[C][zzz] Early this morning, down in the railroad room, around 3:30 A.M., I was just sitting there in a relaxed mood while a train was making its way around the rails, making all of the sounds that engines can do when I decided to take the sound engine off the tracks and replace it two older Stewart units in the Southern green and white scheme and placed them in front of the consist of stream lined passenger coaches, no sound unit.
I gave it some power and the train began to leave the station. With my cup of coffee in hand I leaned back in the chair and listened. All I could hear was the clickity clack of the wheels passing over the rail joints, no engine sound. I sipped my coffee and just listened. The Stewarts are so quiet, not even a hum. As the train made its way through the scenery I realized, “this is nice”.
So, tomorrow morning I might just do the same thing, watch a beautiful train making its way from town to town in peace and serenity. I need that sometimes, with a good cup of coffee, just sitting back in peace and quiet. That’s the beauty of this hobby, you can have noise or just quiet, it’s a beautiful thing.
I originally only went to DCC for the sound, I just love my two Cab Forwards and two AC-9s pulling my 3½% grades a huffing and puffing, but I have far more DC locomotives (50+) than decoder equipped (12) and often run them more than the sounders. I enjoy the sound when I’m in operational mode but silence is much better when I’m just working around on my layout, I often let a DC train run the layout when working on scenery. As they say “Silence is Golden” and at 81 I really like Golden a lot.
Regarding sound, there are a few diesels that sound GREAT with the sound on (Atlas S-2, Rivarossi U25C…) and some that get irritating REAL fast (UP turbines, Bowser Red Barns, and some other EMD turbos).
In steam, I find it very irritating when the chuffs sound like the valve timing is off. I prefer my steamers to sound like they’ve been properly maintained, not sounding “cute”.
This has been discussed innumberable times since I joined the forums in early 2005. As with any part of the hobby, we must suspend disbelief, including the tinny sounds the HO-sized speakers are capable of producing inside small plastic containers.
Even so, I do prefer the sounds, if only rude approximations, of working steam locomotives. The silent clackety clack is like a knitting machine, which I do not use. Nothing like the sounds of the prototype at all.
What saves me, personally, is lowering the master volume to about the 40% level. From there I lower the really repetitive and irritating sounds like pop-off and blow down, or even the injector sound. My bell volume is low, just enough to hear it when its close.
Also, it is important to only have one or two locomotives making sounds at the same time. Otherwise, it’s just a raucous cacophany of tinny noise.
Silence for me pls. It’s sometimes nice for me to get about an hour at night in the cave to work on the train. By not having a sound decoder, I can hear the clank of cars along the rails.
Perhaps I’ll venture out into a sound decoder when I have more money. Maybe I should start a gofundme site. Not that anyone would contribute…
Both for me too. If I’m actively operating, then 99% of the time, I have the sounds on. If I’m just letting a train run while I work, then it sort of depends. I can listen to a steam engine chuff away for quite some time, but the drone of a diesel starts to get annoying after a short while.
I like them both, as well, but I generally enjoy sound slightly less - i.e. maybe 30-40% of the time. F8 is indeed a wonderful option.
Yea, I totally get the clickity-clack comment, Robert. All my rolling stock is outfitted with Kadee couplers and metal wheels. So, the longer the train; the longer the clickity-clack. I find it a very enjoyable and soothing sound.
I think the early morning hours is very conducive to quiet. So have at it, Robert…and enjoy your coffee. [:D]
I like both sound and non-sound. If I have some non-model railroaders over to see the trains, I try to have at least one sound engine running a train. During my operating sessions, with a small room (20’x20’) and 6 or 7 guys in the room, you can barely hear the guys talk, so I prefer no sound engines running.
On a few occassions I have two of my model railroad friends over with their sound engines (both guys don’t have layouts), and with just the three of us, the sounds on the trains they bring, as we like to say are ‘very nice!’
I prefer a quiet room. I do run sound engines, but I have the volume set pretty low. I don’t like TV, radio, cell phone conversations, lawnmower noise or other distraction’s.
Sometimes the sound is fun. But mostly I run with the sound off. The sound of the wheels on the track and the clicking at the joints is usually as much as I want.
I prefer sound. The main reason I went with DCC was the sounds.
My layout had no continuous run capability so when working of something I just left one engine powered up and listened to the sounds of a steamer at rest. The airpumps, pop valves, injectors and fireman Fred were nice in the background to me.
As others have mentioned, sound is nice — in moderation.
I relate it to seasoning in a cooked dish. Too much of anything spoils the whole meal.
Often, it can depend on how I feel at the time and for what reason I’m “firing-up” the layout. If I simply want to do some diagnostic work or try out a recent decoder install I’ll keep everything in silent-mode.
If, on the other hand, I plan to have a whole evening of running trains I like to be able to hear, in moderation, the varied and individual sounds of the locomotives (and cars, as I have a few “soundcar” equipped cars, too) going through their paces.
Listening to a few idling diesels with their occasional condensate air drain (I don’t much care for the sound of the modern “spitter”) or if it’s steam, some random air-pump or blower sounds when sitting are sounds I like to hear while I’m putzing around the layout with other things.
Again, like the spices — delicately balanced with not too much of any one makes for a tasty operating session.
