Would you buy a house that backed onto a train line?

[nicolllaaaaaaa]

Hello, Great house, great area. Backs onto a trainline. Would love some perspective. Thank you.

No.
I once lived near a local train with trains that passed 2-3 times an hour. What I didn't realise was that a couple of works trains went by every night - the screeching noise and vibrations woke me up every single time.

Yes because I grew up in one and can live with trains but can't tolerate traffic noise! That said, it was an infrequent passenger service / goods line and we had a big back garden and the line was in a dip so weren't overlooked. I don't think I'd buy one that backed onto something like the east coast mainline.

I have dine, they tend to have longer back gardens and you get used to the noise

We lived for more than 20 years within 200 feet of a tube bridge, so to the right and level with the upper house rather than the bottom of the garden. Was close to station so they weren't going fast. There was a footbridge over the river that emerged within 5 houses so meant it was a quick walk to the station.

After very few weeks one stops hearing them. Depends on the overall pros and cons. We paid about £320k for that house. Sold it for £3.7m so yep I'd absolutely do it again.

I lived in a house like this and genuinely just stopped hearing it. Sounds like that’s not the case for some, but for me it would never put me off because I know I’d stop hearing it

We had a ground floor flat very close to the line. The first night we thought we would never sleep again but you soon get used to it. Overnight guests struggled though 😂.

No

We lived in one. Much much nicer and bigger house than we could otherwise have afforded. Train noise didn’t bother us. At all. But it did put quite a few buyers off when we were moving area and needed to sell. But in the end someone else fell in love and bought it.

@BackforGood

Yes. Well, we did. Lived here for years. Like everything - when you buy a house, you weigh up the pros and cons. A lot of people won't like it, but we liked the fact that we have been able to live in a far bigger house that we could have afforded without the trainline. You get used to the noise from the trains very quickly (and it is very convenient when you need to travel by train).

Same here. We adapted very quickly and tuned out the noise. I could never live next to a busy road, but the trains didn't bother me at all.

Depends on how often the trains run and how close it is. Ours only has 2 trains an hour, don't run at night and there is sone green space between us and the line.

Yes, I loved that house. Trains were every 15 mins but hardly heard them. I don’t find the noise unpleasant anyway.

No. I went to see a flat once which had a garden that backed onto the trainline. The building shook and the noise was noticeable...every 5 minutes! The owner claimed they got used to it, but it's not something I could get used to.

We recently moved into a house that’s backed on to a train line. Tbh I love seeing the train and the odd time we hear it - good windows mean we rarely hear any of the 14 that pass daily.

Yes. I loved the sound of the trains swishing past.
But that was at the end of very long garden and embankment. Also impossible to look in from the train.
Busy main line too

There's a train line behind the houses across the road from us so not far away and I don't mind the noise at all so it wouldn't put me off

It's a local line so no high speed trains thundering past, just a kind of gentle whooshing, I barely notice it tbh and I've only lived here for 6 weeks. I also used to live in a house with a freight line at the end of the garden and soon got used to that too

If I didn't have a cat and the track was a fair distance away from the house, then it probably wouldn't bother me.

How frequent are the trains?

We back on to a railway line, but there's only one train an hour each way, and we don't notice them.

The noise would be fine until you opened your double glazed windows in summer or sat out in the garden.

There are generally rats running up and down the lines like highways if there are rats in the area. Fair enough if there aren’t.

I’d be more concerned about diesel fumes or the increased risk of cancer from living near overhead electric wires. I don’t know if that’s an issue the way it is with pylons, which carry more power.

Don’t know if studies into leukaemia and brain cancer etc have been done based on proximity to electric train lines. Be interesting to see.

I rented a flat for years with a line out of Highbury and Islington running alongside it (near the station so I guess the trains were running slowly). It never bothered me.

The trains round here are diesel, but yes to rats.

I live backed on to a train line. It serves two tube lines. That is fine.

What does cause us issue from time to time is the train depot that by map seems quite far away and on a different train line. However, somehow, a sideings track comes out of the depot and alongside the train tracks. So in the middle of the night the tracks change over and along chugs a freight train. Squeals to a halt and then reverses back out again.

My only advice would be to check if there is a train depot.

I grew up in a house where the trains ran behind the houses on the other side of the road (but it was a development with small gardens so they really weren't that far away from my front facing bedroom window).

As an adult my first flat backed onto a major trainline into London Bridge, but was close to the local station so the local trains were either accelerating or decelerating with only the fast (non stopping) trains going...urm, fast.

The noise never bothered me. I used to find it quite comforting in the summer when I slept with the windows open.

I still live somewhere quite noisy and I have more trouble sleeping at my brother's deadly quiet suburban house than I do at home!

No. But I have looked a couple without realising about the train line. One was very close to the house, the other not so close but was noisy with the doors and windows open. I also thought about the grime.

I knew someone who had a house next to a station, that was fun. Announcements, and train noise and you could look out onto the platforms.

Our house backs directly onto the train line, it's absolutely fine.

Mind you they are infrequent and moving slowly.

I'd actively choose one. My parents house was and I also lived in a railway hovel cottage was was right next to tracks. Love it!

You get so used to the noise (barring sensitivities) that it tunes out. Things used to fall off our walls!