Best way to cut the sound on the Fastrack

I used the search feature to dig up this info for you.  A thread on this subject from last May.

https://ogrforum.com/d...ent/5934960440336084

switch to a track with solid rail-jim

While its not technically a sound deadoner I used the4x8 pink insulation sheets found at any local hardware store between the fastrack and the plywood on my layout.

 The sheets are inexpensive and easy to work with, the difference was huge, and I am more than satisfied with the noise level.

Good Day,

Midwest Cork glued to the underside/inside the roadbed will reduce the sound substantially. To my ear, the sound (noise) is reduced over 50%.

Regards,

Frank

Those are some good ideas. I was not sure if someone really did a good study other than the link to show the sound.

Another idea I was thinking of switching to Atlas tracks with the homasote board. More work is involved, but might be worth it.

I like the cork idea and need to try that of of these days. 

Here are some tips.  Don't put it directly on hardwood floors or plywood.  Carpet and / or carpet pads helps a lot.  I used a product called Celotex on top of my plywood before covering with indoor / outdoor carpet and it worked well enough for my layout.

Also, if you run your trains all out, it's going to get really loud...period.

I use FasTrack and have not found it be significantly noisier than any other 'tubular' type track. The most significant factor that I have found is the construction of the base. If your   layout surface is built in such a way as to reduce vibration transfer, then any track will be much quieter. I use the fibre insulation boards intended for use under hardwood floors on top of my MDF deck surface. I then cover this with grass mat, and then fix my FasTrack on top of that with screws that do not go all the way through to the MDF. This provides plenty of grip to stop the track from moving, but does not transfer any sound through to the framework. Even simple measures such as fitting felt pads under the legs of a layout will help to prevent sound vibrations from being transferred to the floor. Sticking sound deadening pads, such as those used in cars, to the underside of any large flat surfaces will also help to deaden transmitted sounds.

I found the best way  to reduce noise was to sell my Fastrak and buy Atlas 21st century track. Fastrack has some great features but the hollow rail is not one of them. Fred

While perhaps said with humor, this has an element of truth to it.  I went to extreme lengths and work to quiet my all-Fasttrack layout years ago,w hen I first had Fastrack.  I succeeded through a lot of work in greatly reducing the noise - my suggestions are contained in a thread already linked to earlier in this thread.  But when I switched to all-Atlas track (except for retaining Fastrack switches-simply the best swtiches and the best product Lionel makes) late last year, the noise level in my trainroom dropped remarkably.  N.Q.D.Y. has a point, that Fastrack may not be that much noisier than other tubular track, at least if you are comparing that track on carpeted floors, but it is noisy, and ultimately, there is only so much you can do about it. 

Why is Mickey Mouses's glove on your work bench?

Please tell me his hand is not in that glove!

Mickey is doing some wiring work and needed a tool. Those cartoons will do anything!

I am with Nicole here, fastrack is no noisier then almost any other track brand. I screwed mine down to 5 ply birch plywood and the sound is minimal. After doing scenery it is even quieter. 

All this angst over sound deadening for fastrack is a waste of time. Putting cork or something else on the bottom of each piece of track, what a giant waste of time and money! But if you think these things will work then just do it, I'll run trains. 

I would buy DynaMat and cut it to fit the track. Problem eliminated....awesome product. I usually buy the bulk pack that contains nine 18" x 32" sheets of Dynamat. http://www.dynamatstore.com/

The best deals can be found a certain auction site rather than direct... 

The sound absorption material in the hollow bays of the track really does help! Tap a regular piece when it's in your hand. Then, put some of anything in the bays. Now hold it tap it. It now sounds solid.

A quiet train running is much more enjoyable. It's nice to be able to hold a conversation when they are running.

One doesn't need to spend that kind of money when similar material which is equally effective can be sourced from more common applications. The pink cheap stuff was a test. The final that I will using is a similar type of high density or closed cell\crossed-linked cell foam. Pre-cut sheets with adhesive backs may be handy for some applications like a car or aircraft interior, but we're talking toy trains.

My layout uses Fastrack and it is very quiet.  It sits on 1 1/2 inches of foam and only screwed down in about 3 spots on the layout.   That being said I run my trains at a pretty slow speed.  I usually am doing switching and such and never really go over a crawl speed.  When I do run my sons Thomas train at speed it does get much louder, but for scale runners like me the Fastrack works great. 

That being said if I were to do the layout over I would go with Atlas or Gargraves flex track for the entire layout.  

I see your point but it really does not translate to a quieter sound. But as to my point it does not matter what you do. The trackbed as is does a good job of absorbing any noise.

I can hold a normal conversation with my trains running without any problems. If the non-existent noise bothers you then by all means do what you need to do.

That seems rather tedious to cut up little pices of that paper thin foam to fit in between each section.

As stated before I used the 4x8 sheets cut to fit my layout top,glued on with hot glue, then lay the track however you want. I went with 1/2" thickness but it comes as thick as 2" and its only about 10$ a sheet. It cut the sound dramatically compared to the fastrack directly on the plywood, all I hear now is metal wheels on metal track, the insulation also allows you to cut in creeks ponds, or whatever.

Additionally I will cut slits into the foam and run the control wire for the switches under the scenery and track.

In my "mainstreet" area I want the track to be flush with the surface instead of the track being on a high roadbed next to town, so I added an extra layer,

I guess I am missing a few things that everyone is doing. My plan is to run the train underneath the Christmas tree and probably around the room. The room is hard wood floors.

Putting plywood on the floor might not be recommended for me since that plywood would have to go around the room and would look silly for that. I'm thinking something that the tracks sit on would help.

I am in the early stages of my hobby. I do not have a lot of tracks so moving from Fastrack to Atlas is an option. I'm leaning towards getting Atlas tracks with corking underneath it. (Would love to change the corking to look more light gray like FasTrack is) Down the road, I would like to use FasTrack switch because of the command legacy. (It might not look pretty when the Atlas track connects to the FasTrack switch, then back to Altas track)

Right now, my situation would be the "worst" in sound quality. (hard wood floors, no carpet using FasTrack that has hollow rails) This track would be taken down each year which concerns me on the wear of FasTrack. (Clips might falter or break in time compared to Atlas)

There is nothing that says FasTrack might improve in the coming years with a new product. There is nothing that says Atlas switches might become command legacy control.

Has anyone tried the Atlas Bedding where the tracks are embedded? I saw it was corked, but had part plastic in it...which might make it still noisy.

Icansellyou, point taken.

Unwanted sound does exist. Like the rest of the hobby, it's all in what makes the user happy.

Thanks for the source of a nice product.

Nice layout RickO!
The hollow space of the roadbed of FasTrack does act like a chamber. Seems like your foam bed absorbs the sound well.
Another solution posted.

Not really that tedious. Once you get a template, I cut the pieces with scissors, then just push them in hollows.

If you turn up the volume on your Big Boy you won't hear any track noise.

Well, I doubt anyone is going to change their opinions on this, but I will say that a dB meter is not subjective.  It was what it was and it was very annoying.  With time, effort, and money, I managed to reduce noise level in my trainroom with Fastrack by about 10dB using all the tricks I could, to where it was tolerable.   When I went to Atlas, it dropped another 6 and noise is not a problem. 

The best way I cut down unwanted sound on my Fastrack was installing DCS

As with art, decibels are in the ear of the beholder. If it gets too loud I just take out one hearing aid. Whatever spins your wheels.

Run trains--Charlie N

Pa51713,

   On the Christmas layout in the Living Room I used a cheap piece of indoor/outdoor carpet, then layed the Grass type cover carpet over it, you could hardly hear the trains, on both the FasTrack & RealTrax running at all.  Simple and easy sound reduction.

PCRR/Dave

Wonder how well this stuff would work? But it does seem that it could be rather expensive if you had a large pike to sound deaden.

http://www.smooth-on.com/Silic...1113_1136/index.html

One could try it but it would probably not help as much as the great stuff filler.  But you don't know until you try.  I did quite a few controlled experiments with a dB meter and other means of measurement several years ago to determine what works.  I'm no longer using Fastrrack so won't be doing any more experiments but would be interested in hearing if someone else tests this.

A clarification: noise is sound you don't want to hear.  That definition is subjective.  Fastrack is, in any situation, as noisy as any other track, period.  Not too noisy for most people when on carpet but when on solid benchtop it resonates and creates a sound chamber inside its hollow roadbed.  Initially, in my trainroom, with four locos and perhaps a total of fifty rolloing stock running on 330 feet of Fastrack, there was so much "noise" that I could not hear the sound synthesizers (chuffs, diesel sounds) from the locos.  It was difficult to talk and be understood by someone even five feet away from you.  It was partly the room, but mostly the Fastrack;s nature.  THAT was noise.  After considerable experiment on what worked, and use of it to reduce noise, reverberation, and resonance, I could hear the chuffing nicely.  But since conversion of Fastrack, things are even quieter - I can sometimes turn down the volume of my locos some, which I like. 

I have very good success using Homosote to deaden the sound.

Hi Lee

Like to know what you did to reduce the sound? From your threads, you used Atlas Tracks, but FasTrack Switches. I was leaning towards that. What did you do with the bedding of the Atlas track? I heard a few recommendations for Atlas bedding, but wanted your thoughts on it. Does the look of merging the Atlas track and FasTrack look decent?

First, I did not replace my Fastrack with Atlas track because of noise - replaced it because it was ruined by repeated cleaning with Simple Green, which is another story entirely.  But given that the track was ruined, and I had to replace it, I decided to replace it with a solid track that would be quieter, and not just replace the Fastrack with new. 

Specifically to your second question, the Fastrack switches work well with Fastrack, I bought transition connector pins for Atlas and used those.  Sometime bacp in November I think I posted pictures, etc. 

As to your first about what did I do, in the link posted my Mike McCutcheon (Second post on this thread, half way through, I summarize what I did - I have copied and pasted that text below thi (in italics).  All that work was that based on experiments on what worked and what did not.  It reduced the noise problem to tolerable levels.  I have a bad trainroom from a nolise standpoint: solid wood roof that is not sound absorbtive.

I did a lot of tests back two years ago - bought a db meter and literally set up experiments. 

First, I was trying to get rid of noise (sound I did not want- the white noise generated by the track/benchtop, etc.) so that I could here sound I did want - locos and click clack of wheels.

Here are the results in order, best to less effective

1) Filling the underside with hardened insulation is as/more effective than anything else at stopping noise strictly associated with Fastrack: the Fastrack plastic roadbed reverberates and spreads sound.  When clamped to a becnh-topit forms something like a tiny violin cavity and amplifies/transmits noise from the track. 

---I use a product bought at Lowes and Home Depot called great stuff - a spray can insulation foam that expands in vlume and hardens overnight.  I turn the track over and run three 3/8 inch/half inch wide beads down the length of the track, let it puff up and hardened the next day, then cut it flush with a breadknife.  The Fastrack is now a lot wquieter than it was before.

2) Any type of "acoustic" separator works pretty well like pink or blue foam, styrofoam, Homosote, cork, or rubber works pretty well at mitigating noise that comes from Fastrack or any other track/train system.  My experiments did not show a lot of difference and those differences depend, I think, on specifics that would vary.

--In my case, after experimenting, I chose to use acoustic ceiling tile: it scored slightly better in my tests, and it did work miricles.  I regret this now: when I have to modify my benchtop I have to remove this tile and it is the dustiest, messiest of the lot.  Rubber or homosote would work well as would nearly those other materials - not enough difference, really.

3) Never put nails or screws through the track and into the wooden benchtop below.  They transmit noise.  Glue track down on the top of the acoustic tile/foam/cork, rubber.  I use Liquid Nail (for foam if using foam - normal LQ melts foam).

4) Put a skirt around the benchtop - I use carpet roll: 36" wide by how-so-many-feet-you-want industrial carpet with rubber backing bought at Lowes, cut to benchtop to floor length and hung completely around the layout.  With the thickness and the rubber backing it cuts noise appreciably better than cloth.

5) Carpet the entire floor.

6) Fill boxcars and reefers with more of that insulating foam.  I did my tests with several trains and a train pulling 21 reefers and boxcars was noticeably "noisier" than other trains.  The 'violin effect" again: the pl,astic bodies act like resonators and generate sound.  As an experiment, I filled eight with that Great Stuff foam and it quieted them greatly.  You have to decide this.  It takes work to do and when done well you can't open the doors (the insulation glues itself to them inside.  If you this, clamp the doors shut after putting a little of the foam inside, remembeing that it expands about 10x in volume. And test one car first.  I did all 22 I owned and it quieted my favorite train (LM Big Boy and a long 22 reefers) substantially.

I actually read those posts. They were very interesting. But since you moved to Atlas Tracks, I was more wondering on how you set that up. (I might post a new message about this ask everyone's opinion.) I was thinking of setting the Atlas Track on a bedding, but was not sure with what. I heard carpet padding. I heard corking material. Other people have other stuff. Since you combined the two...Atlas tracks with FasTrack switches, I figured you did a way to blend the two tracks.

The best way to cut Fastrak noise is to use any other type of track other then Fastrak.

You can insulate as much as you want underneath the road bed but that is not the problem it will cut the noise a bit but the noise is in the rail attached to a hard plastic base.

I run temporary tracks at several train shows a year. Roll out some carpet and Gargraves, old K-Line Super snap, Atlas, even old 0-27 stuff work great long trains running fast not that bad.

But Fastrak is problem even on the carpet a train running on this same train tested on the different track systems they all are by far quieter then on the Fastrak.

The Fastrak rail is a U shapped with plastic tabs sticking up underneath the track from the plastic base. This creates a sound chamber much like a speaker box that amplifies the sounds! \

I took a piece apart to see if could fill it with something under the rail to cut the sound chamber not easy not really worth while.

RMT has the old K-Line Snap track great stuff looks good and low noise.

Check it out they had a bunch on sale at a lot less then Fastrak prices;

http://www.readymadetoys.com/susntruma520.html

You could get a ton of track for a lot less then Fastrak.

I use this all the time at shows and it goes together easy stays together and trains run well and are low noise.

Fastrak if you use it as I do at shows over time the tabs loosen up track does not stay snapped together and unless joints are perfectly straight the power can be lost between track sections, arching.

RMT 0-72 loop $34.99

Fastrak 0-72 loop with a discount at major Lionel train store $100

KJ,

   FasTrack can be noisy, however I supress the noise quite well and FasTrack

runs all different kinds of trains very very well, even Tin Plate.  Now I do agree with you as far as the original K-Line & RMT Super Snap track and switches, great stuff, with decently low noise level.   I like both FasTrack & Super Snap and will continue to use both, along with the oval of 031 RealTrax inside the 036 FasTrack under the Christmas tree. 

PCRR/Dave