Hi all, just took own my Lionel O Ga (3 rail) train from arround teh Christmas tree. The track sat on the wood floor and the train was really loud. Do any of you set up a train around the tree? Do you have any ideas for muffling the sound?
Well, mine is on a temporary table set-up, and it’s HO scale, so noise isn’t an issue. I bet yours is really loud, sitting on a wood floor.
I would think any type of road bed, such as homosote, cork, foam, or even heavy cardboard, or any combination of the materials, would help with the noise. You could pre-fab the bed in sections, decorate it to look like a railroad bed, with sloped sides, etc., and keep it with the set for the next time.
Mike.
Well, mine was set up on carpeting and it was…rather loud. I think it’s just kind of the nature of the beast with something that size. I’ve used a Bachmann G gauge train before too with similar results.
Quite a lot of the noise emitted from a running train can be attributed to the cars, which act as an acoustic body - just like a guitar. Putting any sound deadening material underneath the track is just half of the job …
We have a 2’x31’ shelf in our house that’s about 10’ in the air. My wife has her Dept 56 style Christmas houses up there. This year I set up an ON30 dongbone that’s about 27’ long and turns in about a 22" diameter. [:O][:|][A] I set it up on 1/4" hard board. The whole thing is run by a single DC powerpack on a on/off remote control. (The 3 remotes control the indirect house lights that were originally up there, the lights to the christmas village and the train http://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Accents-Holiday-Indoor-Outdoor-Wireless-Remote-Control-Kit-RC-017-3/202353566 )
Ironically it handles the narrow turn just fine, but I have 1 spot where the dog-bone widen back out that has some poor track work and I get some occasional derailment. Since the train is so high in the air, that could lead to catastrophic results if the engine or cars were to fall from that height (we did lose a car over the side when I was first setting it up. Fortunately it survived just fine. )
I’ve found the solution to the noise problem is to run the train at a slow(er) speed. I was really worried about noise when I built this since the front fascia of the shelf is elevated about 4". That means that there’s 4" of air space below the hard board. That’s the recipe for a perfect resonator. I did not seem to think it was a significant problem. My guess is it takes about 90 seconds for the train to traverse the entire roughly 50’ of track.
I use Ross Custom Switches and their road bed which is a type of foam. The main noise I have is wheels at track joints and turnout frogs and locomotive sounds.
It’s that time of year again!
Post your Christmas Tree train
I am for the first time this year! [:D] Maine is one of my wife and I’s favorite places to vacation. Earlier in the year I got an idea of assembling a Christmas train made up of a locomotive and rolling stock based on favorite significant places (e.g. where we were born, grew up, and lived) & vacation spots. I primarily scoured eBay (and my own personal stock) over a 1-2 month period and was able to complete my task. I just set everything up yesterday (without the tree) and it is all that I hoped it would be. [:P] I’ll try and post a picture of it at some point.
Tom
For at least the last 10 years I have planned on building a 4x8 Christmas layout of a snowy New England village. At one point I had bought the 2" foam board base, laid the track and roughed in some landforms but it never progressed beyond that point. Someday I do plan to finish it but there’s still too much to get done on the big layout and progress has beeen very slow of late.
I do have my late father’s Lionel trains boxed up and I’ve thought of bringing those out and setting them up until I get the 4x8 built. I looked at the track recently and it had a good deal of corrosions. Is there a good way of removing that?
John,
If it was your father’s train then it’s probably steel track and will just rust again/further by next year. It may be worth the investment to just pick up some nickel-silver 3-rail track from your LHS. While the rail does oxidize, it stays conductive.
Tom
I run a Lionel set from 1952 in honor of my late sister, who was born that year, and got me involved with Lionel trains. I place the tubular track on tree shirting, and there is no noise save for the clickety clack of wheels on rails.
John Since that was your father’s train set I would imagine even the track has sentimental value to you.
Google the 4 best liquid rust removers tested by Popular Mechanics. You should be able to research from there and determine which one you feel is best for you.
After you treat your track I would go to amazon.com and order some No Ox A Special ID. Put a very sparingly thin layer on your track (then wipe off as much as you can, less is more) to protect it from rusting again. This product is also electrically conductive so it’ll help the performance of your old train set.
When you put your train set back in storage I would put it in tupperware with silica bags so you’re not storing it with any moisture content.
Hope this helps. Track Fiddler
I have a vintage 1970s Lionel train set which I set up at Christmas time. It is the Pioneer Dockside Switcher set. It comes with an 0-4-0 steam locomotive and a small tender, a gondola, a hopper, and a caboose. I originally got this set as a Christmas present [G] when I was in 3rd or 4th grade in the early 1970s. Sometime in the 1980s I sold it and a bunch of other Lionel cars and locomotives and accessories I had collected. I always regretted selling it. Then a couple of years ago I found the same set for sale on eBay. It was still new in the box! Now I use it as a Christmas (past) decoration since I model HO scale.
Sure, I have an LGB (Lehmann Gross Bahn) train I put under the tree, it’s barley a Christmas train, but I still run it anyway.
Once I have a tree and set it up, I’ll post some photos.
Lone Wolf I have the opposite side of the coin. I kept my Seaboard Coast Bicentennial locomotive my grandfather gave me so many years ago. It’s all that’s left of the set all beat up sitting on the fireplace mantel.
I saw a replacement set on eBay for very cheap. I kick myself in the back side every time I think about it. I should have bought it.
Come to find out they are not a dime a dozen.
Regards Track Fiddler
I have a Christmas tree train but it’s on display out in my shop and doesn’t get used anymore.
As for the noise problem of the OP. I’d think a tree skirt made of a thick fabric should do the trick to quiet it down a bit.
I always have a train under the tree! This year is the prewar American Flyer Royal Blue set.
No I do not. Not that I have anything against it, I just do not do much decorating for Christmas. I put up the tree, and that is about it.
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Sorry to be a Scrooge on this thread.
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-Kevin
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Yeah, color me nostalgic. I always put down a circle of track around the tree and run the train that I got for Christmas when I was 8, (and graduated from “toy trains”). Its Gilbert HO, the little gas electric critter, (looks like a 4 wheel diesel switcher with side rods) with 4 cars plus caboose. And yes, on the wood floor it sounds like a rock chrusher.
I had to explain to my two grown sons that “back-in-the-day” the train around the tree was THE ionic gift for a young boy.
“Oh”, they said.[:^)]
Jim
I trimmed off a few of the lower branches for a better view of the train.[:-^]
The thing logged a lot of hours without incident.