Picture caption: Must be a pizza party. Hear the ‘Happy Birthday’ song.
Toot-Toot. Did you hear that? Sounds like a train is coming! Yep, your layout looks great, but it’s time to go around the bend and add sound.
Some model trains actually come with horns, bells or whistles. Some of the more expensive units allow you to record your own sound.
Imagine you and a friend sitting in a train room. You advance the throttle to the first setting. The train’s engine comes to life. The engine rumbles. A bell rings to announce the train is getting ready for departure. And then it happens:
A familiar voice… oh wait! It is your voice coming from the train. The message you recorded says: “All aboard. This is the 11:15 local train to Dutch Quarter with stops at Union Farm, Belvedere and continued service to French Quarter.”
Once again, you hear the call “All aboard.” The brakes release. The wheels squeal a bit before they catch and start rolling. The train is moving.
As the train goes around the track, you hear children playing in the school yard, and a dog barking near the meat market.
Listen closely and you can hear the air gun being used to change a tire at the gas station. Over there is a man with a lawn mower cutting grass. Sounds like a party at the pizzeria – I hear “Happy Birthday”. Over there, garbage is being collected.
So how do you get the sound on the layout. There are several ways: One of the easiest is miniature sound recording and playback devices. These little 2×2-inch plastic models are battery-operated and can be placed anywhere with just a bit of sticky tape. They have an on off-switch on the side and a large press-here button on the top.
Once the button is pressed, the message you pre-recorded plays. As a pack of four costs just under $20, you can spread several around the layout. Of course, if you really want to go crazy, you can place speakers around the layout and hook them up to a computer.
Hide one speaker in the church to play the bells. Another speaker can be in the school for the playground sound. Of course, you will need a speaker at the train station or stations to make the arrival and departure announcements.
Next is to record sounds that you think you need. Once again, be creative. If you have a church on the layout, how about the sound of a bell ringing the time. (Don’t worry; you do not have to travel to collect the sounds. Many sounds are available online.)
Then organize the sounds in the order they will be heard as the train travels around the layout.
Once again, be creative, experiment, and do not be afraid to use the internet to collect even more ideas.
Until next time, hope to see you around the tracks.
