Flat next to train line

[ClaudiaWankleman]

I’m considering viewing a flat with a garden. Lovely flat, everything I would look for etc. However the central line runs past the house lengthways (as in from garden to front door) at a distance of about 10m away.
I’ve stood outside it - as expected you can definitely hear the train. Would this completely put you off?

I supposed I’m most concerned that because the tube runs through the night it would keep me up, or it would ruin my enjoyment of the garden. Does it make a difference that it’s the tube and not a freight service?

IME trains become really easy to ignore because their sound is so steady - it’s not like a road where you’ve got starting and stopping and revving and radios etc.

I’ve had the mainline out of Euston at the bottom of my garden before, I’d do it again no worries. I would never do a busy road.

How good is the double glazing? I live near a train line and quite like hearing them. However, there are only 2 trains per hour and they stop before 11pm.

I'd prefer a railway line to a busy road too.

I live next to the Picadilly Line (I can hear the voice saying the stop and the doors opening) and at first the maintenance work that starts around 2am annoyed me. It wasn't enough to wake me up but if I was already awake, it did stop me from getting back to sleep.

But it didn't take too long to get used to it and it's no bother at all now. The 24 hr tube at the weekend hasn't made a difference.

I live on a main road and honestly it is just the same. You don't even notice the noise once you get used to it. It is just background hum and I don't give it a thought. I imagine a train would be the same though my friend lived next to a rail line and her house vibrated when they went by.

You soon get used to the noise but when they're working on the line it can be a nightmare. Hammering and clanging at 3am.

That was a train station though,not the Tube.

We used you live with DLR trains combing really close by. I did stop noticing it after a while

And I quite like being out in the garden and watching the tube go by.

We lived next to a railway station for a few years and it becomes background noise very quickly. We have also lived for a couple of months on a busy road and I would avoid like the plague, mostly due to sirens waking me up. DH is police and would come off night shift saying there were only three officers on duty or whatever and I used to say you'd never guess from the sirens blaring up and down the road all night.

I live very near a railway line although it’s not a busy one, and it doesn’t make any difference at all. It’s far preferable to the sound of a busy road as it’s short lived noise and the rumble is kind of comforting.

It would not put me off if everything else about the flat was right. I think as others have said, at first you would be very aware of the train noise but it would not take too long to get used to it until you didn't notice it. Would your garden still feel quite private or can everyone on the train see in your garden? Would that bother you?

I'd love to live next to a railway.

As a child I lived in a house that had a trainline at the end of the back garden probably same as you about 8-10m from the house.

I don't ever remember it annoying me in the house or waking me up at night. You could hear it but really quickly you just tune it out.

It was so close to the garden I remember us standing with our arms out to the side and pretending the wind from the train would make us fly

Is it a busy station and will you be able to hear people from the road? I wouldn't be worried about the trains themselves

I would imagine the double glazing is pretty good as it has been refurbished recently.

Do you think the frequency of trains would increase or decrease the impact of the noise? There are approx. 25 trains an hour going past and 6 an hour overnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Would this just become normal background noise or would it be constant interruption?

The railway is slightly sunken so you can't actually see the trains from the garden, so there is that privacy.

I lived near a train line once, ground floor bedroom window looked on to the track. and I quite liked it apart from some freight trains at night that were really squealy on the tracks. It wasn't the train but the squeals that I struggled with as they went right through me.

But generally it didn't bother me as much as I thought it might. I quite liked them.

I'd consider the flat as long as the price reflects the proximity to the railway line.

I have a train station at the foot of my garden and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. You can hear the announcements and everything However, the last train is at midnight, I'm not sure how I would feel about overnight trains.

Go for another viewing at night. Sound stands out more in the evening.

It is slap bang between two stations, so no announcements or commuters walking past the door!

These replies are very encouraging - it's something I never thought would bother me but the prospect of it was suddenly very daunting. I needed this reassurance!

I wouldn't as I'm ultra sensitive to noise, can you generally sleep through sounds?

I quite like it (line runs at the bottom of our garden) and it does become background noise pretty quickly. Like others have mentioned the maintenance in the early hours can sometimes be a pain but isn't often enough to be a real problem. It wouldn't put me off viewing a place at all.

I lived in a flat near a railway. Trains not so bad, but the track engineering works most bank hols at night with very bright lights meant no sleep.

It wouldn’t bother me. I like the sound of tubes going past, it’s sort of comforting somehow.