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I grew up with the trani tracks about 1/2 acre behind our house (woods in between). The train passed late at night and I could hear it. Even though it woke me up at night, especially in winter when it was clear and cold.., it never bothered me. Now that I've moved away, I miss that sound. I guess because it is attached to home and my good childhood memories.
I lived 200 feet from a rr track in a very upscale neighborhood. The first few years I got used to it once or twice a night and sometimes liked it, in winter with snow it was scenic. By 5th year, not so much. By 7th year, thrilled to finally sell and move. Never again. Real estate is usually long term.
Here in Brooklyn NY we have the subway above on an elevated line at the corner, which is down the block from where I live. All the stores are along the el, underneath. You get used to it, no big deal. Funny though, when the windows are open at night (I'm on 4th floor) if the wind blows towards the train, you hear the clickitiy clack faintly, but if it blows the opposite way, we hear it louder, but not enough to cringe though......but I do kinda like the sound of trins anway,
BUT.....run a bus near me with the motor vroooom vroooom, ( lol ) and that makes me insane........ go figure.......that could put me over the edge.
But like one of the posters said, go to the site and stay and listen to it.
BTW, the house looks pretty, I like it a lot.
I used to live on Main Line tracks in Wisconsin. I counted some 24 freight trains and two or three Amtrak trains passing each day. Does one get used to it? Yes, one does. Do you ever NOT hear it? No, they ARE loud. In summer when watching TV or a Movie you have to turn up the volume or if it's a DVD or you have a DVR, pause it. Winter means that isn't an issue.
I could EASILY deal with a slightly used rural rail extension. No problem what-so ever. Living along the main line was bearable because there was a Lake on the other side of the tracks. I can recall a short time, 9/11 when all Rail and Air traffic was suspended how strangely quiet it was.
I can take living next to a train, I'll pass on a plane. Airports can be NOISE POLLUTION of epic perportions.
Oh I'm with you there. I live in a railroad town and the noise doesn't bother me but I would pay double to never again live anywhere near an airport. We lived in Denver some years ago and every time a plane would go overhead you couldn't hear a conversation or the TV.
The worst thing I ever had to deal with was a rural area we lived and I don't know if they were jets or what but the military would fly overhead at times and it felt so low I could feel them go by sort of like it changed the air pressure, it's hard to explain. My horses would take off running in the corrals every time scared.
What allows for expansion and contraction in welded rail ?
Welded rails are laid pre-stressed in tension (like rebar in pre-stressed concrete), either by mechanically stretching the rails or by heating the rails to about 90ºF when laid. The rails are fastened to cross-ties which are anchored in gravel and which can withstand the contractive stress of the track in normal or cold weather. The track anchoring system can better withstand contracting temperature stress than it can expanding temperature stress, which causes the track to buckle; hence the stretching or pre-heating of the track as it is being laid. Moreover, excessive contraction causes the track to break, which can be detected electrically; buckled (but unbroken) track caused by expansion often cannot be detected in advance of the train.
It is interesting to see stretches of pre-welded rail dumped alongside track that is being re-laid. The long stretches of replacement track look like long stretches of rubber, as the loose track bends, rises and falls over every bump along the right-of-way. It gives vivid meaning to the term 'elasticity' when speaking of steel.
Incidentally, steel can be made with an almost zero coefficient of thermal expansion if a certain amount of nickel is used. It is calle invar steel, the term invar coming from the word invariable. It is strong but expensive. At one time invar steel was used on Pennsy's horseshoe curve.
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