Many moons ago, I lived about 20 feet from a Union Pacific railroad track. Gotta give credit to the engineers. They really tried to quietly sneak by every morning at 2:00 AM. As quietly as you can sneak a freight train anyways.
I kind of wonder if that’s a better or worse experience than living right next to a major highway.
10 years ago I lived by both at the same time and can tell you the train is quieter unless the conductor has to blow the horn to alert traffic the train is passing. The train ran along the back of our apartment and was about 3 apartments away so maybe 75 to 100 feet from track. The freeway is about a quarter mile (several times further than the train) and semi-trucks are still louder than trains.
I have lived not between one but two major train lines (they were diverting from a common station), the one on the backside of the house was maybe 10m away, the one from the terrace was a lazy stone throw away. This was in Zürich and the trains there are massive, frequent S-Bahns but also freight trains (all of them electric):
You dont really hear them at all, I sometimes was shocked because there was a fast train coming from behind and I didnt hear it until it was right next to me.
There was 2 days a year, when in the night the rails were grinded, I could hear that and it took maybe 1-2 hours of my sleep, but it was announced weeks in advance.
The rails can emit a screeching sound, but that is usually well blocked by the house.
In contrast I have also lived on the side of a “main street” of a rather small village, maybe 10k inhabitants, that shit was unbearable. You heard everything the motor sound, the tires, the honks, the brakes, the music, trucks hitting a pothole would wake me up every night and so would motorcycles.
It is not a predictable woooOOoooosh like a train every half an hour, but instead an assortment of the worst combination of sounds possible that came and went all through the night. When “rush hour” set in at 6 in the morning you could forget to sleep, even on weekends.
There already was a 30km/h speed limit and a speed camera to curb the noise but it still was batshit. I moved 6 months in because I legitimately developed anger issues fueled by sleep deprivation.
I live across from level1 trauma center with an active helipad, and across from a busy freight rail line where trains are required to sound their whistle as they traverse the level crossing underneath the skytrain (like a subway but elevated like the Ell) station, as tractor trucks pulling off the highway need to cross under and over to get to the industrial recycling plant.
At any one time we could hear road traffic, subways whooshing to a stop, a helicopter, ambulances, police escorts, fire trucks, and a 100db train whistle about 200 feet away. The guy driving the 3am train is a continual dick as he stands on the bleeding for like 10 seconds.
Sounds rough. But we got triple-pane windows and now all but the whistle is gone. And the highway is Canadian so it’s no big deal.
Many moons ago, I lived about 20 feet from a Union Pacific railroad track. Gotta give credit to the engineers. They really tried to quietly sneak by every morning at 2:00 AM. As quietly as you can sneak a freight train anyways.
I kind of wonder if that’s a better or worse experience than living right next to a major highway.
10 years ago I lived by both at the same time and can tell you the train is quieter unless the conductor has to blow the horn to alert traffic the train is passing. The train ran along the back of our apartment and was about 3 apartments away so maybe 75 to 100 feet from track. The freeway is about a quarter mile (several times further than the train) and semi-trucks are still louder than trains.
Living next to a highway is so much worse.
I lived next to all the points just before a main railway station. A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS WENT LIKE THIS.
I have lived not between one but two major train lines (they were diverting from a common station), the one on the backside of the house was maybe 10m away, the one from the terrace was a lazy stone throw away. This was in Zürich and the trains there are massive, frequent S-Bahns but also freight trains (all of them electric):
You dont really hear them at all, I sometimes was shocked because there was a fast train coming from behind and I didnt hear it until it was right next to me.
There was 2 days a year, when in the night the rails were grinded, I could hear that and it took maybe 1-2 hours of my sleep, but it was announced weeks in advance.
The rails can emit a screeching sound, but that is usually well blocked by the house.
In contrast I have also lived on the side of a “main street” of a rather small village, maybe 10k inhabitants, that shit was unbearable. You heard everything the motor sound, the tires, the honks, the brakes, the music, trucks hitting a pothole would wake me up every night and so would motorcycles.
It is not a predictable woooOOoooosh like a train every half an hour, but instead an assortment of the worst combination of sounds possible that came and went all through the night. When “rush hour” set in at 6 in the morning you could forget to sleep, even on weekends.
There already was a 30km/h speed limit and a speed camera to curb the noise but it still was batshit. I moved 6 months in because I legitimately developed anger issues fueled by sleep deprivation.
I’ve lived by a pretty busy highway that also had a railroad track running along it. Shit was noisy
I can win this.
I live across from level1 trauma center with an active helipad, and across from a busy freight rail line where trains are required to sound their whistle as they traverse the level crossing underneath the skytrain (like a subway but elevated like the Ell) station, as tractor trucks pulling off the highway need to cross under and over to get to the industrial recycling plant.
At any one time we could hear road traffic, subways whooshing to a stop, a helicopter, ambulances, police escorts, fire trucks, and a 100db train whistle about 200 feet away. The guy driving the 3am train is a continual dick as he stands on the bleeding for like 10 seconds.
Sounds rough. But we got triple-pane windows and now all but the whistle is gone. And the highway is Canadian so it’s no big deal.
So forget the last paragraph. Do I win? ;-)
Buried the lede for a humble brag.
I live in a HOUSE in Canada.
Whoa Mr. Money Bags.