How long does it take to get used to living next to a railway?

[DueToAnUnfortunateWerewolfIncident]

I’m contemplating a flat next to a train line, it’s only about 25 feet away from the fence between the flat and the line and about 3 minutes from the station.

If you’ve had experience of living next to a railway did you ever get used to it and how long before you got use to the noise?

TIA

I live a 5 min walk away, small village with two trains an hour.

I always hear it but it doesn’t bother me, if that makes sense? It doesn’t even enter into my head for ‘things I would change about living here’.

would you be buying or renting? It might be hard to sell on later

I live by a main road so not the same thing. But everyone told me I was nuts. I stopped hearing the road pretty much completely after a couple of months, in fact, it moving soon and looking at houses in a main road. If you move there knowing it’ll be noisy sometimes and being accepting of that, then you’ll be fine. But get a good deal, because it really does limit your pool of potential buyers.

I’ve lived close to a station, not as close as you’re talking about, but could hear the trains and also faintly the announcements. Also lived close to the overground in London. I think you get used to it within a week or two. It does help if you like trains though

I’m in a flat near a train line and I stopped noticing it after a month or so. It becomes white noise.

We used to live across the road from one, I loved it personally, never bothered me!

We live by a railway line and it doesn’t bother us at all. It depends on the line I suppose. Ours has trains slowly pulling in or out every 15 minutes or so and we barely notice them. It’s quite a soothing chugging noise. I would expect living with high speed trains every couple of minutes would be different. And we have the benefit of the station just a minute away.

My best mate had a big train and tube line at the bottom of her modest garden. Her family seemed to get used to it within weeks. I also got used to it to an extent though it took longer being only sleeping over every couple of weeks.

If you've decent windows and you're not a super light sleeper I think it becomes just background, almost comforting to some people?

We have a train line at the bottom of the garden & I never think about it or notice it. There are lots of trees on the embankment & it isn’t high speed. I only ever notice if they are working on the line at night, because that is an unfamiliar sound. But it doesn’t happen often.

For several years I lived a 2 minute walk from the station, with the railway line at the end of our not very big garden. I got used to the trains really quickly and they didn't bother me and it was very convenient to have the station so close.

BUT both the lounge and my bedroom were on the other side of the house. It depends on the layout of your property as to how disruptive it would be.

It was a family joke that whenever we went camping we would find ourselves next to a railway line 😁 both houses i have bought as an adult were next to a railway, and DD used to love 'The Railway Children'!

Having said that, neither line was particularly busy, 4-6 trains an hour. Never a problem. It's more of a disturbance when the boy racers are gunning their engines on the road at the front.

We live near a trainline and it gives me a rhythm to the day, I only notice if something unusual is happening, like no trains or occasional works, and when I am in bed and the big shaky train goes past I know it's lights out time!

I used to live just north of Clapham Junction - the trains were on a viaduct outside my window. I got used to them pretty quickly and could sleep with the window open in summer with no problem.

I like the sound of the train, also the boat horns, I can hear both here if the wind is right.

I had a flat right next to a railway line. I can't remember how long exactly but I'd say under a month. The bigger downside was my cat bringing in rats😬 one was too big for her to recapture and it sauntered out the front door in the morning 😅

The railway runs along the bottom of our garden (long, thin garden around 100ft long). We barely noticed it after a few weeks. They have built houses up to the railway line on the other side of it and I know if it wasn't for the railway line, we would have houses at the end of our garden which would bother me more. Every once in a while they do work at night, which they notify us in advance. Only once has the work disturbed us at night. Also, on a very frosty morning the train line makes a wicked crackle when the train zips by! We've also a couple of times had a steam train go by, couldn't see the train as it is down the embankment but lovely to see the steam!

We have one at the end of our street (10 houses away) however its only a local line and is one every half hour. I think after the first month it didn't really register. We're about a mile from the station so that's a positive. In the 7 years we've lived here three times they're has been overnight work on the line which you get notified of. Once was cutting back trees/hedges, once track replacement and once structural checks, so all planned and only a couple of nights slightly disturbed sleep.

Our old house was next to train line, trains every half hour or so. I actually liked it, especially during lock down. It was a little reminder that the outside world still existed.

The dc loved it too, they would often be standing at the upstairs windows watching a particularly interesting train to by.

Mine's in a deep cutting at the end of the garden. I don't really hear it. I can feel heavy good trains passing when I'm in the bath, which is downstairs, but not in a disruptive way.

I think most people get used to the nose quite quickly. It probably depends a bit in things like:

• just how close?
• is it on the same level, in a cutting or on an embankment?
• how over-looked would you be by passengers in the garden or rooms facing the railway?
• is it a slow branch line with infrequent trains, or a busy mainline with fast, long trains, or heavy freight?

Barely noticed the trains after a short while, but it was a local branch line with slow(ish) trains about every half an hour . Living with a high speed line with frequent trains at the bottom of the garden would be a different kettle of fish.

I’ve lived next to the EC main line and before that in a house that was next to a smaller line that feeds off it. Our bed vibrated when the fast trains and freight trains went past the house in the first instance, but that was due to the topography of the area. As you can imagine, it was all day and all through the night, including periods throughout the year when major work was done at night which involved bright lights (that shone in), really loud machinery and shouting workmen. I got used to it in the end and didn’t really notice it unless I was properly paying attention.

I now live relatively near to a minor line but miss the trains. It was reassuring to wake with the early ones and hear the chug of the freight ones. The house sold quickly, anyone who came to see it, knew the area and knew the houses close to the line. You don’t go and view a house unless you scout the area first surely?

People have deal breakers, main roads, flight paths, railway lines. If the house is right the house is right imo.

I grew up in a house whose back garden was below the embankment of a train line, with the station nearby.
We kids loved the sound of the train.
It was reassuring and gave a rhythm to each day.
I don't think it took my parents very long to get used to the sound of the train as it was muffled by foliage, and after a short while you don't even remember hearing it.
I actually missed the rhythmic sound for quite a while after I moved out.
It's probably no worse than hearing a clock chime in the village, the sound of traffic on a nearby motorway, or living under a flight path, which BTW I would think would be much harder to get used to.

We loved near to one (50 meters) but never noticed the noise. The train went by at 40mph or more and was gone that quick. No night trains so no overnight disturbance.

Trains were fine but the beeping doors were a bit annoying

That seems very close to me. I grew up backing into a train line but there was a 100ft garden in between the house and the line, and the line was down a slight cutting.

You’ll have to trains braking as well so I’d see how screechy that is too.

Never, don’t do it.