freight trains in Morgan Hill (Oakland, Sunnyvale: house, gated, to live)

[supersonic_528]

I am looking at some properties in Morgan Hill near (within a block or so) the intersection of Dunne Ave with the train tracks. I am really worried about the noise from the freight trains, especially the sound of the horns at the crossing at late night or early morning. I was told (by the department that manages railroad crossings) that there are a total of 14 trains passing per day. This would mean 6 freight trains per day (others are 6 Caltrain and 2 Amtrak). Does anybody know at what time the freight trains usually go by? I realize freight trains usually don't have a fixed schedule but want to get an idea about how bad it can be.

One of the properties that I am looking at is on Butterfield (DeNova Homes) and the other on Church St and Dunne (Monterey Collection by CityVentures). I really like the homes but can't decide because I'm a bit worried about both locations being too close to train tracks and railroad crossing. Any info on the train noise (especially the freight trains) will be very useful. Thanks.

[CousinMaynard]

the non-passenger trains roll thru all hours of the night. i live about 100 yards from the tracks and theyve never woken me up if thats the concern

do you know about the mushroom farms yet? you should sniff around about it (pun intended!) if youre thinking of moving down this way

morgan hill is one of the mushroom growing capitols of the world. there are 4 farms here all around town.

most people know that mushrooms are grown in horse manure. but those of us who live down here also know that the fields are irrigated with liquidized horse poo and urine. it will smell like two of those frieght trains were carrying full septic waste crashed head on when theyre spraying

if youre ever driving by when theyre spraying, that scene will leave a scar for life. just not pretty

[80skeys]

The Caltrain always honks at crossings too. I live about 3/4 mile from Sunnyvale station and we can hear the darn thing from my home.

[shooting4life]

I have train track about 20 feet from my back fence. It actually is not really a big deal. I have never been woken up because of a train. The only time it is noticeable is during the summer when everything is open while we are watching tv. We just pause the tv for the 3-5 seconds for the train to pass and everything is normal.

Train probably goes by my house 5-6 times a day. I only hear probably once a day since I am at work for the others. I would not live near commuter tracks though, trains coming and going every 10 minutes would drive me crazy.

[marcopolo666]

Originally Posted by shooting4life

I have train track about 20 feet from my back fence. It actually is not really a big deal. I have never been woken up because of a train. The only time it is noticeable is during the summer when everything is open while we are watching tv. We just pause the tv for the 3-5 seconds for the train to pass and everything is normal.

Train probably goes by my house 5-6 times a day. I only hear probably once a day since I am at work for the others. I would not live near commuter tracks though, trains coming and going every 10 minutes would drive me crazy.

You must have the shortest freight trains in the WORLD passing behind your house. Only 5 seconds? Are they run by the Lilliputians?

[shooting4life]

Originally Posted by marcopolo666

You must have the shortest freight trains in the WORLD passing behind your house. Only 5 seconds? Are they run by the Lilliputians?

They are not long, usually only 5-8 cars. Not very much travels from the port of Oakland south, it just about all heads east.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Comparatively speaking the "Starlight" line is pretty low in activity. The SoCal - Bay Area freight rail channel is nothing like the East-West ones (e.g. OAK - points East and LA - points East). I used to live at the south end of this channel down in SoCal and it was not too bad. I got used to the freights at night (maybe one or two each night) and was not around much during the day.

[sonarrat]

Also, according to the preliminary maps, HSR is planned to take a different routing since the existing tracks are freight owned. They have a route sketched out that goes along the east side of 101 which should displace one of the more prominent mushroom farms.

[CousinMaynard]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Also, according to the preliminary maps, HSR is planned to take a different routing since the existing tracks are freight owned. They have a route sketched out that goes along the east side of 101 which should displace one of the more prominent mushroom farms.

more like High Speed Trainwreck am i right?!

getting thru the coyote valley(only about a mile wide in my part of the southside) up to diridon station w/o using southern pacific's tracks would either require massive buyouts or eminent domain seizures, or laying tracks right down the middle ditch of 101 then up and over to 680 and G*d know how they'd get up to the amtrack station