How quiet is your 2-8-0?

[ramarkn]

I have an N scale 2-8-0 Consolidation with Soundtraxx Econami bought earlier this year before all this pandemic business. Haven't run it for a few months and recently fired it up on a section of a new layout I'm building. I am noticing that it makes a definite coffee-grinder mechanism noise which, while not really loud, can still be heard above the sound effects.  It starts at speed step 1 and if anything gets less noisy as the speed increases but maybe that's just my imagination. 

I am fairly new to steam and have two Bachmann ten wheelers with DCC (one with ESU Loksound which I installed), a 2-10-2 with Loksound I also installed and a BLI Mike with their factory DCC/sound.  I mean all have some minor issues, but not this type of grinding sound. Is this to be expected for this particular engine?  I think I can live with it just comes with the design. I am used to silent Kato diesel mechanisms!

Also notice that with some of the Bachmann locos, there will be pilot truck or tender truck wheels that may not be in precise gauge (always narrow) and for my homemade turnouts built using Fast Tracks templates and to NMRA standards, even a slight narrowness of gauge can cause binding through the frog area which are built tight to spec. I widened the pilot wheel gauge of the Connie to exact NMRA spec and cured a slight hop through one of my curved turnouts. Fortunately, the drivers have been OK.

[James in FL]

Hi ramarkn

In my experience, Bachmann does not compare to Kato when it comes to silent quiet running.
Steam or Diesel.
I have 2 Bachmann Diesels and 10 Bachmann Steamers.
None are what I would consider quiet.

[ramarkn]

Hey thanks for letting me know! I suspected it was just the way it's gonna be with Bachmann. My 10 wheelers wobble but are very quiet and smooth, the 2-10-2 does make some gear noise but no grinding and a slightly jerky motion even with the Loksound DCC, the BLI Mike makes some mechanism noise but OK, fair running quality.  The 2-8-0 fits right in there with the rest as imperfect but acceptable in it's own way.

[DaveGard]

My three Bachmanns, two ten wheelers and a consolidation, are ALL very quiet runners... as quiet as my Kato FEF-3. My noisy loco is my Athearn challenger...

[Chuck_S]

Hi Y'all --

My Consolidation is quieter than the Atlas track it runs on.  Purchased this month.  I run it around the track to listen to bad rail and switch joints (layout is still under very basic construction).  I don't have a lot of locos to compare it to though. 

Sorry I can't answer the implied question "How do I make the loco quieter?"

-- Chuck

[ramarkn]

Until recently, all I had was a test loop of Kato Unitrack set up on a table.  Now I have an actual layout although under construction.  It has Code 40 rail on cork roadbed on plywood. The turnouts are handlaid, most of the track is ME flex.  Although wheels hitting the flextrack molded in spike heads could be partly to blame, that produces a distinct sound (Atlas engines, even the most recent, have the biggest flanges and are the worst for this) and this is different. I think the glued down track is transmitting any mechanical noise very efficiently throught the cork and  plywood.  I was initially thinking of putting down 1" foam on the plywood which I had done on previous layouts but didn't do here.  Most people would say foam makes for more rather than less noise.  Still, some engines are more inherently noisy than others.  It's really not that bad, I'm, being picky.

Nonetheless,  troubleshooting a steam engine is probably not in my wheelhouse. I tried to de-wobble one of my 4-6-0s and after having the thing almost fall apart on the bench, managed to re-quarter it the way it was, with still a bit of wobble but not worse at least!