Sound or Silence: the Art of Choosing

We've looked at the history, the science and the business of N-scale digital sound. Now, let me look into a little psychology, or perhaps simply observations of how one hobbyist reacts to model trains that make noise. There is a complex art to hobbies as a whole, and finding where sound fits into that is an important step for any modeler considering adding sound to their locomotive fleet.

Sound in the Art of Model Railroading
Let's consider a metaphor of arts. Model railroading is an art, but a very diverse one, so be prepared to consider a wide array of different forms and media in our metaphor here.

Some modelers dispense with animation, sound effects and operation and build strictly for visual appeal. You could consider these model railroaders as painters. They focus on one element-- the look and feel of their miniature world-- and focus on it to their best ability. Some are true artisans, and their spectacular work could indeed be displayed alongside Caravaggio and da Vinci. You also have the people who build what they like, not focusing on the high art or the extremely good look. You might compare these wry freelance modelers to Andy Warhol.

But some modelers go beyond the visual into motion/operation and even sound. I say that with no judgment on which approach is better. You might consider the masters of animation, such as Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA, to be early silent filmmakers. They convey feeling through motion as well as static visuals, but let you fill in the sound for yourself. Then there are the ones who use sound. We leave less to the imagination, much like filmmakers. That lowered reliance on imagination places responsibility on the modeler to project the appropriate or intended feelings.

I believe sound is a powerful extra dimension to the art of model trains. Let me illustrate the point with a look into the differences in thoughts and feelings between running trains with and without sound. This observation will work by running the same sort of freight switching job twice. I will use the same locomotives and will make the same number of deliveries, but the first run will be done with the sound off, and the second with the sound on.

Round One: The Sounds of Silence
As I moved my yard switcher into place to start building my train, I thought about how different it was to see the locomotive move silently. I noticed the motor noise more, noting that this engine may need a cleaning before too long. With the sounds on, I may not have noticed, and I think this is a good thing to keep track of.

Running with the sounds off felt much more like playing with a model. I felt a bit closer to the model and to the entire simple experience of playing with a toy train. I think that simple and happy feeling is one desirable aspect of silent model trains. But at the same time, it lacked "play value." I often found myself narrowly refraining from pressing the F2 button, remembering that I wasn't allowed to sound the air horn on this trip!

Smooth switching! With the sound off, I found smooth starts and stops were easier to achieve. It seems that both removing the distraction of sound and freeing up the power needed to run the sounds all make for slightly smoother operation.

With the sound off, I found I focused more on smooth operations. Freshly cleaned and oiled, my Trainmaster locomotive ran more smoothly than I could remember, often starting off at nice, gentle speeds. I wondered if its particular type of sound decoder lost some operation quality when it had to share power between sound and motor control. I vowed to try and find out once I turned the sound back on.

But by the end of my silent switching run, I found myself missing the sounds. I was somewhat hurrying to get my train back in the yard and start round two. This is probably not true for everyone, but I'm used to sound and enjoy the added feature in my model trains. There is value in running trains without sound, and your name doesn't have to be Simon or Garfunkel to understand that silence is nice sometimes. But I wrapped up my first observation run expecting to enjoy the second one more.

Round Two: Good Vibrations
It didn't take a Beach Boys song to set off vibrations in my head as I hit F8 to fire up my Alco RS-11. The thunderous rumble of a diesel engine coming to life echoed in my head, although it was only a 10 millimeter speaker playing the sound. Right away, I knew I was going to enjoy the sound run more: but I wanted to try to observe why I liked it so much more than running silently.

Three very different locomotives: an Alco, a Fairbanks-Morse and an Electro-Motive. They all sound distinctly different, and sound lets you represent that uniqueness and personality in your models.

As I moved my Fairbanks-Morse Trainmaster into position across the yard, I thought about one thing that sound does better: draw out the uniqueness of a locomotive. The Trainmaster had a sort of high-winding hum when it accelerated, compared the the RS-11's typical syncopated clatter. An Electro-Motive FP7 zipped by with a commuter train, its gentle whir also giving it yet another unique sound. Sound decoders really brought out the differences in three locomotives from three different engine builders, when without sound, the models would be essentially the same. And the differences only grew as I turned on the bells or sounded the horns, each accurate to its own locomotive.

There was also a different feel to my locomotives. Instead of noticing them as the models I'd proudly worked on, I noticed them as a whole package; and a darned accurate package, at that! I felt a very strong realism from the combination of the convincing sound, the accurate locomotive body, and the highly specific Pennsylvania Railroad details I had applied to all three engines myself. The sound just brought out the realism and put it right in your face, much like a good movie does.

The sounds helped me keep tabs on my trains much better. I never forgot to turn the throttle back down to zero when stopping, because the diesel motor sounds made it obvious when I had forgotten and left the throttle on, say, speed step 14. I also knew know if my locomotive had stalled in the out-of-sight areas of the railroad, which actually caused me problems running with the sound off. If teenage children were model locomotives, sound decoders would be popular with parents; it's simply a lot easier to understand what's happening with your train when it's making noise.

There were drawbacks, though. For one, my controls were not as smooth as when the sound was turned off on the same locomotive. The onboard systems the decoder supports must have been competing for the power, because the motor and sounds were both more hesitant. Sometimes that hesitation would cause a sound to play a little late, or not at all, when I pushed a function button on the controller. This tended to push me out of the illusion a little, which is certainly not desirable in a convincing model railroad experience. Also, any noise of a dirty running mechanism became much more noticeable when I was paying attention to sound. But still, I was glad I had the means to run trains with these extra audible features.

In Conclusion: I'm A Believer
To revisit my art metaphor, I think running with sound does give a model railroader more to show, more to work on, and arguably, more to be proud of. But there is a certain joy to running trains the old-fashioned, silent way, much like losing yourself in a good book. A quiet-running train is a train just the same, and it is not necessarily any worse than running with realistic digital sound.

The added features of digital sound decoders really help to put you "in" the experience of a realistic model railroad.

I believe modelers should look into sound if they can afford it and they want the added realism, "wow" factor, and play value. But don't feel like you have to "Monkee" around for ages trying to arrive at one final decision. Sound can be great and worth it, but it can also be turned off when you want to. Model trains with sound are the key to an exciting new world, just waiting for you to put your skills to work and take your model railroading art in a whole new direction.

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