Train line noise problem solution

Hi Basil BD,
We were researching the same issue a while back. There are several ‘noise dampening’ fencing options you can look at. The main idea of the fence is to ensure that it’s tall enough so that the noise is diverted over the top of your house. SO if you picture a line from the train to your house, thats the ‘path’ of the current sound. Put a fence into place then draw a line from the train to the top of the fence, continue the line onwards. If the line still intersects your house, the fence needs to be taller.

However I also found an American University study which tested a range of leading noise reducing fences. They found that irregular fencing had a better effect then flat or level fencing surfaces. In fact they found the best solution was to not spend money on these high tech fencing materials but use trees or tall shrubs to act as bufferers along the fence line as the irregular surface of the branches/leaves makes for an excellent insulator. Both for noise and visual appeal. So maybe a std fence with a row of needle pines might be the way to go.

Hope this helps.
Brett.

In addition to double glazing you could also consider having the house air conditioned, and that way closed windows would reduce the noise, and has the added plus of making it more comfortable in summer.

Amanda
“It is better to be inconspicuously wealthy, than to be ostentatiously poor…”

Aahh! A subject close to my heart. We bought a PPOR in a very upmarket suburb but being one of Melbourne’s older suburbs from the 1920’s it has an excellent railway line right through it. 22 mins to the MCG in fact.

The house is opposite the railway line so no houses across the road, just the railway reserve, and luckily the railway line itself at this point is dipping downwards into a cutting up the line.

Most people back in 1999 would have turned up their noses at living across from the railway line even though this is blue blood territory. The solution was very simple.

The local council gives out 10 free indigenous trees per year per household. We collected ours, as little tube stock plants, and instead of making a donation to charity that quarter a few years back we developed a little environmental project for our kids to be included in. We engaged a guy with a dingo digger to come and dig up the grass in the reserve for about a 20 metre length, ($180) and break up the heavy clay soil. We bought another 220 plants ($700 cost) from the local indigenous plant nursery, and we spent 1 weekend planting the whole lot.

The plants were a combination of tall trees, mid size trees, shrubs and low-level strap leaf plants, all perfectly designed for the local soil and conditions, and put together they form a solid green screen from the ground up. The trees are now 5 metres+ high. On the day we planted several neighbours from all around came down to ask us “who gave us the plants”, “what did the council say”, “who gave us permission” etc. We said we just decided to do it and pay for it all by ourselves and our kids planted half of them so it was a learning experience – after all who was going to argue with revegetation with local indigenous plants? Nobody. And nobody ever has. In fact people thougth the council had done it, it was such a great job.

Today this solid green wall has added $30K+ to the value of the property as we have no visibility of trains as they go by. Several neighbours up and down the road have copied us and put in plantings opposite their home as well, so now the whole street is developing a wall of green. They take no water or maintenance (the beauty of indigenous) and man the sense of pride and satisfaction for all of us everytime we look out the front window is fantastic. Every Sat and Sun morning when I go for a power walk I spend 10 mins inspecting our little forest and picking up rubbish etc to keep it clean but that’s it.

The local council guys who do the rise-on lawnmowing every 1-2 months simply drive around our big long forest because we left enough room around it for them to drive.

To cut the long story short, go see the local council’s indigenous, revegetations or wildlife corridor/environmental officer and see if they will give you free indigenous plants to use.

Cheers

skippygirl [strum]