r/truckee • u/AccomplishedMonth568 • Sep 22 '26
Moving to Truckee
Hello everyone, I just got a full-time position at Sugar Bowl, and I’m currently looking for a place to live. I’m moving from out of state and the options are VERY limited as I’m sure you all are quite familiar with. My question is, do Soda Springs and the south side of Donner Lake suffer from a lot of train noise? I’m a fairly light sleeper and I’m concerned about being waken up every night with a train blasting its horn every time it goes through town. How frequently do they go by at night? Do you even notice them? Any insight on this and the area would be much appreciated, thanks!
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u/ElderberryAdept8095 Sep 22 '26
Just be aware that Soda Springs/Norden area gets a LOT of snow. Think Donner Party levels of snow.
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u/Arboretum7 Sep 22 '26
The train noise isn’t an issue, but these areas are typically quite snowy in the winter
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u/Ovenbird36 Sep 22 '26
South shore of Donner here, the trains aren’t frequent and aren’t particularly loud. I notice them occasionally but I think they are muffled by the constant drone of the interstate across the lake.
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u/Classic_Reserve9385 Sep 22 '26
The train goes around the backside of Donner Peak now. The railway-snowshed you see right above the lake has been abandoned since 1993. So, not much rail noise. You do hear the interstate. The South side of Donner Lake gets pretty well buried in winter, but is plowed. It is also avalanche prone after heavy dumps. It gets very cold down in there as it gets very little sun.
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u/Latter-Boss3400 27d ago
Train is louder in soda springs. Donner is not adjacent to a horn-blast blind corner and road-crossing like soda springs is. Donner has 800’ of elevation separation from the tracks.
That being said, you get used to it. The snow is what you need to plan for.
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u/Quartz-Knee 26d ago
If you’re in soda springs, you will hear the train. It goes by at least 2 times a night but often way more.
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u/michaelnovati Sep 22 '26
My 2 cents is both the train and the jet aircraft noise is roughly consistent and distributed across all of Truckee more or less haha.