Hey there! We are thinking of buying a house in Lancaster, which backs on to the railway track. The house is about 25 metres away from the track, and is in the new Persimmon St George’s Walk development, immediately south of the River Lune. We’re wondering how often we’d expect to hear trains, what types, trains at night? My wife is a really light sleeper with bad insomnia, she sleeps with the window closed and a somewhat loud white noise going but still worried the trains may be an issue, or if they may cause a lot of vibrations to the house. If anyone has any information that would help, that would be amazing! Thanks so much!
I used to live in Hungerford about 30m from the B&H. I didn't hear most trains when the windows were closed but you could feel the vibration in the ground when the stone trains went through.Given the right atmospherics the sound of a train can travel well over a mile but it is normally very faint.
I used to work just across the road from the GWML in Slough. Noise wasn't an issue but we could feel the vibration when one of the Mendip stone trains went past.
Hey there! We are thinking of buying a house in Lancaster, which backs on to the railway track. The house is about 25 metres away from the track, and is in the new Persimmon St George’s Walk development, immediately south of the River Lune. We’re wondering how often we’d expect to hear trains, what types, trains at night? My wife is a really light sleeper with bad insomnia, she sleeps with the window closed and a somewhat loud white noise going but still worried the trains may be an issue, or if they may cause a lot of vibrations to the house. If anyone has any information that would help, that would be amazing! Thanks so much!
Steven
I lived in north Manchester and my back garden backed onto the railway line. You could hear the trains thundering up miles platting bank[especially freight],But you get used to them-At least I did. I am a light sleeper also and we didnt have double glazing.Hey there! We are thinking of buying a house in Lancaster, which backs on to the railway track. The house is about 25 metres away from the track, and is in the new Persimmon St George’s Walk development, immediately south of the River Lune. We’re wondering how often we’d expect to hear trains, what types, trains at night? My wife is a really light sleeper with bad insomnia, she sleeps with the window closed and a somewhat loud white noise going but still worried the trains may be an issue, or if they may cause a lot of vibrations to the house. If anyone has any information that would help, that would be amazing! Thanks so much!
Steven
The Google satellite view says everything, it isn't just a set of 2 lines running past it has a sets of points at one end of the site which will create various squealing noises when different services change tracks just before they cross the bridge, and then as you get to Lancaster Station at the opposite end of the site 2 track become multi track with multiple points.
As an owner of a neighboring property NR should tell you of any major planned engineering work but that might depend on the closeness to the line. These can and will be noisy but should not happen often. Sadly most of that kind of work takes place at stupid o'clock in the morning. You could ask your solicitor to ask NR if any such work is planned. The big unknowable is emergency repair work or normal track maintenance. That cant be controlled.
Those properties look cheap for new build ... proceed with caution!
New houses also come with ridiculously tiny "gardens". Even the very large very expensive houses have postage stamp sized outdoor spaces. I find all modern estates utterly depressing for this reason and could not live on one.All new build houses are well insulated. On the new build estate near me nearly every window is open at the moment due to the heat. Your house is likely to be very hot and you will want the windows open which will expose you to the rail noise day and night. You will also have problems with insurance at some time if you are on a flood plain (reselling may also be difficult) and if it floods insurance renewal could be a problem. A lot of the UK is on flood plains and since sea levels are rising and we are getting heavier rain storms causing more flooding it is becoming more of an issue and of course insurance companies cannot afford to carry the risks. New build houses are also normally very small if on a general estate rather than an executive home one. The rooms are very small, they take the internal doors off show houses to make them look very small and there are no built in cupboards. Studying the room plans carefully and work out carefully where you will put your furniture and cupboards/ shelving, TV etc. UK homes are much smaller I believe than Canada ones. I would not buy this house if my wife was a bad sleeper and even more so because it is on a flood plain. Also check the builder as some major UK builders have quality issues, i.e. the homes are built cheaply.
Nail. Head.Honestly all this chat and really it should be simple- should you buy a house next to a railway if you're a problem sleeper? Absolutely not. Doesn't matter the age of the house, the vertical position, the construction of the house and of the railway- if it's a live railway, you'll get trains, almost certainly at all hours (barring some minor lines) and they will make noise.
Honestly all this chat and really it should be simple- should you buy a house next to a railway if you're a problem sleeper?
As featured on the BBC no less.Aside from the railway and flood plain issues,are you aware of the Facebook group called Do Not Buy a Persimmon Home?
I know a person who has bought one and has had plenty of build quality problems.
Wow, thank you so much everybody for your input and information! All of it is extremely helpful. We live in Canada (my wife is Canadian) currently so we haven’t been able to go see the train noise for ourselves, but between watching some YouTube videos and the information you all have given we have a much better idea now. A lot to think about so again, thanks so much for your replies they are so amazing and helpful!
As featured on the BBC no less.
If I were moving here from abroad I would rent for 6 months to get a feel for the area, local house prices etc before committing to a purchase. That’s the best advice I can give.
Hope student digs have improved since my dayThat's actually a good point about renting.
Lancaster has a very large and thriving student private rental housing sector, but with the Covid situation, I would expect some dip in student numbers this coming academic year, which is likely to mean a fair few landlords struggling to let. So I my guess is that it won't be at all hard to find somewhere reasonable to rent.