I lived in a house across the street from the SP main than came off the Cuesta.
In the middle of the first night a big freight came down, dynamics howling, wheels rumbling, brake shoes squealing.
I thought it was running right under, or over, my pillow.
After that sleeping was not a problem , the trains were just part of the environmental background and no big deal. So I am amused/amazed/appalled by the RR whiners.

The furor about Metrolink's plan to add doubletrack in the San Fernando Valley a coupla years ago was another fool-show, fanned by the um 'journalists'. One lady -er, no that's not the correct term, said the noise would be "inhumane" and a man claimed the vibrations made the nails come out of his floor.
I had a friend who raised his kids on a pointed lot right next to the RoW- he never once mentioned a complaint.