Model Railroading > Billy Darnaby's layout

Has anyone here operated on Bill Darnaby\'s HO double-deck railroad? I note that he uses N scale cork on top of foam with a special wood hanger arrangement. I\'m curious about the noise level and if it is noticable.

I operated there once a couple years ago.

The noise from the benchwork is noticeable for some values of "noticeable". If you listen specifically for it, you\'ll hear it, but it was not, in my estimation enough to interfere with enjoying the operation.

Mr. Darnaby has the sound on his locomotives set to a low enough volume that having several of them in close proximity to each other isn\'t obnoxious. The sound from the layout structure wasn\'t enough to interfere with hearing the locomotives\' sound effects. Given the relatively close quarters in his basement, I fully expected to hear more benchwork noise than I did.

One of the reasons that this works is that his benchwork is far shallower than most layouts. Typically the benchwork is less than 14-16" wide from the backdrop to the front edge (and sometimes narrower), which provides less opportunity for a drumming effect to develop than a deeper scene.

-fm

I operated the Maumee Route with Bill last Saturday, and I\'ve had the pleasure of being there several times over the past few years. I don\'t find it an especially noisy layout at all, and what noise there is doesn\'t interfere with the enjoyment of the Soundtraxx DCC sound decoders in all of Bill\'s steamers and a few of his diesels.

To some extent it\'s a matter of what you\'re accustomed to. Bill uses metal wheels on all his rolling stock, as I do myself, so the sound of the wheels sounds normal to me. If you use all or mostly plastic wheels, you\'d probably find the Maumee a little noisier than you\'re used to.

So long,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

So whats the big deal with the noise? Big trains make noise and lots of it..what would you think if 4 or 5 dash 9\'s and a sd 40-2 or two throne in for good measure along with 75 cars with steel wheels went by and was quiet?? j henry

goldengoat wrote:

> So whats the big deal with the noise? Big trains make noise
> and lots of it..what would you think if 4 or 5 dash 9\'s and a
> sd 40-2 or two throne in for good measure along with 75 cars
> with steel wheels went by and was quiet?? j henry
>
> [%sig%]

The noise from a model engine sounds nothing like a prime mover.Not at all.Even model cars don\'t have flange squeal or the banging from flat spots.I prefer my models to be quiet.I have 2 locomotives that sound like coffee grinders.They don\'t get run very much.