# Fast track question?



## Peterbogumill (Nov 29, 2015)

If you put your train layout on plywood and everything up on a table what do you put between the track and the plywood for silencing the noise of the wheels ? Is there such a thing as sound board you use instead of plywood or do you use plywood and put a cork road bed under the tracks? Just some questions so if i put my train layout on a table i will kind of know what works best if anything works best? Thank you pete🚂


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## hobby-go-lucky (Dec 31, 2015)

A lot of people place rigid foam insulation board or indoor-outdoor carpet over the entire plywood tabletop. Others cut pieces to fit under the FasTrack ballast.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Oh my. Well, generally with any track, you put a foam-board or carpet or any of many things that "layer" easily across the benchtop. You will find all manner of opinions about what is best, but frankly many things work pretty much the same, but each is a bit different. You can use pink or green foam insulating panels, cork or rubber sheeting, outdoor or indoor carpet or carpet pads, or as I did, accoustic tile. All work well. All have different side effects or issues you have to deal with (acoustic tile is dusty, rubber can be hard to glue to and work with later, foam can be structurally weak at times, etc.). 

Fastrack is good track, but I think it is the nosiest toy track track ever made: as if someone tried to make a noisiest, difficult to silence track. To begin, it has tinplate rails - they are good, but they are hollow inside. This causes a type of white noise as train wheels roll across them, different from the noise created on solid track (Atlas, etc.). But unlike on traditional O-27 or O-gauge tinplate track, with Fastrack that noise is often amplified or reverberrated by the plastic roadbed underneath, which acts somewhat like the body of a violin to intensify the sound. 

Once upon a time, I had 300 feet of it and my trainroom was quite a bit too noisy. There are a lot of steps you can take to quiet Fastrack, including putting a half to an inch of foamboard down first, etc., but it will always have a bit (or alot) more white noise in the background than other track. At least that's i my experience. 

I had to replace all my Fastrack two or three years ago now. It was a lot of work and I had to do it for another reason, but the most satisifying consequence of doing so was that my trainroom quieted down to what I always wanted.


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## Joe Hohmann (Nov 5, 2015)

I use FasTrack over tight-pile carpeting om my 5x8 layout. It is NOT screwed-down to the base...it just sits on the carpet. It has not moved at all in 11 years. I think attaching it to a base makes much of the noise. You do hear the wheels going over the track, but no "rumble".


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## Volphin (Dec 7, 2015)

I use Fastrack on my carpet layout. Over time it settles down into plush carpet making it quieter. The main reason I use it though is for durability… sometimes it gets stepped on and it survives quite well! I'm pretty sure if I had used another brand the walk through areas would be mangled 90 degree bends. LOL


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## Guest (Jan 14, 2016)

I used carpet padding on my layout and it reduced the running noise significantly. I also didn't screw the track down. It floats on the surface but hasn't moved in more than a year. I covered the carpet padding with Woodland Scenics Ready Grass. These pictures show the carpet padding before the Ready Grass and a much more recent pic with scenery. I'm very happy with the results.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I have to agree with Lee. While I happen to use Fastrack, our club uses Atlas solid rail track. The difference between the two is striking as far as track noise! My Fastrack on carpet is much noisier than the Atlas track on cork roadbed and plywood.


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## Volphin (Dec 7, 2015)

I love that canoe scene Joe! That's WAY cool.


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## laz57 (Sep 19, 2015)

I have Fastrack on my layout above Homesote. It is a little noisy but I like I and that's what I have now. I had tubular 0-27 type track down and up graded to this at a pretty price so I think I won't upgrade in the future because of the steep price for other track and switches.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2016)

Volphin said:


> I love that canoe scene Joe! That's WAY cool.


Thanks. I've upgraded the scene a bit but used that picture to show the way my layout it built to reduce noise. These are the most recent pictures of the scene. The carpet padding does reduce running noise quite a bit. Running trains slower also reduces noise. I run 30 mph and less since my layout is small and that makes it seem bigger since it takes a little longer for the train to make a loop.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Nice dog!


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## batstang2000 (Oct 26, 2015)

Country Joe said:


> I used carpet padding on my layout and it reduced the running noise significantly. I also didn't screw the track down. It floats on the surface but hasn't moved in more than a year. I covered the carpet padding with Woodland Scenics Ready Grass. These pictures show the carpet padding before the Ready Grass and a much more recent pic with scenery. I'm very happy with the results.


In your second picture, it appears that a 2" foam piece is topped by the carpet padding. Does that mean you did not use a wood based product at all on top of your benchwork? I have my benchwork built but I am still undecided on what to use beyond that.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2016)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Nice dog!


Thanks John. The dog is part of the Woodland Scenics Backyard Barbecue set.



batstang2000 said:


> In your second picture, it appears that a 2" foam piece is topped by the carpet padding. Does that mean you did not use a wood based product at all on top of your benchwork? I have my benchwork built but I am still undecided on what to use beyond that.


Correct, there is no plywood, but it's 1" extruded styrofoam. I used 1" styrofoam without plywood on my N scale layout from 2006 to 2014 when I switched to O gauge (October 2014). I used the same construction but added the carpet padding since the O gauge running on the foam was quite loud. I haven't had any problems with sagging. The trains and buildings aren't very heavy. My layout is 6'x9' and to reach the middle I stand on a chair, place one hand an open spot on the layout and reach with the other. It's not supporting my whole weight, but it's never sagged or given me reason to feel I was exceeding it's strength by doing that so I don't think I'll ever have a problem. I think we often over build our layouts. 2" styrofoam would be plenty strong with normal bracing.


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## batstang2000 (Oct 26, 2015)

Just curious, what method was used to attach the extruded foam to the benchwork and the carpet pad to the foam?


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2016)

I glued the foam to the bench work. I don't remember what glue I used but I think it was a variety of Liquid Nails that was safe for foam. I attached the carpet pad with double sided carpet tape. I used the same tape to attach the WS mat to the padding. It has held securely for more than a year so I don't anticipate any problems.


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