Has anyone tried the rolls of packing material with the small bubbles, Got lots in with my Fastrack delivery and I was wondering if I put some under the track which will be on the foam board, anyway, unless otherwise advised, I will try it and post the results soon. (was this the longest run on sentence you have read in awhile?)
Dennis
Well that is certainly a new idea. I think that might work.
I’m just gettng caught up on topical news and this one is too funny! Keep up the good work Jim, I think this thread is most informative. I did have some suggestiions but I sure don’t want to tagged “idiotic and lame”, idiotic is enough for me 
Jon
Jimbo,
I guess I can lighten up a little old boy. Any way the remarks about sending somebody or something up to you were my attempts at humor so don’t think that I can not take a joke. Asking you for the part number was another attempt at getting you to make a good comeback remark.
Lee F.
I don’t find FasTrack too loud. I’m running it on carpet. Quiter than tubular on plywood. I would be suspicious of any track too quiet (maybe I’m losing my hearing…)
Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop. Unless you take time to pop all of them out, that is…
I prefer tubular track, but that is lookin pretty good.
I can definitely say FastTrack is much louder than the other tracks I’ve worked with. I built a loop on a shelf around the wall of my son’s room with FastTrack and the sound was unbearable even at very slow speeds. I experimented and found that a layer of the white shelf liner previously mentioned on top melamine coated particle board shelving was the combination that made the least amount of noise. Pine shelving or regular plywood seemed to have a much worse drum effect than the particle board. I’m now working on a Xmas layout and in my family room that has Hickory hardwood floors and a cathedral ceiling, FastTrack on the floor is loud enough to prohibit conversation once you have 4 or more cars running behind an engine at even slow speeds.
After looking on here, I was going to try a sheet of thin plywood with a sheet of homasote on it, with carpet pad under the FastTrack, but the wife nixed the whole sheet of plywood. So, I’m going to try cutting the carpet pad and a piece of homasote to mount under each piece of track. I’ll post again to see how that goes.
Plan B is to use a whole bunch of K-Line SuperSnap track I got on clearance for 90% off at Hobby Lobby. The K-Line track is extremely quiet compared to the other tracks, even when running fast, but I’ve already found that the tracks are not very kid-proof for a floor layout.
Mike
Its trains, let it rattle. [:D]
Use a black nylon zip tie on each joint to keep the tracks together. Then it becomes very kid proof.
Jim H
Also, adding O gauge pins between the tracks will help tighten up the connection.
Jim H
Use the volume control FasTrack section. It really quiets down the sound!
Try this experiment. It works best on granite kitchen counter tops, but a tile or other hard surface will do.
Set a 30" section of FasTrack and the same in tubular on the granite counter top. Now set a box car on either track. Put one finger on the top of one the boxcar and run the car back and forth on the section of track. Then put the car on the other and do the same thing. You will notice that the tubular is noticably quieter.
So, it has nothing to do with “train set” quality engines or with the speed at which you run. It is totally a result of vibration and the magaphone shape of the roadbed. To prove this run a train and put your thumbnail lightly on the pastic sloped edge as the train goes by. Not just you finger, but the tip of your thumbnail. That vibration is what’s making the noise. I think the secrect lays somewhere in solid mounting the edges with a cushion. Not just nailing it to a board, that only enhances the noise.
For a floor layout, even on carpet, there probably is no cure. I’m going to experiment with mounting them on a table/board using some kind of caulking. I think if you run two beads of silicone or something similar and set the FasTrack edges into the beads while wet, this might quiet it down. No nails to transfer the noise and not pushed down to make contact with the surface.
Now for some of us it will quiet down automatically each birthday. My wife says in a couple more years I won’t be able to hear a 1:1 scale Big Boy going through the living room.[:D]
What?
A dumb joke in reference to the loss of hearing as we get old. The 1:1 scale would be a full size steam engine going through the living room. I will have trouble hearing that in a few more years. [:o)]
How about rubber wheels?
Or a train that floats over the track on a cushion of air like a hovercraft?
But then if I switched to plastic wheels on all my stuff, where do I get them for MTH, Weaver and other cars?
Eh? Speak up sonny, I cain’t hear ya!
Marty W … I agree you want some track noise … now here’s what an ole boy older than me … not many …LOL told me … did’nt try it . Acoustically if you run sections of 2x4’s off the bottom of the layout towards the floor the vibration/sounds radiate through them somewhat and lessen layout unwanted noises . He said have to be wood to wood tight … no glue . They are supposed to absorb ???
In my short (2 weeks so far) quest to quiet it down, Ive heard a lot of suggestions, tops being the homasoate. I was at the Indy train show yesterday where a few guys with layouts at the show mentioned doing that. Also the felt idea seems to work. What Ive done so far on my own was to try sound deadener on the track itself. Didnt work. Then I tried using cut strips of 3M Silencer Strips to cover the metal bent tabs underneath, and that helped some. Then I used a few strips of carpet with attached pad. That worked better still. Then for fun I cut the pieces so they fit in the 4 recesses in the track, and that worked just as good, using less material. Then I screwed it down. That blew it all except for the minor gain from the silencer strips. So now to get a piece of homasoat and some felt. Oh, its all sitting on a piece of 1\2 OSB for now. I figure if I can get it quiet on that, it should be good on anything!
Hit to get back to first page.