House near rail line

MalMonroe

Hi, I really wouldn't mind a train line. In fact I love the sound of trains - and of planes too! I'm daft like that. 

Seriously, that sound to me is a hundred times better than the sound of vandals messing about in the street and causing damage to everything in sight, which I had where I lived before I moved to my lovely rural location. 

It wouldn't bother me at all whether I'd just moved in or got used to it. And I suspect others are the same, judging by the hundreds of houses I see when I'm actually on a train that back onto the tracks. Sometimes new properties and sometimes old. Sometimes people wave. 

HobgoblinBT

OP as well as the obvious things to look at when house buying, you should spend long enough time at the viewing to hear a train go past and consider the effect.  I visited a house for work purposes once next to a motorway and the triple glazing meant that you could not hear the constant stream of traffic 10 meters away, although you certainly could hear it in the garden on the side away from the road.

p00hsticks

There was a similar thread a few weeks ago with regard to a house being close to a rail line. 
House next to train track — MoneySavingExpert Forum

MikeJXE

BMTH said:

Some helpful replies here, thanks all.

I've done some research regarding sold prices but it's hard to guage as the town is so big with multiple housing estates. I personally think 220k is a cracking deal but I don't know if i'm missing something (bar the train track). A 3 bed semi at that price would be snapped up anywhere else within the town.

There you have it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks and doesn't matter what you're missing

You personally think it's a great deal so go for it

Like everyone says you will get used to the noise as do people living next to a motorway 

The best house to buy is the one you want 

Nelliegrace

Perhaps perhaps take a train ride and see how much privacy the property has?

We are across the street from a railway which used to be diesel and take long trains of coal wagons to a power station most days.  It is on a bit of an embankment so it was quite noisy as It rattled by at about roof level about 30 yards behind the houses opposite. On the far side of the railway some bungalows had their foundations damaged by the vibration of the train and considerable repairs were done to the track bed.

It became a passenger line again some thirty years ago with half hourly trains through through several towns and suburbs to the city. Electrifying the line was a long noisy process day and night, with bright lights, and heavy machinery and noise for about two years. The poplars and a lot of other trees were removed increasing the noise. There are overnight repairs for several months at a time. Quite a bit of hammering on metal. 

Almost every house in the street backing on to the railway has been burgled at some time, often in daylight. Usually by young adults who get in from the railway and wheel loot along it in the wheelie bin. The gulley under the railway is one of the local shops for the sale of little packets of street herbs at times, and the emergency urinal. There are rats. 

One of the local roads gets closed for long periods while the railway bridge over the track gets repaired again after another lorry misjudged the tight turn. It causes a lot of traffic congestion. 

In spite of all this we are quite fond of our railway.  We miss it when it doesn’t run. 

Schwarzwald

I would buy close to a rail line, i actually got close to buying one last year but it fell through due to japanese knotweed which apparently is not totally uncommon close to rail tracks so check that if you have a garden

Emily_Joy

I only know for a fact that London Euston - Milton Keynes is very disruptive. 

GDB2222

Are the trains diesel or electric? Pollution of the air would bother me more than noise. Obviously depends how many trains are running.

markin

And vibration will bother more people than simple noise. How long is the garden 300ft vs 50 is huge different.

michelle09

I once rented a flat that backed onto a tube line (outside you could touch our bedroom wall and the bridge simultaneously).

First few nights were horrendous and I'd thought we had made a terrible mistake. Two weeks later I honestly didn't notice it, even when the night tube came in. 

I would also point out that unless you are rich enough to buy several acres of land then you never know what you could end up next to in the future. A trainline is unlikely to be removed for housing.