Does anyone live near a freight train line?

[neskie1]

Me and my Fiance are looking to buy a new house which has a train line at the bottom of the garden.

The line is a main Freight Train line and i'm worried the noise will be too much to cope with as i'm a light sleeper.

Do Freight trains run all through the night?

Is it not worth buying the house because of this?

Please help!

I wouldn't as freight trains are long and noisy-esp if you are a light sleeper! It'll also be more difficult to sell when you're ready to move

Freight trains run at all hours, last for ages, and are extremely noisy. As a light sleeper I wouldn't, and for re-sell I wouldn't.

I am backed onto a train line, no freight, and it's fine.

How close to the house? We lived near a normal line and you barely notice after a while (toddler loved it though!)

I know someone who moved to be next to a railway line so he could see the trains!

I also know someone who moved to the counry for peace and quiet but he couldnt cope with the country noises so moved back to the town where the sounds suited him!

You can, if you use it right, see whats running on the network on a site called reatl time tains put in a nearby station select all rail compnies and freights will be on there mind you they do run late but they, some of them run only when required.

One here for York adjust the + and - hours to suit click to see where its running have fun.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/YRK?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

Do bear in mind that there are a lotr of people live next to railway lines and cope a lot a freights run rould london overenight for example.

A freight service running from Kings Cross almst ID codes starting with a 5 are freight services.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/K04462/2019/01/08/advanced

I think they have to go slow through most residential areas overnight, which makes them quieter.

Oh I would looooove to live next to a train line. My best friend used to and the sound of trains always makes me feel sleepy, like it did when I had sleepovers at her house.

we have a fence then a little bit of grassland then its the line. So it's very close.

Don't do it unless it's London. You'll have a nightmare selling it, there just aren't that many train spotters. I've done it, massive mistake. With a colossal freight train if there are signals red ahead the damn thing can be sitting there chugging away for what seems like hours. Mine was in the north east, having a chemical background I wasn't bothered seeing 300 tonnes of something noxious parked outside, but others might freak on a viewing to discover 20 tonnes of molten phenol at the bottom of the garden. Just walk away.

I can't comment on the resell issue since we rented next to a train line but yes they went more quietly at night and we barely noticed the noise after a little while.

It's not like we're insensitive to noise either since we ended up moving because of the noisy neighbours which was far worse than the trains!

Yes we do. Our flat is just across the road from us.

I am a city dweller through and through and find it very difficult to sleep without any background noise. Personally I like it when I hear trains going past.

However, even given the above, we rarely if ever hear them at night. If they do go by they don't wake either of us.

Yes freight runs at all hours but less frequently than passenger. That being said, just because it is freight now doesn’t mean that ornament couldn’t be used in future for passenger trains.

Depending on where it is will depend on the type of trains you would get.

Ours is a passenger line too. Honestly doesn't bother us. I find the train sounds comforting.

As said above, look on the realtimetrains website to see how many trains are likely at night - could be just 1 per week or 5 per night.

As for idling noise, modern locos are a lot quieter. There are still some ancient ones out there that you could hear a mile away, but they're slowly being scrapped, and replaced with modern ones, some of which are barely more noisy than a car when not moving.

Passenger trains don't tend to run at night, so I wouldn't worry about those, but they're a lot quieter anyway.

our garden doesn't back on to the train line but it's not far just over the road (normal line) and don't hear the trains at all except when the odd freight train goes past cos they're so noisy! I personally wouldn't buy the house OP.

I used to for for four years in my first house.

At first, every single train passing caught my attention and it seemed a bit noisy. Yet after a few weeks I swear I didn’t even notice them any more. It was just sort of background noise that my brain sort of tuned out I suppose.

We let that house out now and have never had trouble finding tenants and it’s never bothered them either. One lot of tenants even asked to buy it if we ever considered selling.

I've never lived near one but once, when we were hard up, we holidayed in a caravan which had a freight line right next to our 'van! It was many years ago, in fact it was the year that 'Jurassic Park' was first on general release. I had read the book and wanted my son and husband to go to see it with me, which we did and throughly enjoyed.

During the night there was a prolonged shuddery, thud, thud going past us, just like T Rex on the prowl. My big son, then 14, got up and came into bed with us, in the middle. He was scared, hee hee, even though I worked out it was the freight trains and told him. He settled down to sleep, then he and my husband turned over and I rolled out of the bed onto the floor on my side where there only a tiny space between bed and wall! I was stuck there, took me ages to get up & I was convulsed with the giggles.

We heard the freight trains every night at all times during our holiday! So I don't think I would choose to live quite so adjacent but ordinary train lines are rather nice.

Thanks @Justaboy for the realtimetrains link, now I know where all the freight trains are going as well as the passenger ones past my house

I'm not as close as OP and not a really busy line (1 every 15 mins) but I like the trains. Check there's not a crossing nearby as they toot loudly fo r those between 0600-2300. That's louder than the actual train noise.

We had one over the road. So we had maybe 30ft of garden, a road and then a freight and commuter train line 20 or so feet away. We did hear it when we first moved in but not for long at all. The trains were no more than 19 "carriages" long (me and the kids used to count) and they didn't run overnight I don't think. It might be worth you checking the use times of that line if possible?
We honestly never noticed it after the first couple of weeks and even then I wouldn't say they disturbed us.

My old gran lived by a train track in the 80's and the trains made her ornaments rattle. Thankfully trains have changed a lot and making whole houses shake is far less common. Now that's a house I wouldn't have bought.

I have the West Coast mainline and a Royal Mail terminal very close to where I live (crap at judging distance, but must be at most 100m?) so have freight and high-speed passenger trains all hours of the day.

I rent, so can't speak to resale issues, but it's certainly possible to get used to the noise. I did really quickly, and I can't remember ever being woken up by them once I'm asleep.

I love he rumbly freight train that goes past us about 11pm, reminds me that it is time to turn out the light! I couldn't tell you if they go past in the night as I don't notice them and we sleep with the windows open in all except the coldest weather.

We used to have one going through our back garden.

The trains were fine. We got used to it within a few weeks of living there, and it didn't really disturb our sleep

But, there would be fairly regular engineering works along the track, which meant temporary floodlights set up on the track, and the sound of grinding metal through the night.
It was only a few times a year, but it was more intrusive than the trains.

We also really noticed it in the garden in the summer. If we were having a bbq, there would have to be a pause in conversation every now and again while a train rumbled past
But again, there were regular engineering works which meant we had quite a few train-free weekends while the line was closed

Regarding resale, about 50% of viewers immediately discounted the house as soon as they knew about the train line, the other 50% didn't seem too put off.
But the house was about 20% cheaper than if it didn't have the trainline, so you got a lot more house for your money if you were prepared to put up with the trains

As well as the running times, look at things like whistle boards and stop boards / signals

The line near me must be more like 50m away tops, not 100m like I said. I know no one cares, but I hate making mistakes so am correcting myself.

Also want to echo the point about engineering works: they do wake me up and make constant noise and light pollution right through the night. They are not that frequent, but happen several times a year and are pretty annoying.

I live about a mile from a train line that is mainly passenger trains through the day and freight at night. Never hear the passenger trains but at night, even from where we are you can hear the freight trains sometimes. If you are a light sleeper I would not even contemplate a line at the bottom of the garden. Freight trains tend to be very long and the noise goes on for ages.