Why does my house shake when a train goes by?

Question

my house is at least 2000 feet away,,,,,,past a four lane highway

Answer 1

It's shock waves from the train as it passes over the imperfect tracks. The tracks are not perfectly flat, and there are gaps between the ends of the rails. When the train cars roll over these imperfections, the impact is transmitted into the ground. Same as when your car rolls down the highway. If your car weighted 200,000 pounds, the impact of it as it passed over potholes and other imperfections in the road would be transmitted into the ground as well, and send shockwaves through the ground so others could feel it many feet away. As far as you being able to feel these shock waves 2,000 feet away, it has to do with the density and composition of the ground and things like water, fault lines, other buildings, mountains, and hills between you and the train. Some kinds of terrain transmit these shock waves more readily than others, while some kinds of terrain absorb and diminish these shockwaves, which is also why some people feel earthquakes hundreds of miles away from the epicenter, while other people closer don't feel them at all.

Answer 2

Each train car weighs about 200,000 pounds.  The engine even more.

All that weight passing by vibrates he heck out of the ground.

I used to live by a railroad crossing...them blowing their whistle at all hours of the night sucked too.  

Nothing you can do about it.

Answer 3

It's the force's of nature..that only 100's of thousands of tons of train  bouncing around can make.. it's that ground pounding thing going on..OK.. earthquake..explosive can too.

Answer 4

because the earth your house is on does