...to consider buying a house that used to be a railway station?

[LookingUpIn21]

I'm not linking it!

But it's a beautiful Victorian building that used to be the station master's house and the railway station.

The train tracks are still in use - about every 40 minutes a train goes past.

The house is to-die for gorgeous, the garden is on all sides and the view is magnificent.

The house has been on the market for about 6 months now, so I think it must be off-putting.

Would you consider it? I think I could probably get used to the noise, myself. And the fence looks sturdy so I wouldn't worry about DC, although we do have cats. But I wonder if I'm blinded by the interior and would regret it in the end...

I'd be concerned about safety if you have DC and pets.

Also noise - you might need to invest in really good windows and doors for noise reduction.

What about accidents?

Night time goods/freight trains are the worst (speaking from experience). You absolutely need to get an idea on frequency of those rather than passenger trains.

A two car train every 40 minutes? That's nothing. Also the cats won't stick around when they hear a train coming or feel the vibration under their paws.

The noise would not bother me - I used to live opposite Big Ben - after the first few days you just don't hear it.

The only thing that would worry me would be the cats. If it would be possible to put up a catproof wall/fence whatever (if such a thing exists then I would consider it.

I love that one near Southampton, with the signal box! But no actual line there obviously.

Do freight trains use it or are there plans for it to be a freight line?
Is it electric or diesel ( noiser)
Is it a diversionary route for a main line ?
Is there an maintenence access point nearby that will be used for vehicles access regularly?
Is privacy assured by trees on railway land - these can be cut down anytime so what would it look like without these ?

You need to know all of this- some of this you might need to get yourself in a train forum or ask network rail.

I'd be too nervous because my cats are a bit thick, and it would be nearly impossible to keep them inside once they've got used to going out. Wouldn't want them to be miserable.

It all depends how street smart they are really, do you live near a busy road now?

@TakeTheCuntOutOfScunthorpe

Is the train traffic 24 hours? That would be the deal breaker for me. Also, it might be haunted because there is a lot of energy both positive and negative at rail stations.

WTF!

I live very rurally. I can’t stand staying at people’s houses that are on busy roads, but I’ve never minded when it was next to a railway. The cats might worry me a little. Can you keep them off a railway??

this one? www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/welsh-homes/family-home-once-train-station-19031216

Cats will be fine. They like walking along one of the rails but will feel vibrations from a long way off and scarper. Virtually everything which gets hit by trains is a bird of some sort, with the occasional sheep thrown in.

Your children will likewise be fine. Network Rail has a legal obligation to maintain its boundary fence and you can bring them up to be aware of the dangers.

Set the time function on this site to "All Day" to check whether there are any freight trains running, especially overnight.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/

There will occasionally be engineering works. These might go on for consecutive weekends or weeknights when renewals take place before going quiet again when they revert to routine maintenance. Network Rail do give notice by letter but there's no getting away from the fact that On-Track Plant is LOUD!

I would worry about the cats. I remember one of my colleagues telling me about her father (I am in Germany) who works for the German rail operator. One of his tasks is to remove the remains of dead animals from the tracks. It happens regularly here and is one reason why I as a cat owner wouldn‘t want to live near railway tracks. Cats that are allowed to go outside should be used to traffic on the streets and yet so many get run over.

If you lived next to a road that only had a car come by once every 40 minutes, no-one would be worrying about your cats getting run over! And there's far more physical warning about a train!

It wouldn't put me off. I quite like the sound trains make. I used to live on an RAF station with several very loud fast jet squadrons. You don't even notice the noise after a while.

Trains are easier to get used to than road noise because they're less random (I used to have a railway line at the top of the garden). However - what kind of trains go by? And are they ever just parked with the engine running close to the property as THAT might drive you mad especially at night.

I used to live in an old station. The track was literally 90cm from our living room and kitchen windows.

Cornish mainline opposite a goods loop. I definitely got used to the trains and loved it to bits. Kids would spend ages watching the freight trains shunting around and wave to the drivers.

I had a cat and dog and neither died. Cats are too smart to be caught out by a train.

The only annoyance was the very rare occasion there would be heavy machinery doing night time work on the track right outside the house. Probably happened twice in 4 years though.

For 10 years I lived in a house whose garden backed onto the Manchester London railway line when I was child - we had a cat so did the Station master who lived on the other side of the line ( and lots of our neighbours.) Never a problem. Never heard of a cat /dog being run down by a train in all the ten years.

It depends how well it's been converted and how homely it feels. I'd be worried if it still feels very much like an old railway station it would be like living in some hellish commuter purgatory

Depends on the other neighbours - for me trains would be better than having noisy households/barking dogs all around etc.

I think you'd have to be prepared for the possibility of the train timetable changing in future years.. It might be one train every 40 mins now, but it might not be that way in the future - they may become more frequent.

I wouldn’t. I know someone who lived in an old station complete with platform and occasional trains but they had no end of problems with teens hanging around. Also for the cats

I wouldn't do it purely because of the cats. When we look for houses we always vetoed them if they were near a busy road because I have 3 cats and will probably always have cats in the future

My house backs onto a rail line and a tube station. We don’t even notice the noise, until it’s not there. We have a high fence at the back of the garden and our cats have never bothered to go over there. Although they are older and lazy so just chill out in next doors garden or on our garage roof. The dog did get over there once, before we replaced the fence and was picked up by a very nice driver who took him to the next stop and he was sent to the local vet who called us to collect him. We sorted the fence the next day. I very rarely see cats along the line (I drive the tube line that goes past the house). The freight noise is the worst part and if they are doing rail grinding Maintenance That noise is horrendous, but only rarely happens.

My house is about 100m at most from the busy London to Exeter line. If it goes on rails it goes past us at some point, be is passenger, freight, or maintenance, we even get things like the Flying Scotsman.
Barely notice it.

I'd worry about the cats and for that reason it wouldn't be for me

See I love the sound of trains, so I would love that. I used to live in a basement flat in London and the tube ran directly underneath. You get used to it eventually.