Jason and Lee Harris first heard a freight rail line would potentially be built behind their Barnsley backyard from a community Facebook page and a radio news bulletin.
Like other residents living alongside the proposed Lower Hunter Freight Corridor through western Lake Macquarie and Newcastle, they were shocked to learn of the detailed plans and angered that the NSW government hadn't given them prior notification.
"I heard about it on the radio [on Tuesday] but I didn't put two and two together until my wife rang me up in tears," Mr Harris said.
The duo live on half an acre in Bendigo Street, where the Fassifern to Hexham line is proposed to run within what they believe is about 100 metres of multiple properties along the street.
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They fear the potential noise, vibration, flood and amenity impacts if the 30-kilometre line is built, and are concerned with the proposal's immediate impact on their property value and how the project will impact their future lives.
"We have a little hobby farm here, it's our little peace," Mr Harris said.
"You may as well say we've worked the last five years for nothing."
Mrs Harris added: "The people that live in this area do so because it is a peaceful, quiet, bushland area, and they're going to take that away from us."
The couple's home is not identified as an impacted property in the maps released by the government this week and as such, they weren't notified. However, Bendigo Street residents believe they've all been conveniently excluded.
The proposed rail line, which would remove most freight trains from suburban Newcastle, has been discussed for decades but the government finally confirmed its preferred alignment on Monday.
Documents on exhibition show four routes have been examined, but they only split north of West Wallsend.
"There's absolutely no choice for our area," Mrs Harris said. "Around the Minmi area, they've got different routes [to consider]."
Further north, the preferred route runs through multiple rural and semi-rural properties at Black Hill.
One resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she received a letter from the government in her mailbox on Monday afternoon.
The nature of learning of the proposal, and the map which showed how the rail line would cut through her family's property, left her shocked and upset.
"It said in the letter that we should have got a phone call [in advance], but we never got a call," she said.
"[I felt] absolute despair. We moved out here two years ago with the idea that this was our little piece of heaven. We paid a small fortune for it and made a conscious effort to get out of suburbia and the rat race. To come and have a little bit of peace and quiet.
"And they want to put a 60-metre wide freight train [corridor] through my backyard. It's not even a passenger line, it's not even that type of progress."
The resident was critical of the government not confirming a corridor sooner, given the line has been talked about for years.
"When I bought this place it should have been said to me in the contract this is in the pipeline, this could happen," she said.
"What's it going to do to the value of my property? Who is going to want to live here? Absolutely I will [want an acquisition]."
For Barnsley resident of 26 years, Arthur James, learning of the detailed plans this week was a "here we go again" moment. The 75-year-old remembers Bendigo Street residents rallying against a proposal for a rail line behind their homes more than 15 years ago.
"We'll probably have the same protests," he said.
"I doubt I'll see it.
"We're a little bit older now and how long we will be here, we don't know. But we're still not happy about it."
Mr James was less worried about the plan impacting his property's value, but he said the rail line might be easier to accept if wasn't just for freight trains.
"There's not going to be a railway station out the back here where we could get on and go to Sydney, unless they decide to run passenger trains on it," he said.
"That would make it a little bit more palatable."
The government says it might be two decades before the line is built and it is only wanting to reserve a corridor to prevent urban sprawl swallowing available land.
While the preferred corridor largely follows the M1 Motorway, some acquisitions will be needed.
Residents the Newcastle Herald spoke to this week all expressed a desire for transport officials to hold in-person landholder meetings, or at least on a community by community basis.
"I've already lost sleep, I've already cried over this," one Black Hill resident said.
"It's going to be hanging over my head for the next 10 or 20 years. It's not good enough. They just think they can come in and do what they want to people's lives."
Transport for NSW did not answer a direct question about why Barnsley residents weren't notified of the proposal, but a spokesman said landowners "directly impacted by the recommended corridor" were contacted "via [letters] and endeavours were made to contact them by phone".
"Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the distribution of letters to some properties adjacent to the corridor was delayed," he said.
"Transport for NSW is working hard to rectify this as quickly as possible as well as promoting consultation through newspapers and social media channels."
The spokesman said the agency was "strongly encouraging community feedback to help inform a final alignment". The project team can be contacted at corridors@transport.nsw.gov.au or 1800 837 511.
