There have been numerous threads on this. I was wondering about the amount of train noise from the various methods of construction. It seems that the greatest cause is not using a flexable or dampening material as a roadbed. The most recent thread is w/ foam acting as a sound board. I am only familiar w/ pine spline and 1/4" clear pine roadbed. This of course is on open benchwork. There is some train noise but not bad.
I wanted to hear from those that are using masonite spline. I know Joe Fugate and others use it. To me the masonite would be a better sound suppressor than even the pine. Has anyone been able to do a comparison?
Thanks, Bob K.
Bob, I can’t answer you directly because I used 1/4" MDF. Is it quiet, you asked. It is so quiet that I could hear my IHC Mike making internal drive noises I never knew it made as it trundled over the flextrack, and that is a Mike with an active Tsunami in it!
Bob, I do know the masonite spline is very dense and dense materials tend to absorb sound more readily than less dense materials.
The other factor for me is I glue my flex track down to the spline using latex caulk, so the track rides on a thin rubbery layer, which I believe further helps dampen the sound transmission to the spline.
The end result for me is track that’s nice and quiet.
However, other factors can come into play. Sound travels in wave form, and you can build your benchwork in such a way that the separation of the benchwork members form a harmonic distance with the sound which will transmit it. I’ve seen discussions of this point on the Layout Design SIG’s yahoo list. The basic conclusion from those who know about these things is to vary the spacing of your joists and risers somewhat, since this will break up any harmonics and also dampen sound transmission.
More than you probably ever wanted to know on how to reduce your layout track noise! [swg]