Using Sound to Enhance Your Layout Reader Feedback
— by M.R. Snell Photos by author
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Want your layout to do more than just look good – but to sound good too? Then you don’t want to miss the techniques we cover here ...
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ne of the common goals of model railroaders is to make our layouts as realistic as possible; our trains running through carefully executed scenery often enhanced with visual animation. While visual animation can really add to the look of the railroad environ have you ever considered also employing audio animation to further bring your layout to life? Several years ago during an operating session on my layout I noticed something seriously amiss. It was the middle of the night in “railroad time” and the only activity on the railroad was in a large classification yard where the next day’s local trains were being assembled. As the yard crew stopped to read their waybills it was quiet – eerily quiet to the point I had wondered if the operators had vaporized, leaving only the sound of the transformer fans filling the room. It was then that I began to notice what a noisy world we really live in – just close your eyes and listen. As I model north-central New Jersey where the air is constantly filled with highway, city, industrial, and other noises, I wasn’t happy at all with this situation. This began my quest to enhance my layout by making it sound more realistic.
Figure 1: Two types of switches can be used to activate each module. The first is a ‘normally open’ (N/O) momentary switch such as a push button which is used for a ‘play once’ application. The second is a toggle which allows continuous play while the toggle is in the on position. Page 91 • Issue 8 • Jul/Aug 2010 • Using Sound to Enhance your Layout, page 1
When we think of sound, there are two types of basic sounds we hear every day. Ambient sound is the low “rumbling” we hear everyday, most of which we have learned to tune out over the years. This can be noise from highways, water splashing along a river bank, or the ever present undertones that permeate both city and rural environments. The
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