Model Railway Forum

Hi all. New here - be gentle. I have an OO loft layout laid on chipboard, no underlay, quite large, which has been in build for 20 years. It runs very well so I decided to do the ballasting. Now here is the problem. The ballasted sections are extremely noisy compared to the non ballasted sections. So noisy in fact that bedroom dwellers below complain. Are some ballast systems better at noise reduction than others? Apart from major surgery, anyone any good ideas? I would love to have the whole layout ballasted but need quiet running.

Welcome to the Forum

Unfortunately as soon as ballast is glued in place it creates a solid mass that transmits sounds. The baseboard acting often like a drum skin and amplifies the sound!
The only way I have found of reducing the noise (Which IMO isn't really usually that bad) is to use 3mm thick cork ideally wider than the ballast PVA glued to the baseboard surface and then the cork acts as a reasonable sound absorber. Once the ballast glue had dried ensure you remove all track fixing pins. But if the glued ballast touches the baseboard surface or the track pins are left in place then you're back to square 1.

Thanks for your reply Brian. Have presented the bedroom dwellers with noise reducing headphones as a temporary measure. Would sound insulation glued to the underside of the baseboards have any effect?

Possibly? Not tried it though. But then the problem of wiring and under baseboard controls such as point motors etc will become a issue!

If you store stuff under the board it can deaden the noise a bit. My trains don’t make much noise because I run them slowly.

Putting acoustic foam under the baseboard top will probably help with the “drumming effect” but then you will find that sound transmits through baseboard supports and anything they are attached to such as joists and rafters if you can separate them with an acoustic material then that should deaden things considerably. Any screw or nail attaching your layout to the fabric of the house is a source of sound transmission.

Richard

Is the layout on legs? If so, could you try standing each leg on some sort of insulating material e.g. thick underlay/carpet. Just a thought as my shed is carpeted and seems to reduce noise.

Bandit Mick wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:40 am Is the layout on legs? If so, could you try standing each leg on some sort of insulating material e.g. thick underlay/carpet. Just a thought as my shed is carpeted and seems to reduce noise.

I have small squares of carpet under the legs of my layout and it definitely helps.

Bandit Mick wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:40 am Is the layout on legs? If so, could you try standing each leg on some sort of insulating material e.g. thick underlay/carpet. Just a thought as my shed is carpeted and seems to reduce noise.

Carpeted shed, sheer luxury. Do you have a bar in there as well

Blimey I thought all sheds have carpets. One wonders what the world is coming to.

Terry I love the joke about whether it has a bar, as if it wouldn’t have one.