Has to do with N Scale Locomotives with sound. For the sake of discussion let's start with diesel locomotives with sound. Let's say your whole fleet has sound. Lets say you have double mains. If you are running 3 or 4 diesel locomotives in a consist on each main they would all be screaming away. I mean...you surely wouldnt put 3 or 4 locomotives together and only have ONE making noise...thats not very "prototypical". Thats 6 to 8 high pitched, whinning locomotives on the mains !! Then there are the locomotives idling at the fuel island. The engines running in the Engine Shop. Not to mention the switchers working the Yard. Then there is all them bells and whistles....yikes !!! Doesnt it all sound like a swarm of angry killer bees in your train room ? And we havent even started to discuss Steamers with sound. All those different clinks, clanks, clunks, chuffs and steam pressure releases. Then there is all them bells and whistles.....times how many steam locomotives running on your layout at one time ? It would sound like you are standing in the middle of a steel manufacturing building !!! Do you have a box of earplugs outside the door to the trainroom and a BIG Noise Warning sign flashing on and off to warn visitors when you are running trains ? LOL. Enquiring minds want to know.
Many owners of sound equipped locomotives don't understand that the units volume shouldn't be turned up to stun. You should only hear the sound as the loco passes, just as it is with a real prototype. If I see a layout that has locomotives that are clearly heard from two mountain ranges away, that makes my fillings hurt. Bill Pearce
Good points. Such as idling engines at service facilities. You don't hear an uproar, just a low rumble, the compressor on and off, etc.
I only have one sound unit, may or may not acquire a couple more. But, I've adjusted the volume so it won't shake my teeth loose but also won't make me strain to hear it. I believe I've adjusted it to the perfect level. Not too quiet or too loud.
No "sound" for me. I'm just an eccentric engineer (computer, not locomotive) who wants to hear that things are running smoothly, not smoking or derailing.
I think that this is an interesting dilemma. I currently have 2 Berkshires and a PA1 with sound, so really no idling. They basically chase each other around a 2 level layout in a 9x14 room with 9 ft ceiling and then go to a oval helix in the adjoining furnace room. I certainly do not have the sound turned up and I can barely hear an engine from the train room to the furnace room or vice versa. However, i do like to hear them slightly from room to room to ascertain if one is having a problem. With regard to mountain ranges away I have some first hand experience since I live near the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge railroad and I grew up the son of railroaders in Lima Ohio with 5 railroads going through town. First the Durango and Silverton. Depending on where you are located (Valley or ridge) and where the engine is located in the valley it can be heard not at all or for a few miles. It is quite loud in both Durango and Silverton. Growing up in Lima form 1945 to 1968, I witnessed the transition era. My junior high was 2 -3 blocks from the NKP/B&O tracks through town and one could readily hear the engines and bells and whistles if you were on that side of the school and also hear the sound rebounding off walls of the school since that side was a U shape. Obviously steam was louder than diesels and since they were either just leaving or entering a yard they were not even close to full throttle. We had similar circumstances at my grade school with the DT&I as well as my grandparents form the Erie. My friends and I would hear the trains coming and dash or ride our bicycles quickly to see the engines and count the cars. Finally, i worked as a fireman in the mid 60s on the NKP. The end of our road trips were Bellevue Ohio and Frankfort, Indiana. We would mostly stay over and rent a bed and a house or Y near the yards until called for the return trip. I can tell you that we could hear the idling diesels 3-4 blocks away. Especially, we could hear a EMD E or F that had a hole in one of its pistons. I sure hoped not to get that engine but yes I did. This was after the N&W merger. It was a dirty, stinky old Wabash unit. We got to hear it for 146 miles to Lima. So, my analysis of sound is just like everything else in this hobby, its what you want and it is still your railroad - i think that I have read this many times on this forum and I have found it great advice. Kind of goes along with "Better is the enemy of good enough" us non train engineers motto.
The only sound I have in the layout room is some stuff I recorded off http://railroadradio.net/ along with an EMD firing up and idling...with an occasional kick up of the throttle...then the shutdown. I put it all on a CD and play it now and then on low volume thru one speaker under the dispatch office and the other speaker under the engine shop. The volume is set low enough you almost have to strain to hear it. Usually...I like it quiet in there and just kick back at the workbench and hear wheels clicking over the joints in the rails as I watch em go around That being said...I can understand the guys wanting to hear the sound of their locomotives. Everyone has their 'things' the enjoy
I am getting in to sound and this is a very good question. I have mastered the speed matching with the sound sound decoders and now I am working on matching the sounds so to speak. I started with a Sound lead unit, and a few behind it, the sound didn't "sound" right. Then I tried a 3 unit lash up with the front and rear locomotives as sound and that didn't sound right either. When I put three units in a lash up it didn't sound right either until I varied the sound a little bit between the units, and then wow did it sound like I was just passing the Roseville yard with a train pulling out on the departure track. When I took a 5 units consist and had sound in the center and two ends, that sounded better and I varied the volumes a little bit and they work nicely that way too. So I am sold on sound, but there is no way I will be putting sound decoders in all my locomotives. That is reserved for special consists. And I do tone down the volume so it is a pleasant back ground noise instead of front and center in your face.
Most people don't put sound in every diesel.personally I do no more than 2 per consist unless you have multiple different prime movers in consist Sent from my RM-845_nam_vzw_100 using Tapatalk
I don't have DCC so I don't have sound. If I ever did it would be modulated. That said I do intend to have sounds on my layout but more for the amusement of visitors. The 'Flying Pig Ranch" will have buttons linked to pig and other farm noises. The industrial area will have various machinery sounds, and the town and 'The Tower' will have lots of appropriate sounds.
Good question. I would be in the "lower the volume and only select locos" camp. I do not currently have any sound-equipped locos. It has been my intention for some time to use SurroundTraxx instead of individual decoders. My interest in that solution has waned though. I may pick up one or two decoders at some point but at the moment it's not a huge priority. I have experienced sound at ops sessions, and I have to admit it was mostly a negative experience, at least early on. Horrible sound and yes annoying as all git-out. In theory, sound would enhance an ops session, especially with respect to proper use of the horn to indicate train movement, air tests, etc. I'm definitely not against it, but I just haven't gone down that path just yet.
This is supposedly why MRC sound decoders are so quiet although many complain they are not loud enough. While you can barely hear them at a train show I think they are just right at home so that only the sound of the engine you are looking at stands out.
The whole reason I finally bit the big bullet and converted my layout to DCC was to enjoy N-scale sound. Now that I've had it for four years I have an even bigger smile on my face. I love it! Not just the "sound" but the operational aspects of it...whistle signals, grade crossings, rod clank, brakes squealing...etc., etc. However, most modelers I know who get sound in their engines usually turn it up too high to start out with. It's something new, and they want to HEAR IT!...and they do. Later, as you get used to it, the volume comes down (usually) to a more realistic level. I also don't put sound in every diesel in a consist...usually only two no matter how many "units" there are, unless there's a different prime mover or manufacturer in the consist. Since the engines in a consist are "consisted", I almost always run the same engines in the same consist...keeping a log of which engines are consisted along with other DCC info on each engine. When I'm operating on a layout where there's not sound, it's like watching a silent movie...without any music...and I find myself making the appropriate whistle signal noises with my voice! Hahahaha...I thought that was pretty funny, and then I heard another modeler at a later op session on a "quiet" layout doing the same thing! Sure enough, he's running sound too on his layout! Cheerio! Bob Gilmore
I have wondered about the 'noise' level of multiple diesels and/or steamers operating at the same time... but... since it is unlikely that I would run more than four sound equipped units by myself... I never really figured it would be too 'noisy'. Now... if there was an operating session with several modelers each having a two or three unit lash-up of sound equipped locomotives... perhaps the 'hive of angry killer bees' scenario could occur. I'm not sure how loud the sounds from idling locos would make... or if they would really be just background ambient railroad sounds. Certainly... locomotives on a mainline highballing around will have a high 'whine' of diesel engines or 'chugging' of steam engines... so even a dozen could create a cacophony of irritating 'noise'. So... sound control... probably needs to be a main concern when there are several lash-ups with sound equipped locomotives.
