My Fastrack Experiment

[nitroboy]

I use fastrack on my Christmas layout and my temporary layout. I wanted to try and quite the "hollow" sound that this track gives off. Now let me say that I don't mind the sound, its not really that big of deal to me. The look and ease Fastrack offers is well worth any minor noise that is gives off. I am just the kind of person that likes to mess with stuff.

First picture is of two pieces of track. One is the normal underside and the other is filled with expanding foam. I made two pieces of track with the foam. I put that track in the middle of a 60" section of track. Running on plywood, I noticed no difference. Running on carpet I noticed no difference. I do not have any fancy equipment to measure sound other than my ears, but I could not tell the difference when the train went over the "foamed" sections. I was running a Williams switcher which gives off no engine noise and one post-war hopper car.




The second picture is of the top of a normal section of Fastrack with one rail removed. You will notice the tabs that stick up to support the rails. The vibration of the train moving across the rails and these tabs must be where the noise is coming from since "foaming" the bottom of the track had no effect.I have no idea how to solve that issue.



All in all, in my opinion, Fastrack is well worth it for ease and apperance despite the "hollow" sound it tends to give off. I asked my 4 year old daughter about the sound and she said "real trains are much louder". 

She's got a good point.

[laz 57]

Thanks DAVE, for that report,  I have thought of doing that also, now I know.

laz57

[darianj]

Thanks for the info Dave.  I too don't really mind the noise either for the main layout; but it would be nice to quite down the Fastrack for use on the Chistmas layout.  I know there will be times with I'll want to run a train while watching a little TV.

[otftch]

Until you totally insulate the track from the board (or whatever undersurface) you will still have noise.Lay an old piece of carpet under the track and DO NOT secure the track to the table.Now the vibration can't be transmitted to the table.Unfortunately the "noise" is part of toy train operation.

                                                               Ed

[Roger Bielen]

Dave,

Rather than light weight foam the hollow needs to be filled with a dense heavey material to minimize the transmission of vibration.  Years ago I solved some sheetmetal equipment noise problems using a lead filled rubberized material that was lagged onto the sheetmetal and it reduced noise transmission , if I recall correctly, in excess of 75%.  I no longer am in the field and don't know what is, or where, currently available.

[chuck]

If you want to quiet the track down in a cheap and easy fashion, get some cushioned shelf liner.  Not the ribbed stuff.   The grip version of the liner have an additional feature, it keeps the track from sliding around on hard/smooth surfaces.  The noise is originating from the wheel/track contact but the shape of the ballast and the plastic chosen make it act like a speaker cone.  The plastic seems to have a peak resonance that makes it sound louder than it realy is.  The shelf liner seems to be effective at cutting out the higher frequency noise from the track rather than totally dampening it.  I will be experimenting with some upholstery batting placed under the track bed but still using the liner between the track and the "table top".  The batting may absorb some additional sound,  I'll post finding on this when I get some material to test.

[otftch]

I don't use fastrack.I like the old tubular track (painted with ties and ballast) but heres a way that would be time intensive but should work.First ,cover your table with 1" foam sheets,blue or pink..Lay out the track and put 1/2" holes where you want to screw down the track.Use screws long enough to go about a 3/4" through the track,foam board and table.You used to be able to buy sheets of rubber about 1/8" thick,cut theses into 1" squares and run the screw through them on the underside of the table.This should hold the track with nothing but the foam on top of the table and the rubber on the bottom touching the table.This should signifigantly insulate the track yet stll hold it down.I'm rambling here but you could probably cut the rubber squares from the sidewalls of an old tire.(not the treads).This would be a lot of work, but for you guys who don't want to hear track noise,might it be worth it ?

                                                                    Ed