I tried that. Used the exact method recommended in That Other Magazine. The raise in the track level was most disturbing and the noise reduction was negligible, so I abandoned the effort.
I’m surprised that you found the difference in noise level to be neligible. I have a ninety foot loop on my lower level and I put the blue insulation under half of it and left the other half alone. It made a significant difference. Perhaps the acoustics in your train room or the set-up of your layout led to the different result.
True, my layout is not large. The plan on the last page of the old “How To Operate Lionel Trains” book is a fairly good approximation of my track plan in just over 9 x 6 feet. There was some reduction on the straights and almost none on the curves.
I think I might have a solution, probably best left to the Christmas Layout.
I read all the posts, and found the track to be coupling with the base…and causing resonance…Big suprise, everyone knows this.
I pulled out a fleece blanket to give it a try, and wallah! Resonance gone! Ahh the cost…Fleece is expensive…
I recently purchased a bunch of felt to wrap the bottom of the train table so my 3-yo daughter could have a fort…but I digress. Felt is on sale for $2 a running yard (6-foot wide bolts) at the fabric stores, I doubled it up and used it as an underlayment for the buffalo snow (white puffy polyester). You can cover a 4x8 board (double thickness) for about $12, and get rid of the rumbling.
Kurt
People have mentioned Homosote before, but I can’t find any here in the Dallas- Ft Worth area. The building supply companies handle the pink and blue type sound dampening products. I’ve seen people build their layouts with those, but can you paint over the blue or pink?
rockn77,
Try looking for it as 440 SoundBarrier® and/or check out http://www.homasote.com/ which is the correct spelling.
Edit: Information added:
http://www.homasote.com/dealersearch1.asp?ci=Dallas&state=TX
and
http://www.homasote.com/dealersearch1.asp?ci=Fort%20Worth&state=TX
The pink and the blue are thermal insulators more than acoustic insulators… might be the same firmness, just one is Ownes Corning (home depot) and one is something else (Lowes). I know that the Pink is loud. It’s very firm too. If you can find something a little softer, it would be better. You can paint the foam. You can build a layout with it. It’s about $28 a sheet of 4x8. I honestly would recommend you get 16 2x4 tiles, which is the same area. I think those cheap acoustic ceiling tiles are under $2 each. The difference in volume is night and day. I just set up another test where I have a loop with half of it on 2" of tiles, and half on 2" pink foam. This test has shown that the rumble is actually high noise from the foam. It’s something to do with the resonant frequency of the light and not-to-dense foam. You can hear the noise go from a low rumble up to the noise that everyone is talking about as we cross over the gap between layers. It sounds like a jet plane going overhead, and gets louder quickly if you apply some throttle.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4758200056454150401
There may be ways to make it even quieter, but I don’t think any of us want to get into too high of a cost. I would like to try the felt as an additional barrier, but carpet didn’t do much more than the tiles did in my test. Since your fasttrack has tubular rails, you will get a different sound than I do. My Realtrax rail is T in shape and there is no rail joining pin to make a seamless joint like Lionel’s track does. I could take the time and solder each piece, but I don’t mind the track sound. Its the rumble.
Thanks,
Wes
What about some other types of track that are out there? I was leaning towards trying the Gargraves or Atlas track. Does anyone own both Fastrack and another type and check the difference in sound between the two? I’d think that without the plastic base it has to be at least a little quieter.
PJ
Wes, If you are up to another test this would require a lot of planning and prep for a larger layout but for a faily simple plan it mite work. After determining where and making your electrical connections, lock-ons etc, either indidvidually or in short segments invert the track and fill the voids with vermiculite then cover the entire base with a good fabric or vinyl tape, trim any excess with an exacto. Seems like the loose filler would absorb the sound as opposed to a compressed insulation.
It would be a real pain in the patoot for a larger plan.
I haven’t read through all the posts so I hope I’m not repeating anyone. I got foam seal for sills, one from Menards the other from Lowes. Both just a little wider than the track bed. One is medium blue and the other a kindof white/grey. I use the white/grey stuff as it much closer matches the color of the track. For curves I take a scissors and cut slices about 2/3 across the foam so it can bend enough to follow the track. You will need longer screws to attach the track to whatever it is on. Some company out there really could make foam insersts that fit in the hollow spaces.
One of the items that has not been mentioned is rubber ballast. My rubber ballasted track is much quieter than the non-ballasted.
I used to have k-line snaptrack (tubular with soft plastic ties) along with my MTH realtrax. Whenever they trains hit the snaptrak section the noise level dropped. More of a gliding along steel swish instead of the rumble of the echo chamber.
Jim H