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Interesting, I would have guessed trains were worst for noise but highways could be as bad if not worse. Maybe it's that people living next to highways is so co

by steve2048 11y ago

Interesting, I would have guessed trains were worst for noise but highways could be as bad if not worse. Maybe it's that people living next to highways is so common that we don't think twice about it.

johnchristopher 11y ago
I believe noise trains make is more regular than car and trucks accelerating discontinuously. And they come and go less than cars. Highways have this characteristic permanent low humming with permanent « wheezing ».
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Right it varies all over the map. We lived on 'Triangle Place' which was a triangle because of the railroad tracks cutting across the neighborhood in a ditch behind the house. First night, 2AM, the train came through with that huge searchlight panning through the trees, then the steam horn "Waaaa, Waaaa, Wa, Waaaaaaa!" We both sat up in bed like the dead rising, stiff as boards. After a moment I said "Oh, Train." She said "Oh." We lay back down and went instantly back to sleep. Strange thing is, we never heard that train again. OR rather, it never woke us again. It went by every night for the next year that we lived there, but it never bothered us.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    I woke up twice at night when I lived next to the railway in London. The first time was at 06:01, when there was a deep rumbling. I assumed a freight train had stopped outside for some reason, and was now accelerating hard. The second time was a short while later, when my bedroom smelled like a bus depot and the sky had turned purple. It turned out a fuel storage depot had exploded: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncefield_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncefield_fire I fled, to my university library in central London, which fortunately wasn't covered in smoke.
Symbiote 11y ago
The USA could be different, I've not lived there. In the richer parts of Europe, rails will be continuously welded and many or most trains will be electric. Noise is obviously worse with diesel trains, although trains are so efficient that the engine will be idling a lot of the time. Poorly maintained clackety-clack track is probably more annoying, perhaps from vibrations more than sound.

johnchristopher 11y ago

I believe noise trains make is more regular than car and trucks accelerating discontinuously. And they come and go less than cars. Highways have this characteristic permanent low humming with permanent « wheezing ».

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Right it varies all over the map. We lived on 'Triangle Place' which was a triangle because of the railroad tracks cutting across the neighborhood in a ditch behind the house. First night, 2AM, the train came through with that huge searchlight panning through the trees, then the steam horn "Waaaa, Waaaa, Wa, Waaaaaaa!" We both sat up in bed like the dead rising, stiff as boards. After a moment I said "Oh, Train." She said "Oh." We lay back down and went instantly back to sleep. Strange thing is, we never heard that train again. OR rather, it never woke us again. It went by every night for the next year that we lived there, but it never bothered us.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  I woke up twice at night when I lived next to the railway in London. The first time was at 06:01, when there was a deep rumbling. I assumed a freight train had stopped outside for some reason, and was now accelerating hard. The second time was a short while later, when my bedroom smelled like a bus depot and the sky had turned purple. It turned out a fuel storage depot had exploded: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncefield_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncefield_fire I fled, to my university library in central London, which fortunately wasn't covered in smoke.

Symbiote 11y ago

The USA could be different, I've not lived there. In the richer parts of Europe, rails will be continuously welded and many or most trains will be electric. Noise is obviously worse with diesel trains, although trains are so efficient that the engine will be idling a lot of the time. Poorly maintained clackety-clack track is probably more annoying, perhaps from vibrations more than sound.