won't be able to escape via the garden unless they want to risk getting electrocuted or run over.

BenL

I used to own a house next to a railway line and it didn't bother me. It had other benefits like a large carparking area at the end of the house between us and the line and no cars coming past the front of the house as there was no-where else to go. No loud music and exhausts etc.

The trains for us stopped about 11:30 pm until 6am.

It never bothered me but a few friends had said they couldn't so it but the house was nice so we did.

When trying to sell it put some buyers off and you could see people then driving around looking at the house but then not making an appointment after seeing how close it was to the railway.

We sold the house though, there will always be someone like youself ready to buy it and live next to the trains - it just takes a little longer.

The most annoying thing for us but it was a local thing is that although we lived next to the line the house was probably the furthest in the village away from the station and no path alongside the line. To get to the station I needed to walk up the hill to the village along and then back down the hill to the station.

Ben