Friend buying near a railway track..any advice..?

melmyn1

Hi
I also used to live near a railway line (for about 25 yrs) I can even remember hearing the sound of the trains but know they run back and forth every 30 minutes until midnight - you get used to it like its not even there. We even had the gates that made the loud sound and went down to stop the cars and for the train to pass through- I don't even remember hearing that to be honest.......

amcluesent

I used to rent a 2nd floor flat that was beside the elevated line running into Waterloo East. The track was maybe 10m from the bedroom window! It was a nightmare in summer, with the windows open you'd be woken at 5am every week day. Never 'got used to' the trains

Gingernutmeg

I used to live in a third floor flat next to an elevated railway line (SW London, main line to Waterloo) - like amcluesent, we were about 10-15 metres from the track. I found that you could get used to the ordinary noise, but the horns etc were always annoying. We lived fairly close to the station and they changed the procedure for sounding the horns and it became incredibly annoying. It went from maybe three or four horns a day to each train sounding their horn twice as they were approaching the station. It was probably just our bad luck but we seemed to live right next to the points or whatever that reminded them to sound the horn lol. Also I don't know if it was 'London' rather than the trains but the outside of the flat (windows, balcony, plants) was always covered in greasy black 'smuts'.

Maintenance work was also a bit of a problem. During the summer months most weekend nights (Friday and Saturday) saw some kind of work on the tracks, which could be very, very noisy and would often go on all night. Again I think we were unlucky in where the flat was, but it's definitely something to look out for. The type of property makes a difference too - we lived in a 'C' shaped block with the fourth side being the railway track, so the noise would echo and bounce which did make it worse.

pickles110564

emg wrote: »

and frieght all night. It was the freight trains that wobbled our house there and often woke us up. I think it was worse because they were going faster (again I was near a station so the passenger trains were quite slow) and heavier.

Freight trains are going to increase considerably over the next few years.
They are restricted to 75MPH where conditions allow.
They are also hoping for them to be 30 wagon sets if the track circuits allow so they will take even longer to clear past your houses.

Innocenti

My garden backs onto a railway line, it is the main Machester line too so it is busy. To be honest I dont really notice the trains except when I am in bed. Thats when you can hear them the most. I cant have windows open at night as the noise of them wakes me up. It is mostly the freight trains and they can shake the house. The bed shakes like crazy. I didnt notice the recent earthquake as I must have thought it was a train!!

I cant see the trains as the line is in a dip so that is not a problem seeing the trains.

I havent seen any vermin, my neighbour did see a rat in my garden once but that was because I left a rubbish bag in the garden (bin was full). So I never leave any form of rubbish or food in the garden. We were also warned not to have rabbits in the garden (I assume because of the rats) and my poor dog got bit by a snake.

The worst is when they are working on the line on a Friday and Saturday night. Sometimes we dont notice them at all but sometimes they are so noisy, shouting and talking and a horn always going off and a loud metal clanging noise. I am ready to go out with a shotgun and kill the lot of them :rotfl:

I dont think it would put me off buying a house near the line as we have got a large garden (larger than the other houses that dont back onto the line) but it can be annoying in summer when you have the windows open and you cant hear what is being said on telly as a loud train is rumbling past!!!

tomstickland

When I was at university I lived within 200m of the mainline railway and noticed the noise of trains for the first few days but never noticed them after that. If I had the choice between living next to a busy road or next to a railway then I'd take the second option.

BobProperty

Innocenti wrote: »

I havent seen any vermin, my neighbour did see a rat in my garden once but that was because I left a rubbish bag in the garden (bin was full). So I never leave any form of rubbish or food in the garden. We were also warned not to have rabbits in the garden (I assume because of the rats) and my poor dog got bit by a snake.

As you may recall from this being discussed previously on here, I too live next to a railway line. You get used to the noise. OK a few people may not, but the majority seem to be able to live with it. As for the food and rabbits, it will be urban foxes not rats which will be interested in the them. (A further plus may be that the foxes would probably go after the rats if times were hard.). Foxes like living in railway embankments as they don't get disturbed by humans.

Zammo

At least they won't have far to walk when they're in negative equity.

sillyvixen

my house backs onto to a main line the track is about 8 meters from the wall of my house (v small garden). the noise was only a problem in the 1st 48 hours of moving in - after that we got used to it .. trains run at 100mph on the one side of the track and 95mph on the other, not a problem, they run very often an even through the night - i dont even hear them now!! as for the vermin, we have owls in the area and they seem to keep that in check - on a clear evening i can go out into the garden and watch the owls swooping onto the embankment catching their evening meal, amazing!! the owls more than make up for the trains!!

Snooze

Innocenti wrote: »

and my poor dog got bit by a snake.

:eek:

Wild snakes are virtually unheard of in the UK, especially residential areas. Do you live outside the UK then?

Rob