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My house is about 150 feet from the tracks coming out of/into Sealy..........you get used to it. They don't blow the horn by my property as they're not crossing anything. Also, at that point they're coming to a T intersection in the center of town, so they've either slowed down going in or just getting speed leaving town. If slowing down, you get the squealy break noise, if speeding up, you get the groan of the diesels at WOT (and that lovely diesel smell).

In town though, there's a good Mexican restaurant that's about 70 feet from where they are turning. Now that is LOUD! Not quite as loud as the horn, but more annoying.

So, I think that as long as you're not by a turn, or by where they are blowing their horn, you'll get used to it.

I do remember a buddy of mine that's a vet and I were drinking beer/throwing darts in the garage, and even though he knew about the tracks, it startled him. All of a sudden he stops out of the garage, wild eyed, and looks for a plane or something in the sky...eyes as big as saucers. I wasn't aware of the train and I ask him what's wrong, and he asks what is that sound coming in....then it occurs to me what he's hearing. But we were outside, so it was louder than it is in the house.

Overnight guests do the same thing, but not quite as dramatic as that one.

During my last year at UT Austin I lived in a tiny camper trailer that was parked in Buda. The train went right by it. It was just like in The Blues Brothers in that apartment scene where everything shook as the train went by. It was comical and fun.

I'll never forget it and I haven't lived by a train since.