How much noise are engines supposed to create when you run them or are they?
Out of the box, the QSI-equipped ones are brutally loud. I forget how loud my Tsunamis were. But, the nice engineers designed them to be adjustable.
If you mean the non-sound engines, some of the can be quite noisy, gear-wise. I have two or three engines that are acceptably noisy in one direction, but twice as loud in the other…which I don’t happen to appreciate…but there ya go. The fact is, all of mine emit some noise, with a few of them being quite noisy in one direction.
Depends on what locos (by make and age) you have.
If you have a good old Athearn Blue Box on a hard baseboard that makes a good sound box you won’t need to spend money on one of the new fangled sound systems.
If you have spent lots of money on one of the new DCC beasties on a posh track system including a road bed you’ll need to spend some more if you want your locos to sound like diesels.
Unfortunaley Athern steamers also sound like diesels…
[8D]
Mine engine is a Bachmann spectrum that is a bout 3 years old
Is it steam or diesel? What model? My experience is that Bachmann Spectrum locomotives are on the quiet side compared to others but there were a few that were noisier. Exactly what kind of noise is it making?
Selector, et al: Sometimes noise that changes with direction is due to excessive slop front to back on the rotor (and commutator on brush type motors) which pushes or pulls on the gear towers. One way of limiting that is thrust washers in the motor, but be aware that intalling them requires complete disassembly. Washers of .010" Nylon/teflon are good as it is non-metallic. Talk it over with some experieced model railroaders before attempting it. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
John, I understand your message, and I would dearly like to do that sort of thing. Thanks for the information.
I will tackle this some time, but I need to screw up enough courage. Maybe this winter I’ll have a look at my noisiest engine. The first one is the hardest, and then you either have it figured out or you have some spare parts. [:D]
-Crandell
I don’t know about the more recent (<2years) Bachmans but I would expect the older ones to be noisy… generally as bad as Blue Box at least. Some had distinct gearbox /motor issues. (Mainly the 70 tonners IIRC).
It dos also depend on what you are running them on. If your track has hard ties straight onto a sheet board of some kind it will be like running the loco on a guitar body - the board will amplify any sound. This is why people lay their track on foam rubber or insulation foam.
Is it doing anything else other than making noises? Like smoking? [:(] One of my 70 tonners (picked up very cheap) still needs stripping out to find out what’s going on… almost certainly a short somewhere in that case.
[8D]