Train Noise at E Drake Road & Iowa Drive ? (Fort Collins: rental car, apartments)

[GulfCoastGuy]

I am looking at a rental in this area and wanted ask about train noise. (horns)

UnionPacific runs north/south parallel to Timberline and Google shows the tracks are .4 miles west of it.
GreatWestern runs NorthWest and Google shows the tracks are .8 miles north-east if it.

Do these trains honk their horns between 9pm to 5AM in this area? Years ago I lived 1 block from train tracks and I was woken up every night at 2AM and 4AM from super loud horns so I wanted to ask.

Thanks in advance..

[Mike from back east]

For starters, search: Train noise Fort Collins, CO

[GulfCoastGuy]

I have been doing searches and most results only talk about the BNSF train that parallels college. Plenty of people saying they get woken up every night by the BNSF train blaring their horns for 10 seconds at every intersection.

There is hardly any mentions of the UnionPacific(Timberline) and GreatWestern(runs North-West) other than they they run far less often than the BNSF. If this is the case, perhaps these trains might not run during sleeping hours. I wouldn't mind train noise much during the day. I tried to search for for UnionPacific and GreatWestern timetables but could only find schedules for large routes in other parts of the country like Chicago/WI northern.


X marks the spot

I'm not local so I plan to visit FC in 4 weeks so if anyone has a url to the UnionPacific and GreatWestern schedules, please direct message me those urls. I can download them and drive my rental car to the area in the early AM times to see how loud it would be in a closed car to get an idea. Since 1 track is .4 miles away and the other is .8 miles away, I have no idea if they would still be loud or maybe not that loud. Any other info would be helpful. Like if .8 miles away for the GreatWestern track makes it so far away that this track (of the 2) would not be an issue.

[Thoreau424]

I don't think either of those in that area have much activity by day or night. Rail was more prevalent decades ago when the town was more agriculture-dependent. It's trucks that bring in most of the goods now.

I sometimes hear trains at night in the distance during the winter. The cold temperatures allow the sounds to travel much farther.

[RosieSD]

Don't know if this helps, but:

When they first moved to Ft. Collins, my daughter and son in law rented an apartment in the Bucking Horse apartments which has the timberline rail line right behind it. Their unit was in one of the buildings closest to the tracks, but faced away from the tracks. The buildings are very new, and seemed to have good windows. They never complained about the noise from the trains (the noise from their neighbor's parties was another story) and I didn't really notice it when I was in their apartment either. But, they are not big on keeping their windows and doors open, either, so might be more problematic if you like to sleep with your windows open. Their apartment was on the third floor so maybe that also made a difference.

We have stayed in an short-term rental (a house) in Fort Collins for over a year total that is a half block away from the BNSF train that parallels college, which is the "noisy one." You literally can watch the trains roll by from the back yard. I am a VERY light sleeper so I was worried about the noise at first. We only notice the noise for the first few days we're there, then become accustomed to it. It's only a bit annoying when we were out in the yard with our dog as the trains seem to go on an on (the horn is very short!). However, the house does have newer windows which may have provided better sound proofing.

My daughter and her family now live in a condo that is two blocks away from College and the train tracks. They're just south of Horsetooth which is a major crossing for the train line. They hear absolutely no noise, even when they are sitting out on their patio. I spend a lot of time in their condo and also don't notice the trains or the horns. Again, their condo has good windows and faces away from the tracks.


Obviously, your mileage may vary, but this is our experience.


So, you might want to pay attention to the age of the building, the quality of the windows in the unit and the direction the unit faces (towards the trains or away from them). I'm not sure sitting in your car is a good test of what it will sound like inside your apartment, but if that's your only option, better than nothing I guess.

I think that the trains are just part of life in Fort Collins (I hear more complaints from locals about how the trains screw up cross town travel, but that's another story...) It might help to also know that there are million dollar plus homes in Fort Collins that are within walking distance to all of the rail lines. Doesn't seem to stop those homes from selling!

Good luck with your move - we love Fort Collins and our daughter and her family are very happy there.

[JD_MD]

When I stayed in Fort Collins I rented a house on Remington a few blocks from the part of the University where their annual garden / flower competition is (absolutely beautiful) and occasionally heard the train randomly a couple nights a week. I am an extremely light sleeper and had the window slightly open most nights and could hear it regardless but it might not bother a deeper sleeper with or without the windows closed. I think a white or pink noise app would block it out.

[GulfCoastGuy]

Now that I've lived here for 3 weeks I can say you will hear the Timberline route trains honking their horns when living near Drake + Timberline but it's like once or twice a day. And it's not loud enough to bother you at all. If it runs at night, it hasn't woken me up once. And I get woken up from an incoming text notify on my phone. The train that runs parallel to college is loud. Stupid Loud. Especially from Drake through Old Town. I could never live near that and sleep through the night. Hope this info helps other new-comers in the future.