Quietest and Smoothest Locomotives

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Inspired by another thread, list your three quietest locomotives, in order of ascending noise. Testing should be without pulling a train as variables there will obstruct conclusions.

If they are not also your three smoothest starting and low speed running locomotives, list those seperately.

If you’re in a scale other than HO, note that too.

Here’s mine:

Quietest

  1. Atlas U23s. Dead silent at any speed unless you place your ear against the shell. At any normal viewing distance, even a few inches, all you hear is wheels gliding on rails.

  2. A few of our Spectrum 4-6-0s are just as silent, but one of them clicks the valve gear on tight turns and hours spent trying to chase it out have been wasted.

  3. Kato NW2 is third. Smooth as silk, but you can hear the faint hum of gears at moderate and higher speeds. Atlas GP7s and P2K GP7s are right in here but just a fuzz louder.

Smoothest

  1. Again Atlas U23s. You can get them to stop and start at extremely low speeds, but not every time. Usually they creep smoothly.

  2. Kato NW2. Very smooth but won’t creep as slow as the U boats. Slight jerk to a higher creep speed than the U23s.

  3. P2K GP7s. Will creep as slow as the U23s, but only in stop and start jerks. Smooth creep speed is higher than the Kato NW2.

2

One in paticular that fits both catagories: My Atlas RS-3 is dead quiet and smooth.

  1. Stewart VO 1000 also good in both cats.

  2. Believe it or not Atlas trainman RS-32 beutiful runner.

HO all

3

Alright Jeffers_mz,

You did it. LOL

My HO quietest, smoothest and low crawl has to be my:

  1. Roco European era I German 2-6-0 my super quietest, smoothest and crawl

  2. Remotored with Kato HM-5 Atlas Sd-35

  3. Remotored with kato hm-5 Atlas GP’s various

  4. Proto PA1 Rio Grande

  5. Mantua 2-4-2 Pennsy and Santa Fe

  6. Bachmann NYC Niagara

  7. Bachmann SP Daylight

  8. TGV Lima 1980’s is my loudest and usually have to give it a push to get going.

4

Well my Bachman Spectrum F40PH would be a contender if it didn’t have LokSound!

5

It used to be my Atlas RS1’s they were most perfect in silence and smooth. I killed em with the decoders. Now they buzz and viberate. So much for that.

Proto 2-10-2 heavy is the best engine I have and way quieter and smoother than the rest of the fleet. So good Ive ordered a second one.

The rest are coffee grinders which need sound to camoflage cheap and failing mechanisms.

6

For the most part, all of my locomotives are quiet and smooth. Here’s how I would rank them:

Quietest:

  1. Proto 2000 0-8-0 switcher
  2. Stewart FT
  3. Trix 2-8-2 Mikado

Smoothest:

  1. Stewart FT (Decoder: Lenz Gold) - Simply amazing @ speed step 001

  2. Trix 2-8-2 Mikado (Decoder: Loksound v.2.0)

  3. Proto 2000 0-8-0 switcher (Decoder: DH163L0)
    Actually, any of the above mentioned locomotives would be smooth with or without a decoder.

Tom

7

Good stuff guys, keep them coming.

Might as well throw noisiest in here too.

Far and away are my AHM FM C-liners. One of them drowns out my coffee grinder, the other is twice as loud, except it runs helterskelter for a few seconds, stops dead on a dime, derailing the whole train, then rockets off at top speed, blithly ignoring NTSB regs, investigations, and massive fines.

You just gotta love pancake motors.

Not even close as far as measured sound pressure levels go, I have a pair of Lifelike GP-38-2s that make me want to see if they float in the pond. Not P1ks, not P2ks, straight Lifelike, and they emit this high pitched whiney buzz that sounds like a million mosquitos nesting in your ear cavity.

They’d already be missing and presumed dead if they weren’t technically my son’s, but they do serve well as track testers for newly laid rail right next to the Carpet Canyon Precipice.

Not so noisy, our AHM 40 ton switcher is the most entertaining locomotive we own, hands down. It does grind louder than our BB Athearns, but that’s not the draw.

In addition to a shimmy that looks exactly like a mouse with one or even two broken legs, it sets out a trail of sparks that make 4th of July sparklers look like wet matches.

We run that guy on EZ track laid out on the floor, and let the cats chase it.

We cheer when they catch it.

:slight_smile:

8

I’d have to say the EMD F-unit series because it has a smooth body design and its quietest when its turned off.

OOOOH! You meant scale running qualities! [D)][swg]

9

Quietest:

Atlas U23B

Atlas SDP35

Smoothest:

Atlas U23B

Atlas SDP35

10

Noisiest for my fleet: BLI Hudson and Lionel Challenger, both QSI

Most quiet: P2K 0-6-0 with Tsunami, P2K SW8 with QSI, and Trix Mikado…no order to these three, they are all dead quiet. Come to think of it, my BLI J1 2-10-4, Niagara, and PRR K4s Pacific are all very quiet and steady with the QSI upgrade in it. The first two locos above have the standard chips.

Smoothest…believe it or not, that same noisy Challenger is very smooth, so are the two P2K’s, the Trix.

My jerkiest is the BLI K4s 4-6-2 with the upgraded QSI. I think it must have flashing in the gears. Too chicken to look. The other jerky one is an IHC Mikado with Tsunami, and I think it is because I introduced it to the floor once.

11

Interesting. Apparantly, it’s not just my Atlas U23s and I got lucky with them.

I’ll have to open those guys up and compare them to the Atlas GP7s, because there’s a definite difference in quietness and smoothness in the U23s.

Whatever’s going on in there is a good thing, and should be noted, expanded on, and pressed into wider service.

More later on this.

12

My Walthers H-10-44 w/ Roco drive would have to be no. 1 for both quietness and smooth low speed running - and has great power !!

But I think every Atlas or Roco diesel from the last 10 years that I’ve purchased has been very quiet and smooth running at slow speeds.

13

It may be worse than you think inside that BLI. I glossed it over in a joke in an earlier thread, but my BLI 2-10-4 literally sounded like a grinding wheel when you sharpen a screwdriver.

Inside, I found that the flywheel had actually ground a groove into a big piece of flash on the boiler weight. The Dremel made it a quick and easy fix, and getting in, and back out was surprisingly easy, considering the amount of fine detail in the way.

Compared to the Spectrum steamers, surgery on the BLI was a breeze.

14

Since I’m responsible for this bomb, I guess I should contribute. [:)]

Quietest:

  1. Proto 2000 Southern E-7. I have to look at when it first starts to make sure it’s running.

  2. Believe it or not, the Model Power “Metal Engine” F-7. Almost as quiet as the E-7, DCC-ready, and you can get one for about $30. Grab one if you find it.

  3. Atlas Silver Line U30C

Smoothest:

  1. Bachmann GE 70 tonner. It will creep along at about 2 scale mph all day long.

  2. Atlas Silver Line UP SD-24

  3. Proto 2000 NKP SW8/9. Will creep along right behind the 70 tonner.

Most powerful:

Tie between the Proto 1000 powered F3A/F3B Combo and the Model Power Metal Engine F7 teamed up with my Athearn BB UP “Super Geared” F-7. I’ve had 45 car trains running behind both of these combinations for hours at a time and they never even get warm. I think they draw about 10 amps but they sure can pull everything on the railroad. [:)]

15

My absolute smoothest and quietest-----Stewart/Kato ABBA F3s (of 12 units not 1 of the bunch runs any different and this after many years and hours of use.)

Next is----Stewart VO1000

Then 3rd—Any one of my latest Atlas GP38/40s, SD35s etc.

16

My Pioneer Zephyr is whisper quiet and very smooth, only hear the wheels.

Both the Tower 55’s, with the sound off are quiet and very smooth.

Steam wise, the Spectrum Russian Decapod is smoothest and quietest.

Safety valve, try a different brand of decoder, a 15 series NCE perhaps. Sometimes the motor and decoder just don’t get along.

Tilden

17

Quietest

  1. P2K SD45. Only makes a faint noise at start up. Other wise it’s really quite.

  2. Atlas Master GP40. A slight “buzzing” noise. Very faint though from across the table.

  3. Athearn BB SW1500. Sound like a normal BB.

Smoothest

It’s a debate of the P2K and Atlas. My Atlas has a slower start up speed, but my P2K can haul more. I haven’t tryed my SW1500 because I haven’t yet got couplers. [:I]

18

Super quiet and super smooth is my Lifelike UP Eire Built, followed by MicroAce 0-6-6-0 Baldwin.

19

My Tower 55 ES4400 is the smoothest and quietest locomotive i have.

20

My Life-Like GM switchers.