Soundproofing an HO layout

[Anonymous]

I have had a good laugh with some of my friends over this "noise" issue. You see they too, like some here, have never used a road bed at all. They buy spruce plywood as it takes spikes beautifully, and cut the plywood, kind of like cookie cutter style, on L girders so that the plywood has rounded shoulders, then they lay track directly to the spruce plywood and ballast. I have been running layouts for years at their homes and have yet to hear the "noise" issue that so many seemed concerned about.

In helixes noise, if you can encourage it, is good thing I have discovered. I haven't run any trains on my new layout yet (1/3 of the track has been laid) but I used sheet MDF with AMI road bed for my N scale track - I don't expect any problems.

[Anonymous]

Trains making or not making sounds on a layout is mostly a matter of sound reflection and mechanical amplification. Mechanical amplification is what we eliminate by using soft materials such as foam and cork. The top of a layout made with plywood is like a great big drum which reflects and amplifies the buzzing grinding clicking our trains make. Putting the track on cork eliminates some of this noise by absorbing it. Covering the plywood with soft materials such as homasote or foam help absorb more sound. So do flock and ground foam. Plaster works against us as it's a hard reflector. Trees absorb sound, buildings and envirotex reflect sound. Ceiling tile (homasote, upson) is a good absorber of sound. Adding more framing under the layout also cuts down on the drum effect if the plywood is secured to it with screws (makes smaller drums). If the screws are left out the sound sometimes gets worse due to friction at the plywood frame interface. So the best way to be rid of the sounds are a strong, secure, and rigid benchwork with soft materials on top of it. All this sandwiching of materials is really unnecessary. FRED.

[michaelstevens]

[8D]
I've got to agree with Jetrock (not "Benny and the Jets" [;)]?) -- why all this stealth ?

Real trains are big, dirty and noisy !

I and most visitors to my layout like the sounds of my HO engines -- and especially my British HST, at speed ! -- adds a touch of realism, surely ?

Matter of fact; during construction, I consciously used laminated long span road beds to generate/resonate as much sound as possible.

Come out of the closet and Enjoy !!

[:D][:D]

[Jetrock]

Maybe I'm just going deaf from too many punk rock shows, but personally I don't have any problem with the level of sound that my engines produce, and my track is nailed directly to 5/8" MDF with no sound-deadening techniques utilized whatsoever. I suppose I'm just reading the enormous lengths people are going to in order to reduce the sounds their railroad makes with some level of incredulity. Maybe they're trying to keep the trains a secret from the wife?

[ndbprr]

I am going to try something not done before to the best of my knowledge. First of all I don't care for foam - either pink or blue and long term results don't exist to know if it sags or degrades in any way so I am a traditionalist for subroadbed and will use 3/4" plywood. The change is that I can get a roll of 1/8" thick polyethylene sheet used for packaging that is 4' wide and 1000' long. I am going to cut this into 1" wide strips for HO and hot glue it to the plywood. Then I will ballast the track to it to see if it cuts down on noise. I suspect it will due to the higher volume of air cells over styrofoam type products. It also has sufficeint density that compression will not be a problem. With the amount I have available to me I will just glue an entire sheet down for yards. Even if purchased this type of material is very cheap and could prove a better mousetrap. I'll find out!

[dieselfan04]

I am currently using ceiling tile on a 1/2 inch plywood base with open grid benchwork.
I find that the more time I invest in the construction phase of the benchwork, the better off I am. I place risers spaced every foot. If your benchwork is very sound, a lot of the noise can be eliminated.
I glue down the ceiling tile to the plywood with regular white glue. Make sure you get a good contact between the tile and the plywood by nailing a few roofing nails to hold. (The nails can later be removed.)
Since I handlay my track, I fill the nail holes and run over the tile base with a good sanding.
Your best bet would be to use flextrack instead of track with a plastic base. The construction of the plastic base seems to increase the sound level.
All of my cars have metal wheels and under scale speeds I am very pleased with the results.
Just remember, the faster you run, the more noise will be generated.

[Anonymous]

Excellent choices. If all goes well, you'll be very pleased with the results.

[TheK4Kid]

Thanks for the advice. After consulting with several friends, I am going to use pink foam, using a 1x4 framework support , and flex track with cork roadbed.I also managed to come across a local building contractor who has an excess of pink foam from a project who will sell it cheap.
I will sell my LL track through a local hobby dealer or on Ebay.

[Anonymous]

First of all, don't build a 15'x30' layout with sectional track, certainly not with the LL stuff. That's for real beginners and I suspect it's part of the reason you have sound-transfer issues. With the track embedded into the plastic, there's a lot more surface for the sound to travel through.

I don't know what your "extensive reading" said, but my experience is that flextrack on cork roadbed on plywood is fine. And it's even better if the layout base is pink foam (NOT white beadboard with is unstable and very, very messy) instead of plywood.

You seem to be going through a LOT of work just to eliminate a relatively small problem.

[TheK4Kid]

I thought I'd add some more info here. After doing a bit more experimenting, I am going to make a change .
Iam going to build a small switching layout using the following method.
I will use 1/2 inch plywood for my base, then a layer of inexpensive ceiling tile, and glued to the plwood, then either a layer of one inch and or two inch thick white foam ,also glued to the ceiling tile, then another layer of ceiling tile(inverted ) atop of the foam, once again.
This gives the advantage that you can spike the rail down and/or attach it with flexible caulk or liquid nails.
The caulk should also offer just a bit more sound absorption..
Other products such as Woodland scenics swill adhere to the ceiling tile also, and it is still much less expensive than Homasote, and the dust and moisture and expansion and contarcation problem of homasote isn't present.
The celing tile can be painted with a cheap latex or other paints to simulate earth colors also.
Other accesories or whatever can be attached easily to the top layer of ceiling tile also.
So there you have it, an inexpensive way to "eliminate" the "drumboard "or "sound board" effect of trains running on a rathe solid surface.
If I use one inch or 3/4 inch foam, I can use screwws long enough to sink into the bottom ceiling tile layer, without ever getting into the plywood which would then "transmit"sound the plywood.
I'll post the results of my switching layout experiment when I am finished.
If anyone has any other ideas, I am all ears!

Thanks!
TheK4Kid

[TheK4Kid]

Hi, I am just getting started on a fairly good sized HO layout in my basement.
aproximately 15 by 30 feet.
Homasote is not available from local builder supply centers, so I am contemplating alternatives. I found a source who can special order it, but gold bars from Ft Knox would be cheaper.
I have experimented with a few things today.
I found that by sandwiching 2 inch white beadboard foam between 1/2 inch plywood, and andsome ceiling tile turned upside down, I got very remarkable results. But I am contemplating a 3 layer method, first using a standard 1/2inch plywood base, then ceiling tile innverted, then 2 inch white bead board foam ,each layer glued down.
The white foam would allow for very easy scenery and landscape work, employing Woodland scenic foam and other products.
I got the idea from a website which used only foam atop of 1/2 plywood, but I found this was not very quiet.
I am using Life-Like Power-Loc track with the plastic roadbed, and will simply use liquid nails or flexible caulk to adhree it to the foam, and I will also be using some Atlas flex track and other Atlas track, uisnng the Life-Like adapter tacks to use the two in combination with each other. I have located another source of additional track ballast to make it much more realistic, and found it from a source which is cheap when compared to hobby shop prices.
Has anyone ever tried this method of soundproofing before?
I considered Atlas track, cork and the traditional way, but did extensive reading, and decided to go this other way instead.
Anyway, I'll at least give it a try.
Any inputs are welcome!
Thankyou.