Buying Near A Trainline

ikcdab

We deliberately bought our house because it was near a railway and away from a main road. Modern trains are pretty quiet, which you can tell when an older one (such as a class 37 or 47) passes.  Go for it, mostly the line is silent with a train (say) every 15mins or so.  Far better than a noisy, dirty, incessant main road.....

Murphybear

JGB1955 said:

You'll probably find you only notice the trains when they DON'T run because of leaves on the line/snow/industrial action.  The silence can be deafening!

We lived opposite a railway line.  There weren’t a huge number of trains and we didn’t really notice them.  It was very quiet on Christmas Day.  . This was in rural Devon and we got steam trains occasionally with tourists.  We used to wave to them and they happily waved back.

Its much nicer to live near a railway line than to have noisy neighbours with barking dogs, loud music, screaming and banging doors.  

Murphybear

Sapindus said:

I've lived under the flight path a few miles from Heathrow airport, and also right next to a busy main road, and currently 500m from the M6.  I'd take the intermittent noise from planes or trains any day over the constant roar of a road.  There's something soothing about the rhythm, and the ebb and flow of it.

I'd probably be more bothered wondering why my visitors called it a "Trainline" instead of a railway.  Is this like roundabouts and islands?  Do I need to just move to the middle of nowhere and not talk to anyone any more?

We lived under the flight path of Concorde a few years ago.  It was the most amazing thing to see.  We live near Yeovilton now and get helicopters flying over quite a lot.  That doesn’t bother me, I love most aircraft 

Section62

ikcdab said:

Far better than a noisy, dirty, incessant main road.....

But potentially much worse than a quiet residential street.

Several posts in this thread have made the error of comparing living close to a railway line to [insert something much worse].  It is largely irrelevant that person A's perception of living near a railway line is better than [insert something much worse] as it may be perceived by person B.  What matters is whether or not the person buying will perceive the noise and vibration in a way they might have difficulting in coping with.  Someone who likes trains will probably be more tolerant to railway noise than someone who isn't fussed about them.  Ditto aircraft, buses, and lorries.

But for the record, the noisy dirty diesel locomotives will still be running on the UK's railways long after the majority of cars and vans on UK roads are electric, and all the HGV's are compliant with the latest Euro standards for emissions.

ikcdab

Section62 said:

ikcdab said:

Far better than a noisy, dirty, incessant main road.....

But potentially much worse than a quiet residential street.

Several posts in this thread have made the error of comparing living close to a railway line to [insert something much worse].  It is largely irrelevant that person A's perception of living near a railway line is better than [insert something much worse] as it may be perceived by person B.  What matters is whether or not the person buying will perceive the noise and vibration in a way they might have difficulting in coping with.  Someone who likes trains will probably be more tolerant to railway noise than someone who isn't fussed about them.  Ditto aircraft, buses, and lorries.

But for the record, the noisy dirty diesel locomotives will still be running on the UK's railways long after the majority of cars and vans on UK roads are electric, and all the HGV's are compliant with the latest Euro standards for emissions.

Largely not true. All the noisy, dirty diesels are mostly now long gone, just a small handful left for specials.  Virtually all diesels are now the modern, cleaner, quiet type.  

Section62

ikcdab said:

Section62 said:

But for the record, the noisy dirty diesel locomotives will still be running on the UK's railways long after the majority of cars and vans on UK roads are electric, and all the HGV's are compliant with the latest Euro standards for emissions.

Largely not true. All the noisy, dirty diesels are mostly now long gone, just a small handful left for specials.  Virtually all diesels are now the modern, cleaner, quiet type.  

There are over 500 Class 66 diesel locomotives operating in the UK, forming the backbone of freight operations. The last one was delivered in 2016, so realistically they will still be operational into the 2050's at least.

The ending of the Class 66 build programme (for the UK) was primarily due to them only complying with the Euro Stage 3a emissions standard and being incapable of modification to 3b (or better).

I regard the fleet of Class 66 as being "noisy dirty diesel locomotives", likewise the smaller fleets of Class 68 and 70 which also only meet Euro 3a.  You presumably think those are the "modern, cleaner, quiet type" - which demonstrates the point I was making about people's tolerance/perception of noise and pollution being different.

For reference, road vehicles (typically with much shorter service lives) are now manufactured to Euro Stage 6x, with development of the Stage 7 standard underway.

user1977

But how frequently would any of these diesel locos pass your house? They're hardly likely to make a material difference to what you're breathing.

(I note the OP hasn't even logged back in since they started this thread about three weeks ago, so not sure they're interested in what we think! In any event, we still don't know how "near" to a railway line they were talking about.)

Section62

user1977 said:

But how frequently would any of these diesel locos pass your house? They're hardly likely to make a material difference to what you're breathing.

It depends on how much freight is carried on the line, and what they are doing as they pass (or wait) near your house.  And on non-electrified routes there will normally also be diesel passenger trains contributing to the noise and air pollution.

The material difference and people's perceptions of the difference are... different.

It comes back to a recurring theme in this thread - people are different and perceive things differently. Some people will love living near a railway line, others will hate it.  Gauging what impact it has on you personally is something only the individual(s) concerned can work out, and the potential impact on market value is a case-by-case thing.

The only thing which is certain is there is no single 'right' answer.

Woolsery

All a bit of a pointless thread then!  Glad I didn't contribute.......Oh! Hang on....

Rosa_Damascena

This is the second home I have had with a line running at the bottom of the garden. The first was TfL (Central Line) and was surprised to find it was a handy marker for my own commute.

Currently I live in a home with a busy commuter C2C line but have a nice long garden to conceal any botheration. It was only in the winter when the foliage subsided and I was sitting in my kitchen (previously garage) that I realised that the platform actually extended as far out as my garden.

For me, the advantages of being close to a station far outweigh any disadvantages. I live in a lovely area and have no plans to budge.