How close is TOO close to the train? (Chicago: apartment, to live)

[ofTheValley]

Hey folks,
Please advise. Noise-wise, how close is too close to the line? Does it make a difference if you're near a stop or just the tracks? Thanks in advance!
ofTheValley

[j33]

Too close is when the morning commuters can watch you brush your teeth

If you are so close that it interrupts your sleep, then you are too close in my opinion, ideally I'd like to live about 1 1/2 -2 blocks away from the train. Close enough so that it is a very short walk, but far enough so that I don't have to hear it all night. You seriously do not want the thing right outside your window, I've experienced that before and did not like it.

[ofTheValley]

Thanks j33. I saw a listing for a place that is a 3 block walk to the train stop, but the tracks runs along the block behind the building. Thanks for confirming.

And if the commuters can watch me brush my teeth, then the train is running much to slowly! ;}

[j33]

apparently you don't know just how slow the 'el' can run

[ofTheValley]

Seriously? I thought it was just the brown line?

[j33]

Read some of chicago threads about public transportation, it isn't just the brown line.

[ofTheValley]

frankly the whole public transportation thing is frightening. Here in L.A., prospective employers often require prospective employees to have "reliable transportation," also known as a car. One can not rely on public transportation here. Can you guys trust that you'll get where you need to go without a car? (Contemplating selling the car before moving to Chicago).

[Drover]

Originally Posted by ofTheValley

Hey folks,
Please advise. Noise-wise, how close is too close to the line? Does it make a difference if you're near a stop or just the tracks? Thanks in advance!
ofTheValley

Depends on which trains you're talking about. The Metra trains are much quieter than the CTA trains. I used to live one block from a Metra line and 5 blocks from a CTA line. I could hear the CTA trains from 5 blocks away, but only occasionally did I hear the Metra train, and even then all I heard was the locomotive.

Today I live one block from a CTA line, and it can get kind of loud if my windows are open, but toward the back of the apartment where the bedrooms are, I can barely hear it even with the windows open (though it helps that the bedroom windows are on the opposite side of the building as the tracks).

I had one friend who could literally just about reach off his rear balcony and smack a CTA train as it was rolling by. The stuff sitting on his shelves would rattle every time a train came along. I have no idea how the hell he put up with it.

[ofTheValley]

The place I was looking at was off of the pink line (I think). It was at Cullerton (above Cermak) and Oakley (east of Western). Too close?

[Drover]

Wow... you'd literally have the train line right out your back window, or maybe right out your front window, depending on which side of Cullerton you'd be on. And when you're that close to the tracks, yeah, it kind of does make a difference if you're close to a stop, because the trains have external speakers that announce the current stop and the next stop for the benefit of the visually impaired. For what it's worth the Pink Line doesn't run that often late at night. Interesting area, by the way. About 2 blocks south on Oakley is one of the tiniest (about a block long), most isolated, and best-kept-secret restaurant districts in the city -- a handful of well-regarded Italian restaurants and a highly-regarded Spanish tapas joint.