Do you really want to live next to the tracks???????

[Modelcar]

....No, too close. Our home now is about one mile from the NS line heading west out of Muncie. We can hear them some of the time but can't see them. Next to the tracks would have too many negatives.

[Anonymous]

When I was growing up, the N&W was about 40 yards through the woods, a short peddler ran daily, the noise was not noticable at all. Today I live two blocks from light rail, and the occational SSSSSHHHHHHH at night is pleasant. Just because you live next to the tracks doesn't suggest an urban setting, a hill top overlooking a line would be cool. A busy mainline might be too noisy, unless you had some distance.

[tree68]

Sure - but in a nice country setting. Might even run out and buy a couple of those driveway annuciators and put them out where they would sense the trains coming so I could be at the window to watch them go by...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Junctionfan Posted: Today, 21:01:06
QUOTE: Originally posted by Blue Ridge Front

Guess you could show up at the railyard in your underwear with a beer in hand, but I think that would be a bit harder to explain to the police.


Could you imagine how funny that would be if it was reported on the news?

Yeah, they always like to get the weird stories like that. Just imagine the wife or parents seeing that though!

[Junctionfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Blue Ridge Front

Guess you could show up at the railyard in your underwear with a beer in hand, but I think that would be a bit harder to explain to the police.[(-D][(-D][(-D]

Could you imagine how funny that would be if it was reported on the news?[:D]

[Anonymous]

During my career as a conductor I had to learn a great deal about hazardous materials, especially what actions to take if a tank car should rupture in a derailment. I would not want to live within 2 miles of a railroad track.

[Anonymous]

The original Georgia Railroad (now CSX) runs roughly 200 feet from my front door step. There is also a crossing in front of my house, so I get to hear horns blasting at all hours. I like living that close, sitting on the front porch watching em blast by, and after 23 years, the noise doesn't bother me.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Blue Ridge Front

Guess you could show up at the railyard in your underwear with a beer in hand, but I think that would be a bit harder to explain to the police.[(-D][(-D][(-D]

OUCH!!!!!![:D]

[cstaats]

I remember when the NYS&W rehabilitated its tracks north of Butler, NJ and started running double stacks. The people who had bought houses in the exclusive Smoke Rise Development never thought about the tracks that had been out of service so long and howled when the trains were coming through at 1 or 2 or 3 AM. [:O]
Then the NYS&W opened a bulk transfer operation in Riverdale, NJ. This was on the Old Erie Greenwood Lake Branch. The tracks had been OOS for 30 years but never abandon. The home owners had become accustomed to the free green belt the tracks had become overgrown with brush and weeds. (I would hunt rabbits on the section between Wayne and Pequannock.) When the NYS&W bought the track age and rehabilitated it to service two commercial customers they also had enough property to build a bulk transfer station. The homeowners who had not been accustomed to this were up in arms. [:(!] It brings up the old saying let the buyer beware.
[banghead]

[Anonymous]

Guess you could show up at the railyard in your underwear with a beer in hand, but I think that would be a bit harder to explain to the police.[(-D][(-D][(-D]

[locomutt]

Before I married CW,I had a chance to live next to the tracks.
My girlfrend wasn't too thrilled with location,as she had (at that time)
a 4 1/2yr old; I would have loved it,but she didn't think so.
CW & I live approx. 1 & a1/2 blocks from the tracks now,certain trains sound
like they are going through the house,anyway.[:)]

[cstaats]

When I was house hunting my agent and I looked at a house. It was nice there was a nice hedge in the backyard and the price was too good to be true. We were standing on the back porch when a UP double stack came rocketing by and blowing its horns for the crossing several I later found was just blocks away.

I know live about a mile from the BNSF & UP tracks in Auburn, WA. I am able to hear the horns in the distance and it is quite pleasant but No way would I be 20 or 30 or even 100 feet from the tracks.

[Junctionfan]

Sure, you can railfan during any weather; your wife doesn't have to say "Are you going out to watch trains again, I need help around the house" (you can work and watch trains at the same time [tup][tup]; you don't have to worry about folk calling the police on you thinking you are a terrorist; property taxes I would imagine is much cheaper; if it is a bad neighboor hood, you can wall it and build a guest railfan platform if neccessary which makes it safe for children ( even "fortresses" can look good with the right landscaping).
You can use your own bathroom, eat your own food and hang around in your underwear and drink beer if you really wanted to. How many railfan spots do you know of that you can do all that other than your own home by the tracks. Plus if you are addicted to trains like it was cocain, you can set up a video cam and record the trains while you are at work so you can watch what you missed and not worry about if there was something good going through. Enough talking now, time for me to start looking for a house!!

[(-D][(-D][(-D][2c]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

No, mostly because houses that are that close to the tracks are also usually smaller run down houses in very poor neighborhoods...I dont mind the rumble of a train but i do not want to rumble with the local Homies in the Hood thank you...

dont forget the gunshots outside and not wanting to buy bulletproof glass [:p]

[Anonymous]

id buy a house like that
it would probably be cheap because of the location
i would have my bedroom soundproofed

[Anonymous]

The closest to the tracks I've worked was when I worked for an architect with offices in the old Lehigh & Hudson Railroad office building in Warwick, NY. It was about the time the NYS&W started running on the line, & I never tired of watching trains roll by. The brick and concrete bulding was built as if to withstand a nuclear blast and you barely feel a vibration when a train rolled by not 30 feet away.

The closest I've lived to tracks was about a block away, in Haverstraw, NY. Freight trains ran fairly often & I got used to it quickly. In 1973 (?) a train derailed and caught fire in the mile-long tunnel and shut down rail traffic for about a week. I would wake up suddenly in the middle of the night when something in the brain screamed "TOO QUIET!!!!"

Wayne

[JoeKoh]

Oh forgot to mention check this link
http/www.departmentofmysteries.com/joekoh/scan.jpg
thanks nora
stay safe
Joe

[Dr.Fu-Manchu]

The [}:)] Doctor is In !!! As a young evil doctor(many years ago) we lived in Littlerock, Calif. And I lived about 1000yards from the Colton cutoff from Palmdale to Colton. I remember when they were building it!!! When a train came by it shook our house like
an earthquake!!! But truth be told, I found it fun!!!!! Got a great chance to see a lot of
different rolling stock and a few rare engines. Also remember seeing a steamer being
deadheaded to colton. And I got to see the driving of the gold spike in palmdale when
the line was finished. Living near the tracks was not that bad. Great railfaning!!!!!!

Till My Next Missive, I Remain The Humble, Yet Strangly [}:)] Doctor !!!

[DSchmitt]

A friend of mine lives on a street adjacent to the UP (former WP) main line through Oroville CA. He is a railfan and spends a lot of time on his front porch watching trains.

[TH&B]

Sure why not I'm a rail fan so it suites me.... I especialy hope I can get one for a good price in an otherwise good neighberhood by prettending the trains bother me hehehehe...

[mudchicken]

Ambiance!

LC - Loved the comment![:D][:D][:D]

Somebody define close to the tracks? Did the guy selling the house say he was building a new house at the end of the runway of the local airport? Last name Darwin?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rkarn

I have seen many houses located just 30-40 feet away from the tracks. I bet those houses do not belong to railfans, but if someone knows you are and steps up in front of your door to sell a house in front of the tracks, will you happy to buy one??? [:D][:D]

Karn[:)]

No thanks, I spend enough time close to the tracks already.

LC

[vsmith]

No, mostly because houses that are that close to the tracks are also usually smaller run down houses in very poor neighborhoods...I dont mind the rumble of a train but i do not want to rumble with the local Homies in the Hood thank you...

[JoeKoh]

Lived in a house half a block from the tracks for 18 years.The train noise really didnt bother me.It was the semi trucks that decided to wedge themselves under the viaduct that made the most noise.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

Sleep would be nice. Very nice. I'd also worry if you were going to raise kids in this house too, or grandkids that come to visit and aren't aware of the danger. Don't want them playing too close!

[Anonymous]

I like trains and all, but I also like my sleep....

I'd have to pass on a house by the tracks..... I like where I live right now, I get the essence of the locomotive horns when the wind is blowing the right way on a quiet evening, almost more of a background sound, it's quite nice.

[Anonymous]

I have seen many houses located just 30-40 feet away from the tracks. I bet those houses do not belong to railfans, but if someone knows you are and steps up in front of your door to sell a house in front of the tracks, will you happy to buy one??? [:D][:D]

Karn[:)]