Balham: living near the railway tracks: how noisy? Post Reply

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Does any of you live, or know any one who lives, near the railway tracks in Balham?

In other areas I have seen many properties near railway tracks, and I must say that, as long as the property has double glazing, and is reasonably close to the station ( so that trains pass by slowly ) the noise is OK. In fact, I have seen properties where this noise was much less than noise from the traffic of a busy road.

What worries me about Balham is that it seems a very busy station, meaning that, compared to other areas I have seen, there will probably be more trains, starting earlier in the morning, and there will be more trains (to/from Gatwick, I suppose?) which won't stop at Balham, and will therefore pass by at speed.

Thoughts?

[Mum2Monkey]

Lots of freight trains at night and during the day trains every 2 mins or so. I got used to it but our guests suffered.

[Nev123]

They're pretty often, including Gatwick express, and as mum to monkey said you get the heavier trains over night. When we lived closer to the railway we could feel those. I was used to it while there (and for me train noise is much less offensive than road noise somehow) but now really appreciate being further away and only rarely hearing them if wind is blowing the wrong way. All depends on your own tolerance really. I also seem to remember being told Japanese knotweed is an issue if you directly back onto railway lines but maybe that's just hearsay!

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Thanks!

[Reb]

Hey!

Our house backs on to the rail track and there are frequent trains as well as freight trains at night. I've always lived near a railway except for a brief spell in Fulham with no trains but constant aeroplane noise....

It is noisy and, of course, would be quieter on a iroad that didn't back on to the track.

However, the advantages are that we could afford the house as the railway was factored in to the price. The garden is not overlooked either which is nice.

Several of our neighbours have sold over the last 12 months and none have had an issue with Japanese knotweed that I'm aware of.
We

[i'macowboy]

Yep, we've lived very close to the railway (runs diagonally to our house, five houses away) for over a decade and yes you do hear it of course, but we're so used to it now that it really doesn't matter. When we first came to view the house, as soon as I saw how close it was to the railway I thought there was no point even looking at it (I'd lived for years with a very noisy upstairs neighbour), but my husband persuaded me to give it a chance and I'm so glad I did. I got used to it pretty quickly, and hardly notice it now, except in the garden when you have to stop talking when a train passes by.

It probably helps a bit that we sleep at the front of the house and the noise is greater at the back, but our kids sleep at the back and have slept through all train noise since they were born. Freight trains can be particularly noisy, and we do give overnight guests earplugs (the guest room is also at the back of the house), but those who visit often (in-laws) have also got used to the noise. And as a previous poster said, the proximity to the railway meant the price was a bit lower than it would otherwise have been - totally worth it, in my opinion. Oh, and we have never had Japanese Knotweed, and nor (to my knowledge) have our neighbours.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Thanks.

We saw a flat but it was a total, total rip-off, regardless of the tracks.

It was a first floor flat, but the stairs were so tiny and steep that carrying a pushchair would have been almost impossible. The hallway was also too narrow for a pushchair – the only option would have been to fold it to carry it to the living room. It is being (mis)sold as a 3 bedroom flat, but, in fact, it’s two small bedrooms plus a small study area next to the living room. Our current shoebox-sized two-bed is probably bigger. This reminds me when I wanted to move from a one to a two-bed, and I viewed many, many two-bed flats which were, in fact, smaller than my one-bed.

Another property I wanted to look at sold in the meanwhile, but my latest email notification from Rightmove shows 5 price reductions (out of 5 properties in the email).