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This past November we finished the upstairs of our cape. The upstairs has 2 bedrooms and one full bath. For the past 4 years I have been sleeping downstairs on the main floor. I moved to one of the upstairs bedrooms in November because it is much bigger, and I prefer to sleep on second floors.
Wow. I love the big bedroom. I hate the trains.
I seemingly have super sensitive hearing (hate it), and when I slept downstairs I needed to wear ear plugs at night to drown out the refrigerator noise and the power vent noise.
When I moved to the upstairs bedroom, I thought "no more earplugs at night, yah!"
I was wrong.
Now, when the wind blows from the S, SE or SW, I get the constant, unending rumble and horn blowing of trains...all..night..long. How weird, since the nearest train tracks are more than 7 miles away (to the south). Some nights the rumble is so loud (like last night) that you can feel the reverberations in the room. I swear, I am NOT crazy (well not anymore than usual).
I don't understand how it is possible the trains can run nonstop. Seriously, when I drive by the tracks I don't see trains clogging up the tracks, usually the tracks are empty. In fact there is a walking path right by the tracks and when I walk on the track, the trains usually pass by maybe once or twice an hour, for a total of 10-15 minutes. So in theory, I should get at least 45 minutes of quiet at night, each hour.
But no...the rumble and horns never stop, it is maddening.
Anyone else have this crazy problem?
I am thinking about sleeping downstairs again. Usually in the winter the winds come from the NW, so it wouldn't be a problem, most of the time...but not this winter...we are getting all the southern storms and the winds seemingly are always coming from the S, SE or SW.
Ugh. I am back to ear plugs all night, and that sucks.
My house sits 250' from train tracks, but I'm pretty much used to it. It annoys me sometimes when I need to turn the TV up (I keep the volume low), but it never wakes me up at night. I do have a SleepMate sound conditioner that I use at night though, because I can't sleep when it's dead silent.
I can get used to the wheels clicking but not the horn blasting at something on the tracks at 3 am. Walmart, Walgreens, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, as well as other places all carry sound machines. I like this one because it just sounds like my a/c or heater, and I don't have to mess with earphones. I have a plug-in battery standing by if power is lost.
This is going to sound odd, but I love the sound of trains ... when I lived in Ann Arbor I would sometimes be awake at 3 or 4 a.m. and I would hear them start to pass and I'd go out on my balcony. I found the sound oddly comforting, and when I moved to New Hampshire, I really missed the train sounds.
OP, I suspect you'll get used to them, or you could start sleeping with a sound machine as others have suggested.
Your refrigerator is playing a prank on you. They may be making up the trains in the yard for the next day. Get on Google maps and see what is off in that direction and the general surrounding area. Betcha there is a lake or some other event creating temperature inversions, seven miles is a LONG way to be hearing them.
Your refrigerator is playing a prank on you. They may be making up the trains in the yard for the next day. Get on Google maps and see what is off in that direction and the general surrounding area. Betcha there is a lake or some other event creating temperature inversions, seven miles is a LONG way to be hearing them.
Hmmm... I was going to mention I could hear them from a long way off but there is river between me and the trains. It's also dead silence where I live.
OK unlike the OP, I really do like the sound of trains. There is one within three miles of us and I hear it every night. In fact, it must be pretty loud because you really can't hear much of ANYTHING in our well insulated house, but I can hear this train - or several trains - at night. They don't wake me up, but if I am awake, I can hear them.
But this brings up an interesting question - is it my imagination or are there a lot more trains running than there used to be? Honestly, they seem to be running all the time. I used to hear just one train, in the evenings, about 7. Now I hear them running all night long. I recently started wondering, "hey, what's up with all the trains?"
Your refrigerator is playing a prank on you. They may be making up the trains in the yard for the next day. Get on Google maps and see what is off in that direction and the general surrounding area. Betcha there is a lake or some other event creating temperature inversions, seven miles is a LONG way to be hearing them.
My refrigerator plays the bongos, I kid you not.
Seven miles is a long way away to hear trains, which is why I wrote the original post. I thought it was strange and wondered if anyone else had the same issue. As to a lake, I live 380 feet from a large lake, but the lake is to the north of my house. The train tracks are seven miles to the south of my house. I am not the only one who hears them, my next door neighbor also hears the trains at night.
The train yard is probably about 10-12 miles from my house (SW). I drove by the train yard last night at 11:30 pm and I didn't see the tracks full of trains traveling nonstop. But like you said, maybe they are making up the trains in the yard for the next day.
Too, too weird. But I guess it is what it is. The lake is currently frozen over, maybe that makes the sound more pronounced?
Can't wait for spring when the wind comes from the NW and the lake becomes rough, Surprisingly, the sound of crashing waves are soothing and don't bother me like the constant rumble of the trains. For some reason lower decibel sounds go right through me.
OK unlike the OP, I really do like the sound of trains. There is one within three miles of us and I hear it every night. In fact, it must be pretty loud because you really can't hear much of ANYTHING in our well insulated house, but I can hear this train - or several trains - at night. They don't wake me up, but if I am awake, I can hear them.
But this brings up an interesting question - is it my imagination or are there a lot more trains running than there used to be? Honestly, they seem to be running all the time. I used to hear just one train, in the evenings, about 7. Now I hear them running all night long. I recently started wondering, "hey, what's up with all the trains?"
That's what I was wondering, why am I hearing trains all night long, nonstop?
Like I said if I walk the walking trail near the train tracks I don't see/hear trains traveling on the tracks continually. Do they mainly travel at night, now? I tried to research freight train schedules in my area, but I have no clue where you would find them, if you could find them.
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They may be making up the trains in the yard for the next day. Get on Google maps and see what is off in that direction and the general surrounding area. Betcha there is a lake or some other event creating temperature inversions, seven miles is a LONG way to be hearing them.
