Does anyone know how far from Caltrain station you need to live if you don’t want to wake up to the train horn in the middle of the night? It seems of late, the freight trains come in multiple times a day and after midnight too. Their horn is also much louder than Caltrain. Do they honk in the middle of the night going through a CalTrain station? Thanks for any info.
Train noise travels very far, especially at night when things are quiet. The best defense is to reduce your own sensitivity, which should naturally happen after a while. 
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I am more worried about my kids losing their sleep. I tried a few experiments myself by waiting near the place when the train passed by. The intensity of the sound seems to vary every time.
There is no precise answer. But if you are planning to keep your windows open through the night then you might hear it loud enough to disturb your sleep. Personally, I would avoid at least 1 or 2 blocks.
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why not search around to see if airbnb available in
the hoods you are interested in. Staying a night or two, treat it as get away mini vacation, and have your own experiment 
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Great idea! Thanks.
I am fine with keeping my windows closed. I could hear the train horn with my car windows closed. But it’s very much likely that car windows are designed to let in horn/siren sounds no matter how tightly they are closed. That’s the whole point of a train horn, right?
Get some earplugs. You will be able to sleep thru anything.
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Train horns carry incredibly far. We’re 1.3 miles from the Caltrain track and can still hear it clearly from outside (but are used to it so don’t notice at this point).
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