I suppose I shouldn't complain but...

merlot, you are right, the gantry spoils rather than blocks, but is so large and blocky that it is difficult to lead the eye away from it so blocking is the only solution.

I think when electrification started we expected them to be much lighter more 'see through' gantries like those used on other lines www.google.co.uk/search?q=North+eastern+railway+gantries&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJr-_FzfjYAhVJe8AKHcJUD2kQsAQIKA&biw=1600&bih=769#imgrc=FBAFEVec2Wqe9M: but what we are getting is:
www.google.co.uk/search?q=Great+Western+railway+gantries&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI59ySzfjYAhUMAsAKHbIlDXgQsAQISw&biw=1600&bih=769#imgrc=sYvnF0lYaot0TM: and the railway behind us does really look like this.

Sorry about the long link addresses.

I wonder why they're so different?

Our gantries blend in quite well with the pollarded poplars on the edge of our field. We've managed to completely conceal them in the garden with a tall conifer hedge.

They're not as solid as yours though.

It could be much worse

www.facebook.com/theliverpoolecho/posts/1711298968936024

We have a pond we can see from our lounge window which has ducks and moorhens on. Beyond is a high school but was obscured by tall trees. Now because the school has had an extension and a car park built, we have lights on until 10.30pm with the reflection bouncing off the pond into our lounge. The promised replanting of trees as before has been refused now so our lovely view and darkness at night has been transformed into Blackpool illuminations. And there is nothing we can do. It's making my terminally ill husband so stressed.

bobbydog I sympathise, we live opposite the village primary school. Classic Victorian with flat roofed extension. About 10 years ago they installed blindingly bright security lights round it, which light up the surrounding area up like - as you say - the Blackpool illuminations.

We and neighbours have tried to point out that the lights actually make breaking in easier, there is very little passing traffic to see someone and anyway the lights are so blinding that anyone taking advantage of the lights to break in will not be seen anyway, but to no avail. Thankfully we do not have the pond problem you have.

merlot, you have the kind of gantries we were expecting, which would have been no problem at all. Why Network Rail went for these hideous huge gantries I have no idea,

strawberrinan, I quite agree, that is why I titled this thread 'I suppose I shouldn't complain but'. It was the sudden shock of seeing the gantry appear overnight, one day nothing the next day a huge engineering structure, which because it faces west catches the sun like a beacon in the afternoon

It is understandable that you are upset about it. A nice view is a lovely thing to have and no one would want to lose it. I live in a nice but fairly ordinary council estate but when I sit on my sofa, a large tree opposite completely fills the view from the window and it could be in the country. I would hate it to be cut down for any reason.
It is a very quiet estate (now that my nightmare neighbour is aware) but we have just had a proposal from the Council about an area of green being rented out to a car hire company so we will have more cars on our estate which the council has already caused trouble on by going mad with yellow lines. The area is very scrubby and does attract fly tippers but children play there and it is nice to have any bit of green in London. I haven't objected because the council needs to raise money and it will provide jobs but I feel a bit sad about it.
Quality of life is important. I hope it is not too bad.

... now that my ... neighbour is away not aware.

Monica. What a shame. You have every right to be upset. Sadly, progress usually sees a price to be paid by someone. How about a little arbor or a little sunhouse by the trees facing away from the new eyesores?

Not only spoilt your view but devalued your property, I would think.

Do you use the trains, Monica?

Even if Monica uses the trains, so do lots of other people. She's not saying it's unfair, she's just saying she's upset about it - which I think is understandable.

Clever planting is your way to go. A good designer could help - but you may be the ones to know your ground exactly. We have really black leylandii behind our garden BUT since planting a couple of bamboos and a variagated bush, multi stem birch - they 'catch the eye' and very much dilute the effect of the leylandii - so a combination of actual blocking and distracting the eye with other nice things can do a lot. - And if you buy biggish it may not take too long to have the benefit.

Of course you’re allowed to be upset Monica but good for you for trying to think positively. I’m sure if you employ a landscaper he/she will have good ideas for drawing your eye to other areas or blocking the gantries altogether. Good luck.

Crossed posts Sandelf

We are going to plant a hedgerow instead of the blasted fence that is always being blown down. I have decided on a hedgerow of dog roses which will provide flowers in the summer and rose hips later for the birds. I felt sad at first because I will be losing a flower bed but now I am really looking forward to it and can’t wait. Hope it all goes well for you and you enjoy your new view.

Unfortunately, views cannot be bought. Recently, some homeowners have been made aware that the land on which their houses sit, is leasehold not freehold and comes with onerous caveats.
Government is asking councils to not only shrink their budgets but also earmark land for development. It goes without saying that trees hedges and fields ARE IMPORTANT to our physical health and mental wellbeing. Sadly, we cannot accommodate the growing population without losing some precious views and, in these days of having to get from A to B in no time, despite a growing trend for working from home, faster travel will always take precedence over the people whose views they obliterate.

A brilliant solution WilmaKF.

Monica.
I can sympathise with you as this is what it is going to be like from now on UK 21c.It was inevitable that something would occur.If its not what you are experiencing, then its going to be motorways, housing estates, or new runways for expanding airports.I live in Cornwall and chicken farms are peaceful compared to the noise of thousands of properties now being built on greenfields .

You have every right to be disappointed.

Our neighbour, whose garden adjoins ours at the bottom, had a row of Leylandii which blocked all light from our little vegetable patch and which she claimed she loved. When she moved and the new owners chopped down the conifers
I was so pleased but they then put up a big shed with corrugated metal roof and then another shed alongside it on top of which they store the roof box for their car!

When my next door neighbours put up an ugly shed I planted bamboo and was pleased with the resulting screen until the screen began to invade both our gardens. 20 years later it is still giving me grief. I have given up trying to improve the view or the light as I just jump from frying pan to fire.

I like the idea of a trellis with a climbing plant to hide the gantry. Gives you much more control.

We are thankfully one road removed from a very busy line which is being prepared for Crossrail with no end of noise at night and weekends for the people whose houses back on to the line. A huge train shed also went up almost overnight with no warning at the bottom of my friend’s garden. I have advised my DD and DS not to risk buying a place by a railway. The railway company often owns much of the land near the track too and seem to have the green light to build what they want so long as it relates to the railway.

I seem to remember reading some years ago that it is unhealthy to live under or near power lines?

Time to plant some tall fast growing trees if your garden can accommodate them.

I'm lucky in that I chose my ( final) house well. It has a long garden with trees at the rear and a cul-de-sac with mainly bungalows at the back. However, a copse was demolished to accommodate my estate built 33 years ago so I do feel for the people who lived in the village before. There are now plans to almost increase my village by a half again which we are opposing because it will no longer then be a village then as it will join the one next door.

My motto is we don't need more housing, we need less people... in my village, my town, my country and indeed the world. The end of this planet will come from overpopulation and it's about time those who are supposed to be in power, and individuals too taking responsibility, did something about it by limited a reproductive female to two offspring only. It's no good Mrs May having a 25 year plan to recycle cans if the population that uses them will be allowed to double in the same amount of years.

Plants are the most useful “blocker” of ugly sights. I have built a wall of trellis and ivy because it grows quickly and thickly and is pretty all year round.

You're allowed to mourn this.
In a way, although I knew that I had to move I still mourn the loss of my lovely garden. It wasn't at all overlooked but was too large for just me. Now my little garden has an ugly 1960s style office building just yards from the fence at the back. Oh well, I'm hoping that the beauty of the flowers and shrubs help to detract the eye. That's what I tell myself.

Laurel makes a very good fast growing screen, as long as you don’t let it get out of control. It is almost impossible to kill it. We had a twelve feet high laurel hedge cut down to the ground last year, leaving only bare stumps, and it has already started to grow again.