Finding out how often a railroad track runs

Question

we're looking to buy a house, but there is a railroad track behind it. how can we figure out how often it is in use? besides sitting & waiting for the train to go by

Answer 1

Another option is to ask some neighbors. Ask more than one though, in case one of them happens to exaggerate.  

Answer 2

ALL good answers above !!

I like the "check with the neighbors" answer because it is the simplest... I'd ALSO check with the realtor.

Another SIMPLY test is to just go out behind the house and LOOK at the tracks:  Are the rails rusty ?? Then it's not in regular use !!  Also, if weeds are growing up 'tween the rails and along the right of way it isn't seeing frequent use.

GOOGLE EARTH might also help you determine if it's a mainline or just a spur to an old industry.

GOOD LUCK.

Answer 3

in addition to what eaglefox said: mind that the usage of railway-lines could change in the future. Here in Europe we have many cases of once abandonned lines that were reopened. Or lines that were once reduced from double to single track (esp. after WW2) and that are now rebuilt to double track because of increasing traffic - so there are people that built a house near a small branch line and now have to cope with thrice or four times more trains than just 10 years ago...

Answer 4

Look for the rail line on a map. Typically it will give you the name of the line. Then google the line and browse around the links for it. It will tell you which rail carriers run on that line and if its still active. Schedules are harder, you will only see those if the rail is used by a public train such as Amtrak. If its a freight carrier like Norfolk Southern or Union Pacific, their schedules aren't necessarily public information published on the web.

You can also expand your search to the nearest junction and search the name of that junction and see what comes up.

Answer 5

Go to the closest station and ask there. Don´t forgert to ask for ALL types of trains: passenger, freight.

Don´t forget: The way the line is used might change!

Answer 6

   read timetables of the routes that use the line   why bother after about a week of living there you wont notice or hear them