The Palmetto stops in Yemasee, long enough for you to block traffic on three different streets and get a ton of dirty looks!
J.S. You are probably very familiar with the hobby shop in West Columbia, been shopping there for over thirty years. I have built 4 nice layouts with equipment from West Columbia.. Know Yamasee well, practised in Fairfax for twenty years then moved on. Ed Newman, of NBC's Today Show was from Yamasee, SC. It is a great train watching town, Amtrak even stops there I do believe.
That hobby shop in West Columbia even had some box cars made of the Newberry-Columbia Line, two run on my pike.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Yamasee, SC, don't close your eyes or you'll slip right through. It's the kind of town where you fell in love with a local girl, could stand on the train platform at sunset and hear the moan of a muffled steam whistle, and hear your mother calling when it was time for dinner. That time is gone, but you can still stand on that train platform and you may just hear that whistle.
Robert Sylvester
Newberry-Columbia Line, SC
ATLANTIC CENTRAL A few basic facts about audiology and sound reproduction. FACT - listening to inaccurate, low fidelity sound will create irritablity in most people after a while. The degree of irriatation, and the time frame are highly variable, but in general the longer you listen to low quailty sound, and the louder it is , the sooner you will be bothered by it. FACT - listening to a low quality reproduction of pleasing sounds you are familiar with will trigger more detailed memories of those sounds stored in your brain. This can and will partly offset the negative effects of low quality sound outlined above. FACT - sounds are much different outdoors, some sounds travel more, some sounds dissipate more quickly. Standing track side, at let's say 150', locomotive sounds come and go quickly as the loco passes by. Rolling stock track noise quickly drowns it out. Track noise can often be heard much farther away, and for longer than loco noise. So, if you are seeking that intimate, one on one experiance with your train, as in being the engineer, than you probably like sound. If you are more of a big picture, multiple trains moving, kind of guy, you are likely to be less interested in the noise from onboard sound. We all choose based on our personal levels of comfort with these conflicting facts. Sheldon
A few basic facts about audiology and sound reproduction.
FACT - listening to inaccurate, low fidelity sound will create irritablity in most people after a while. The degree of irriatation, and the time frame are highly variable, but in general the longer you listen to low quailty sound, and the louder it is , the sooner you will be bothered by it.
FACT - listening to a low quality reproduction of pleasing sounds you are familiar with will trigger more detailed memories of those sounds stored in your brain. This can and will partly offset the negative effects of low quality sound outlined above.
FACT - sounds are much different outdoors, some sounds travel more, some sounds dissipate more quickly.
Standing track side, at let's say 150', locomotive sounds come and go quickly as the loco passes by. Rolling stock track noise quickly drowns it out. Track noise can often be heard much farther away, and for longer than loco noise.
So, if you are seeking that intimate, one on one experiance with your train, as in being the engineer, than you probably like sound.
If you are more of a big picture, multiple trains moving, kind of guy, you are likely to be less interested in the noise from onboard sound.
We all choose based on our personal levels of comfort with these conflicting facts.
Sheldon
A few thoughts:
I moved a few years ago to a location that is reasonably near a class 1 mainline. Probably 1/2 a mile away The blowing horns are loud enough near my home, but not too loud. Shortly after moving, they were a concern, but I quickly got used to them and the other train noises to where they become a part of the routine ambient noises (which reminds me of a scene in The Blues Brothers, but nevermind).
Since train noises are now part of routine sounds, my ear detects the sound of the train long before any type of horn blows. Its not a mechanical sound. It could be a deep rumble vibration. It could also be the sound waves of everything (exhaust, motors, and wheel clang) meshing together from such a far distance. As it gets louder, I can almost predict when the horn will blow. Only when I am at the crossing do I hear the loco and the wheel clang....the individual sounds. From far away, they all seem to mesh together into a deep bass tone.
Another item. I was visiting a train shop in a former depot, in a town that had a train-horn ordinance....no horn blowing in certain locations. As I was leaving, I noticed the train noise as I approached the door, and was quite surprised to notice I was in the middle of a long unit coal train. Since no horn was blown, the passing string of cruising locos sailed by the depot in near silence.
Two items to think about when determining what sounds a model train should make to represent realism. If that's a goal.
- Douglas
I'm not far enough along on my layout for sound yet. I'm still working on sight I'll get there one day. From the ones I've heard at the club, I like it
NeO6874 joe323 Sound it depends on when I am operating. Yes in the daytime no at midnight. Be glad the sound isn’t as loud as 1:1 railroads I want to stay married! Wife threatened me about sound locos. I open the windows as a compromise, so we're both unhappy. I have the wrong sounds. She gets to listen to 12" to the foot scale SD70s.
joe323 Sound it depends on when I am operating. Yes in the daytime no at midnight. Be glad the sound isn’t as loud as 1:1 railroads I want to stay married!
Sound it depends on when I am operating. Yes in the daytime no at midnight. Be glad the sound isn’t as loud as 1:1 railroads I want to stay married!
Wife threatened me about sound locos. I open the windows as a compromise, so we're both unhappy.
I have the wrong sounds.
She gets to listen to 12" to the foot scale SD70s.
Actually If I open the window I could hear the Staten Island Railway go by about a block away .
A train is a train
Joe Staten Island West
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
Sometimes it nice to sil the layout and put music on.
Brakie, when you say "T-6", are you referring to the MRC TECH 6 (2.0 or 6.0) that is switchable from DC to DCC? If so, have you, by chance, ever checked the AC voltage at the track (no load) on the DCC mode? I have a 6.0 and a 2.0 T-6, and when one began to act a little "irratic" on DCC, I decided to check the AC voltage at the track. To my astonishment, the voltage on BOTH was over 25 volts AC! I used three different meters, two digital, one analog. All reading 25 to 27 volts on the 200v ac scale. One meter, which had a 20volt scale, read only 14 volts on that scale, but on the 200v scale, they all read 25+ volts AC! If you have a digital meter that reads AC, I would really be curious as to what YOU'RE getting! The folks at MRC say it should NEVER exceed 16 volts! Just curious....
Mike C.
Dr. Wayne:
Great thought. My railroad is from 40's-50's, and when I see the folks walking down town and cars on the road, the buildings lit and train signals glowing from that time period, one can hear in the background, Benny Goodman or Glenn Miller stricking up the music in the background; it really sets the tone for the decade as the railroad travels through- from WW II to the early fifties.
Think about it, as you pretend too walk on your main street, past the building with musical groups inside and a White Castle just down the street; the smell of those little hamburgers coming off the grill and right across the street the mighty roar of a Greyhound bus pulling out of the loading zone with that trail of black smoke you can smell as it heads to some far off city, while you can hear, "In The Mood", and young people dancing and getting into the swing of things.
I do like the peace and quiet but there is nothing like that soft sound way off in the distance that sets the decade and memories that come floating down the street, taking you back to time when maybe it was just a little simpler.
Newberry-Columbia Line
Noise, no.... No noise.
I have old audio equipment I used to enjoy that would blow the roof right off the house. I remember various times walking back to the house after getting the mail when my Judy was watching a movie.
The exterior lights were rattling on the outside of the house and you could actually see the reflections pulsating on the windows... That was then, this is now.
I will do sound on my layout. It will be a subtle sound, a relaxing sound, and enjoyable sound. That is how this old dog will do things now.
Enjoyable...
I'm not really in much of a hurry to get sound equipped model trains since it's pretty much just me and me alone running trains. Don't get me wrong, I think they do add a new element of detail to operations like for example, sounding the horn and bell at crossings. It's just there are other things I'm more interested in at the moment.
I appreciate your post. I’m an old quiet DC train runner Modeling a short line taken from a closed Southern branch. The only sound in my train room is from a Dave Brubeck or MJQ album. My Earnest & South Yemasee hauls coal and merchandise quietly through the upper Blue Ridge mountains. I’m very familiar with the Columbia and Newberry Line.
Scott Anderson in West Columbia.
AntonioFP45 Hi Doc, Hope you don't mind me piggy-backing on to your post, but you've reminded me of something I also enjoy without thinking about it. In addition to onboard sound, I also enjoy playing music to set the time-period-mood! My song collection is large but takes little room since it's stored on CD's and flashdrives. Modeling from 1965-76, in my room you'll hear tunes from Seals & Krofft, Brian Bennett, Billy May, Billy Preston, The Monkees, Smokey Robinson and even a slew of classic tv show themes. 1930's era? Good going as Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Glen Miller (music giants of that era) would fit in nicely! doctorwayne ..................................I'm seriously considering doing the same for my late '30s-era layout, and am collecting similar appropriate music - always among my favourites, anyway. Wayne
Hi Doc,
Hope you don't mind me piggy-backing on to your post, but you've reminded me of something I also enjoy without thinking about it.
In addition to onboard sound, I also enjoy playing music to set the time-period-mood! My song collection is large but takes little room since it's stored on CD's and flashdrives. Modeling from 1965-76, in my room you'll hear tunes from Seals & Krofft, Brian Bennett, Billy May, Billy Preston, The Monkees, Smokey Robinson and even a slew of classic tv show themes.
1930's era? Good going as Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Glen Miller (music giants of that era) would fit in nicely!
doctorwayne ..................................I'm seriously considering doing the same for my late '30s-era layout, and am collecting similar appropriate music - always among my favourites, anyway. Wayne
..................................I'm seriously considering doing the same for my late '30s-era layout, and am collecting similar appropriate music - always among my favourites, anyway.
Wayne
I take that one step further I Installed a groove cube speaker behind a Blair Line Drive in screen to play music and movie sounds.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
My layout is DC, so no on-board sound. It's not really needed, as I remember the sounds of steam, and can play them in my head when the need arises.
However, I visit a very nice '40s-era layout that's on local layout tours every year, and there's appropriate big band music playing in the background - not too loud, but it really helps to set the mood and theme of the layout. I'm seriously considering doing the same for my late '30s-era layout, and am collecting similar appropriate music - always among my favourites, anyway.
riogrande5761 Brent, I still have an old Takanime six string from my teen years and pull it out now and then to play along with recordings like Neil Young etc. Arthritis is starting to set in a bit now. I do have some sound systems for the train room also to play CDs, you know those things that took over vinyl and have been succeeded by digital streaming and mp3s. BTW, paint your trainroom sky blue would be a huge improvement!
Brent,
I still have an old Takanime six string from my teen years and pull it out now and then to play along with recordings like Neil Young etc. Arthritis is starting to set in a bit now.
I do have some sound systems for the train room also to play CDs, you know those things that took over vinyl and have been succeeded by digital streaming and mp3s.
BTW, paint your trainroom sky blue would be a huge improvement!
Jim, I am severely limited by arthritis as well. I could play Classical Gas along with Mason Williams note for note. Now, I can't get through it. I am limited both in what I can play and more importantly how long I can play. I use to do four-hour stints in my friends recording studio which in the seventies was the largest one in Vancouver. They taught studio recording for the local technical institute and we would be the guys that would go in to play all that Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, John Denver etc. So they could learn how to do the job. They would also bring in rock bands and string quartets so they could learn all aspects of the job.
That six string in the photo is a very rare Yamaki that I bought just about 50 years ago. I have turned down $5000.00 for it. I go on some guitar forums sometimes and found people looking for that particular guitar and when I said I had one, the floodgates opened. It is a Martin knockoff but sounds better than anything I ever come across.
The trainroom should be blue. My wife pulled a fast one on me when I painted it. I thought the carpet was grey (not Pink) and I thought the paint she chose was grey (not pink) I painted it before RR construction began and to me, it is still grey. We have been looking at houses and believe me blue it will be before construction begins this time.
We just looked at a house that our Realtor said had a perfect trainroom in it (he knows what the priorities are) It had a 30' x 40' room that use to have an indoor swimming pool in it. It was filled in and now has beautiful hardwood floors. Big space, however, all the walls are floor to ceiling windows. I have been working layout possibilities out in my tiny brain. Most have no backdrops with just a lot of free-standing benchwork. Lots of possibilities though, it is very bright in there.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Respectfully, to each his own.
I'll very gladly take the limited range over nothing at all. Sound is subjective to each person.
Currently onboard sound is not going to equal the prototype 1 to 1 world, but nevertheless for many of us it's still a very enjoyable facet to the hobby. I grew up with transistor radios from the 60's and 70's. The sound coming out of the latest sound decoders, through cell phone sugar cube speakers is much clearer, crisper and less distorted than those old radios that I grew up with.
Cool factor in all this is that we still have the option of "turning it off completely" when the mood calls for it. Even I like total quiet, occasionally. For me, however, the sound genie's out of the bottle and she's not going back in, LOL
ATLANTIC CENTRAL But there is still very limted frequency range and limited dynamic range. They still sound like a 1967 9 transistor radios to me, at any volume. Sheldon
But there is still very limted frequency range and limited dynamic range. They still sound like a 1967 9 transistor radios to me, at any volume.
Still listen to my 1700 pieces of vinyl, and 800 or so CD's, no mp3 players here.......
And at the new house, the train room is going to also be the primary sound system room.
So onboard sound does not have a shot.
AntonioFP45 I'm glad that DCC-sound has become cheaper and easier to install in our HO units. Sound, imho, should complement the scene....not overwhelm it (which tends to happen at some model railroad clubs). Although I appreciate accurate horns and bells, it's the subdued sounds that, for me, are the most memorable. The "baritone chant" of an EMD 567, the 4-cycle "Chug" of GE U-Boat, the "Turbo whine" of an EMD 645, brake releases, brake applications, and air "pop-offs". That was sweet mechanical music! One facet that I emphasize is that quality sound can be pleasant if its volume is kept low! I enjoy it when a first time visitor comes into my "man cave" and, as I'm talking, he/she says "Hey, do you hear that?" I smile and stay quiet until eventually the visitor walks over to my shelf layout and listens to my SCL SD45-2 with its turbocharger whining and its air pop-off valve going off randomly, once or twice a minute (thanks Loksound!). Instead of irritation, I get a smile! At 25% volume, people can have a normal converstation or even whisper and not be annoyed. When I do blow a horn, it's enjoyable rather than irritable. At low volume, with quality speakers, there's almost 0% THD. No static, no clipping (at least with Loksound). At a low volume, I find sound quite relaxing as it stirs up sweet memories of my railfanning childhood and teen years. Imho, quality sound is like having a high quality olive oil with a good meal at an Italian restaurant!
I'm glad that DCC-sound has become cheaper and easier to install in our HO units. Sound, imho, should complement the scene....not overwhelm it (which tends to happen at some model railroad clubs).
Although I appreciate accurate horns and bells, it's the subdued sounds that, for me, are the most memorable. The "baritone chant" of an EMD 567, the 4-cycle "Chug" of GE U-Boat, the "Turbo whine" of an EMD 645, brake releases, brake applications, and air "pop-offs". That was sweet mechanical music!
One facet that I emphasize is that quality sound can be pleasant if its volume is kept low! I enjoy it when a first time visitor comes into my "man cave" and, as I'm talking, he/she says "Hey, do you hear that?" I smile and stay quiet until eventually the visitor walks over to my shelf layout and listens to my SCL SD45-2 with its turbocharger whining and its air pop-off valve going off randomly, once or twice a minute (thanks Loksound!). Instead of irritation, I get a smile! At 25% volume, people can have a normal converstation or even whisper and not be annoyed. When I do blow a horn, it's enjoyable rather than irritable. At low volume, with quality speakers, there's almost 0% THD. No static, no clipping (at least with Loksound).
At a low volume, I find sound quite relaxing as it stirs up sweet memories of my railfanning childhood and teen years. Imho, quality sound is like having a high quality olive oil with a good meal at an Italian restaurant!
But there is still very limted requency range and limited dynamic range. They still sound like a 1967 9 transistor radios to me, at any volume.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have turned the volume level way down from what they were born with and when I am runnin trains with all my focus it is all sound all the time. However, I will turn all sound off when working on the layout and have my little BS 4-4-0 making the rounds with Gordon Lightfoot serenading me on my train room stereo. Also there is no sound on when I am sitting on this stool in front of the fire playing these (one at a time) while watching a train earning its keep.
I fully agree with what Sheldon has to say about sound quality. After working at the airport my whole life I probably can tolerate unusual amounts of sound better than most. I have also noticed that if I watch the video's of my layout on the big screen with my 18" subwoofers they sound way better. As far as kids go bring'em on! I totally devote myself to them when they are around.
I fully agree with what Sheldon has to say about sound quality. After working at the airport my whole life I probably can tolerate unusual amounts of sound better than most. I have also noticed that if I watch the video's of my layout on the big screen with my 18" subwoofers they sound way better.
As far as kids go bring'em on! I totally devote myself to them when they are around.
SeeYou190 . I have been married 30 years. I have three adult daughters, two married, one engaged. My daughters are all very selfish and do not want their dad to be happy, so no grandkids for me. Maybe someday. -Kevin
I have been married 30 years. I have three adult daughters, two married, one engaged.
My daughters are all very selfish and do not want their dad to be happy, so no grandkids for me. Maybe someday.
-Kevin
Ah, your wish earlier sounded like grand children were a much more remote possibility than is the case. So there may be noisy grandchildren in your future.
These days some adult children want to have a few years of no ball-and-chain and enjoy a little freedom first before getting tied down.
(have you ever seen the comedian Gallagher who would do stage acts where he would do jokes and also show and tell acts. In one act he came out on stage and announced he had just had a child, and next he took a boat anchor with a diaper wrapped around it and tossed it out on stage. Nothing else needed to be said!)
Of course the thing about noisy grand childen is you can enjoy them for a while and later they go home! And if you want to get revenge on your daughers for not wanting their dad to be happy too long, when they do have children, be sure to get them lots of noise making toys!
Back on topic: Some people can tolerate noise more than others. I may be just of the type that need quiet some of the time; it's a mood thing.
riogrande5761But, from a photo you posted, it appears it's not too late for you to work on the wish! Do you have a wife?
.
Living the dream.
I'm definitely in the sound group, when it's "silent" all I "hear" is a ringing/droning in my ears, so I tend to surround myself with noise continuously, I sleep with a high powered fan on just for the noise, so I definitely would not enjoy operating in silence, now I would also consider operating with music on because oddly enough it helps me focus.
I too have the "sound sensitivity" used to be REALLY bad, now it's under control, I really just cringe when the sound starts to get to me.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
SeeYou190 Medina1128 Not so much the noise grandkids make.. I wish I had grandkids, even one grandkid, to make noise. That would be the most wonderful sound. -Kevin
Medina1128 Not so much the noise grandkids make..
I wish I had grandkids, even one grandkid, to make noise. That would be the most wonderful sound.
The grass is sometimes greener on the otherside; be careful what you wish for!
But, from a photo you posted, it appears it's not too late for you to work on the wish! Do you have a wife? Or you can adopt if you do but you can't conceive.
My wife is a nanny and gets to experience the sensation of grand kids daily. Sometimes when I talk to her on the phone, I quite the ear-ful. It isn't really a wonderful sound. I do have a daughter, out of college and now an engineer at Lockheed Martin; I expect eventually she may have a grand kid or two. Only time will tell.
emdmike I am autistic and being at a layout with lots of sound units going is totally overwhelming for me.
I am autistic and being at a layout with lots of sound units going is totally overwhelming for me.
I am a "Silly NT" but a lot of sound annoys me, but maybe I've got a little of what you have going on, just enough to agree.
Medina1128Not so much the noise grandkids make.