Running Bear's Coffee Shop LV


New Guy,

I know there are various thoughts regarding the use of certain woods versus noise; however, I have used 1/2" ply on my layouts and have not experienced any "noise problems" at all. Bear in mind, I do have my track sitting on foam road bed which may deaden any noise that may arise from just placing the track directly to the ply.

This "issue" seems to come up every now and then and makes me wonder just how much noise one type of "base" will produce compared to another, and just how discernible that noise difference really is.
 
In most cases, noise is vibration. The thicker or softer the base material, the less likely it is to vibrate.
1/2" plywood will vibrate less than 3/8" plywood because it's thicker. Cork will vibrate less than plywood because it's softer.
 
I have heard a number of statements about noise. I have no experience at all with foam. No comment there. As I mentioned, I use homasote for roadbed over half inche plywood, except in yard areas where the track is spiked directly to the plywood. Movements are SLOOWW in the yards so I never hear any noise.

My friends in Missouri all have plywood for a base with either cork or homasote for roadbed material. on their home and club layouts. I have never heard any mention of escessive noise from anyone down there.

My layout is open grid with 1x4 risers to half inch plywood for the sub roadbed and in any towns, directly on sheets of plywood which are mounted on 1x4 risers. This gives me plentu of room to work under the layout. The sheet plywood is not attached directly to the open grid benchwork anywhere. Perhaps this is why I have no real problem with sound.

Terry - Maybe I didn't have EEnuff locomotives. Garry dangled his Atlas NP FP7's under my nose and I bit. NOW I will have EENUFF.
 
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Afternoon All,

Haven't been on in a couple days because I have been pretty tired from not sleeping well, but last night I finally slept well. MOH and I took my Mom and Dad to lunch today. After coming home I had to reset my TT since it was acting up, ran a train for about 30 minutes and watched a video about a PRR ore train that I have.

NG- Very nice bench work. It is much nicer than what I did. I used 5/8'' plywood with cork roadbed and have not had a sound issue.

Montanan- Great ice house pic.

Garry- great pics as always.

Louis- Nice pic. The B&O was my second choice when I was deciding what RR to model.

20151009_133959_zpsah6kwqjn.jpg


I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Well.... now I'm worried. I tried to call Carey/CJ again just now. No answer again. I also tried a 2nd time last night.
Some of you probably know him better than I so maybe you know someone else to contact.
I only know a couple of first names.
William hangs out here and lives nearby there but I don't remember William's handle to look him up.
He was going to come over with CJ on our proposed Labor Day visit - but that never panned out since CJ took ill.

William, if you're out there, PM me please.
E.
 
BigE said:
Well.... now I'm worried. I tried to call Carey/CJ again just now. No answer again. I also tried a 2nd time last night.
Some of you probably know him better than I so maybe you know someone else to contact.
I only know a couple of first names.
William hangs out here and lives nearby there but I don't remember William's handle to look him up.
He was going to come over with CJ on our proposed Labor Day visit - but that never panned out since CJ took ill.

William, if you're out there, PM me please.
E.
Click to expand...
Eric, I just sent an email to William. With any luck, we should hear back from him as soon as he gets a chance to respond.
 
bnsf971 said:
Eric, I just sent an email to William. With any luck, we should hear back from him as soon as he gets a chance to respond.
Click to expand...
Good. Glad someone else knows someone else. I figured you might. I thought I had William's email as well but I guess not - just PMs through the forum which I didn't keep.
E
 
GarryCBQ said:
...Louis ..... I like the photo B&0 51 ! .... It's pilot looks like one from an F-unit instead of its original pilot. .... I wonder if B&O shops made the change while the engine was in service or if the B&O Museum did that while restoring the locomotive...
Click to expand...

That is something I would not know, but if I think of it I will ask the next time I visit the museum. I won't be going until the temperatures drop. Winter is my best time for wondering around the museum. The heat and humidity does not like me very much anymore. I saved the photo and your question in my documents, now all I have to do is remember to look at it again before I go.
 
montanan said:
Terry, I used Homabed roadbed over plywood and really have no major noise problem. In the first video in my signature, the switching video, the noise from the locomotive drowns out any rail noise. At the very end when the locomotive finally goes into the tunnel and hidden siding, I do hear the clickity clack of the wheels. Nothing wrong with that . A lot less noise than standing next to the real thing and rather pleasant to me. When operating non sound locomotives I still don't have any real noise problems. Maybe I'm just getting old and going deaf. View attachment 52869

Louis - Another great photo, thanks for posting.
Click to expand...

Chet I have never heard of Homabed, is that something like Homasote?

For now my layouts are temporary, but my tentative plan when I do build permanent layouts is to use Homasote over plywood. I think that is an old school plan for a Lionel layout.

I find this discussion very interesting. Noise is an interesting topic as well. many people say Lionel's FasTrack is loud, but it does not bother me. I do have a hearing loss so that may be part of it. My wife does say the trains are loud when all 4 are running at once. Usually 2,3 or even all 4 of them have sounds also. I enjoy the sounds and the clacking of metal wheels is like music to me. Another thing I like is filling the room with smoke. The sights, smell and sounds take me to a happy place :)

I'm glad you like the photo, you are very welcome. That locomotive is really striking!
 
Homabed is made out of homasote. It is cut to the same dimensions as the cork roadbed. I prefer it to cork because it holds spikes better. Can't post a photo now because I'm in town for league bowling.
 
PRR Modeler said:
Afternoon All,

Haven't been on in a couple days because I have been pretty tired from not sleeping well, but last night I finally slept well. MOH and I took my Mom and Dad to lunch today. After coming home I had to reset my TT since it was acting up, ran a train for about 30 minutes and watched a video about a PRR ore train that I have.

NG- Very nice bench work. It is much nicer than what I did. I used 5/8'' plywood with cork roadbed and have not had a sound issue.

Montanan- Great ice house pic.

Garry- great pics as always.

Louis- Nice pic. The B&O was my second choice when I was deciding what RR to model.

20151009_133959_zpsah6kwqjn.jpg


I hope everyone has a good night.
Click to expand...

love this pic...very realistic!
 
Good evening ....

Curt .... Your coal trestle scene is terrific.
Flip ... My REA terminal is served with REA reefers and with baggage cars market "Railway Express Agency".... What do you have ?
Louis .... I hope it would not be too much trouble asking about 51's pilot.
Eric and Terry .... Your efforts to contact Carey are appreciated. Everyone here in the Coffee Shop is concerned about him.
 
new guy said:
LOL! Finding a product that will provide a good running surface in a 'single layer' is proving to be very difficult.
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That's why I use Sound Board over the OSB. It's a little more costly but gives you the ability to dig into it if desired or trim it to form road bed and it holds the very fine spikes I'm using fairly well. It will old the track nails just great. Tell your carpenter friend he's not thinking straight not to use the OSB as long as it's topped with Sound board. Now I screw the sound board down onto the OSB and predrill the screws holes with a counter sunk bit especially when attaching the OSB to the uprights or the cross stringers to secure it good and them attach the Sound board.

Works great for me and in most cases I'm laying my tie strips right on the Sound board as seen in the lower picture.
 
montanan said:
Homabed is made out of homasote. It is cut to the same dimensions as the cork roadbed. I prefer it to cork because it holds spikes better. Can't post a photo now because I'm in town for league bowling.
Click to expand...

As I suspected the name says it all, thank you. I had never heard of it before you mentioned it but it is a great idea.

What do you think about this product?
3e2ecb96-4c9c-434c-ae5d-9835cff2d025_1000.jpg

100 sq. ft. 48 in. x 25 ft. x 1/4 in. Natural Cork Underlayment Roll

I found it while window shopping at home depot and I thought it might be good for me to use over plywood rather then Homasote. It is light weight so it would be much easier to handle and I use track screws that would pass through to the plywood.
 
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