Neighbours of garden railways

[dewintondave]

Had a lovely run of the Quarry Hunslet yesterday, the longest run so far, well over an hour of near continual running (no photos or videos). The young family next door came outside early on and the twin boys were right in to it. We are blest with a fence that is not too high. All family members showed an interest and many questions were asked as I watched over the loco, adjusting the bypass valve, the blower, and sounding the whistle on request. I don't think they noticed the whoopsie with the gas cylinder.

Everyone seems to love garden railways, visiting tradesmen are always intrigued when they spot my line.

Previous neighbours enjoyed the live diesel a few years ago

[FWLR]

You are so right there Dave, neighbours do like seeing trains running and seeing smoke coming from the locos. Our new neighbours all love hearing what we are going to be doing with the build of our new line. At my old address with our first line, the postie always came and had a chat to see what I was doing on the line...

[Jimmyb]

I think it's great, sadly one of my neighbours has shouted over the fence about the "racket", however he is the same one that complains about BBQs and grandchildren, so I do need to be cautious running my trains, live steam isn't "too" noisy, but my battery power ones i have to turn the volume right down.

[ge_rik]

Both my sets of neighbours are great and take a passing interest in the railway. They both offered assistance when I built the workshop - one lending me his chop saw and the other helping me lug the rolls of felt up on to the roof.

The slight downside is that they both have dogs which tend to bark when the hear the trains, so I tend to keep the volume down. I try to shoot video sequences when the dogs are quiet, but can't always rely on it. Occasionally, you'll catch one or the other, and sometimes both, barking during some of my videos. I tend to edit out my expletives when I've carefully set up a shot and one of them goes into a mad flurry of barking.

Rik

[tom_tom_go]

Love that diesel Dave, clag!

[Peter Butler]

Do inquisitive cows count as neighbours?

[tom_tom_go]

Just to add that most of you probably don't have to put up with what I do, here is a list:

• Loud neighbours, particularly women shouting

• Modified cars racing up and down

• Flightpath for aircraft

• Cars running on tick over with hands free kits on full blast

• Endless DIY noises

• Dogs barking only for the owner to try and discipline them 10 minutes later - pointless

• Street conversations that you could hear a mile away!

So next time you are sitting in the garden moaning about one of the above spare a thought for the generations that can't and will not ever be able to buy somewhere comfortable to live...

[Peter Butler]

That's a dreadful list of things which just goes to show how selfish and un-thoughtful some people can be, I feel sorry for anyone in such a situation. We have had a number of noisy and destructive neighbours ourselves in the past so certainly appreciate the situation here even more for that.
Hopefully you can find a way out eventually Tom, it might mean a change of lifestyle though, and not everyone can get used to that.

[MRail]

I have several from that list.
But then, I'm the our sole with the train.
What I don't have (any more) is a lawnmower.

[Jimmyb]

Tom, I do have one neighbour who is a boat fanatic with 5 boats in his garden, which include 2 with inboard engines, so 3 outboard motors that he likes to "repair and test".

I am under Bristol airport flight path, but that is quiet, and literally at the bottom of the garden is the Bristol to Penzance line (W-s-M loop), but that does mean the odd steam train (Torbay Express) during the summer, so generally happy with my local noise

[philipy]

We live on the countryside edge of a small market town halfway from everywhere to everywhere else, which you'd think would be lovely and peaceful, and so it used to be. However, the A43 dual carriageway is a few hundred yards away and normally there is the constant drone of traffic, but for the last few weeks that has largely been replaced by motorcycle morons who seem to think it is now their private racetrack with a prize for who can make the most noise (I'm sure I read somewhere about a lockdown?). Then we have rows of concrete garages on two sides of the back garden which make perfect soundbox amplifiers for more motorbikes to rev up and leave running inside. Then there is the kid next door who is an apprentice mechanic and the only thing he seems to be learning is how to make his little Peugeot's exhaust louder and louder as the weeks pass. We have a builders merchant's yard across the road, which isn't normally noisy as such, but the language gets really offensive at times. Then we get HGV's that park up in the small industrial estate overnight and keep their refrigeration units running all night, going on and off to maintain temperature. I could go on....

On the other hand, we were in the front garden one day last week and an elderly couple walked past and said hallo as they went. I don't know them but they then took a few steps back and asked if we would like a tray of marigold seedlings which they had grown from seed and had spare. we said yes please and they duly put them just inside the gate a few hours later. Quite restores your faith in humanity...

[invicta280]

I'm fairly lucky I guess. My line isn't complete yet so not a lot of 'traffic' to draw attention. Fortunately we have so far been very lucky with our neighbours. All nice people.
Our garden is L shaped and extends behind next door's garden so technically we have 3 adjoining neighbours. Behind our garden is a cemetary, which sounds grim but it is like a big landscaped park with lots of trees and wildlife. With a tall brick wall at the back and 6ft fences all round, as well as strategically located trees, sheds, hedges and trellis's (trellii?) we manage to maintain privacy, so most of the neighbours probably have no idea what we get up to. Lately some idiot with a drone has been flying it over local gardens but as I have a good idea where he lives if he tries it again we will be putting a stop to that.
In the 35 years we have been here the traffic on the road out front has increased exponentially. Lockdown gave us some respite from that. It would be a bonus if the world learned a lesson and slowed down a bit but that might be expecting too much.

[ge_rik]

We've lived in the same house for 40 years and seen several neighbours come and go. The most memorable was a young divorced lady who lived there shortly after we moved in. One day she leaned over the low fence we had at that time and asked, "Would you object if I sunbathed topless this afternoon?"

Of course, I didn't ...... But one side of my lawn did get mowed a lot more than the other side, for some reason......

Rik

[FWLR]

The most memorable was a young divorced lady who lived there shortly after we moved in. One day she leaned over the low fence we had at that time and asked, "Would you object if I sunbathed topless this afternoon?"

Of course, I didn't ...... But one side of my lawn did get mowed a lot more than the other side, for some reason......

Rik

Very nice Rik......

[FWLR]

Though like I have mentioned, we have some great neighbours. We have been lucky since moving to Longton and now New Longton with brilliant neighbours. This new place is on a very busy road with artics and huge tractors with trailers, with cars and vans who use it like a Grand Prix track, especially because there is a sharp left/right hand bend, so they use it to see how fast they can take it.

Still better than Tom's. We wouldn't change it now and live in a town or city...