Signalbox sounds

[meil]

You have three choices for triggered sound modules:

 

JQ6500 MP3 Player Module

 

WTV020 Music Module

 

WT588 Sound Module

 

All are available from e-bay at very reasonable prices.

Edited August 3, 2015 by meil

[pitbull1845]

How about contacting a preserved line and see if they will allow you to record the sounds from one of their boxes??

[two tone green]

I find these very good. Hit the download word and enjoy.

 

http://www.simsig.co.uk/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=254&func=startdown&id=498

 

I use them with RR&Co using one of the 'Tap' sounds to send to the next box using a push button on the switch panel along with the right response coming back using one of the ding sounds. For me Tap(A1) and Ding(A1) works quite nicely.

 

Of course if a schedule is running that needs bell codes it runs everything automatically

[legomanbiffo]

During a layover at the GCR I spent a couple of hours recording anything and everything that made a noise in the signalbox at Loughborough shed. This included the various types of levers, bells, buzzers, telephones etc etc, and also the signalman's description of what each was and when and how each might be heard. One day I will have time to do something with them. One issue with DCC control will be the excessive number of different combinations (lever actions and bell codes) that are possible. With around 30 different F keys it might be possible to do something meaningful though.

 

Bif

[wellsy]

Now there's an idea - how about it you DCC sound providers/

[JJGraphics]

Now there's an idea - how about it you DCC sound providers/

 

 

Has anybody given any more thought to this . . . Charlie/Bif????

[michaelp]

I like the idea I'm after sounds of birds and workshop machinery so I'll watch this post with interest

 

For workshop and other sounds have a look here

 

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/

[Phil Bullock]

OK we are a DCC layout but we use counter bells

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/desk-bell

 

Yet to find two with the same tone...

 

First one I brought was faulty though ... no service at home when I dinged it so relegated to the railway

 

Just purchased a Bluetooth speaker to put under the layout so we can add other sounds eg skylarks by playing them to the speaker off a mobile phone. Didn't bother with it at Toddington last weekend though as the big railway drowned out all our DCC sound let alone ambient skylarks.

 

Also quite like solenoids for semaphore signals at they fire with a bit of a clatter

 

Phil

[RJS1977]

It shouldn't be too difficult (even for an analogue layout) to simulate the correct bell codes for the trains - after all, the Automatic Crispin was effectively doing that nearly 50 years ago, and all it would take now is to have the timetable programmed into a laptop - indeed I've got a program which does that but as yet I have no timetable and the layout I indended it for has been in bits for the last 2 years!

[phil gollin]

.

 

Nothing new under the sun ;

 

http://www.tri-angrailways.org.uk/OONew/Signal%20Set.htm

 

.

[peanuts]

Would it include the signal man cursing a driver who has annoyed him? Then again we don't have locos sound chipped with drivers cursing signallers who have annoyed them.

In my experience most signal boxes had a radio on. Even though radios were not permitted.

tms in the background as the kettle began to whistle and the bacon fry ah summer sunday mornings at newmills south  memories 

[orford]

In this DCC/Sound age it is surprising that none of the various well known sound guru's have come up with an idea for something like this. Presumably such sounds could be relatively easily loaded to something like a standard Zimo/Loksound type sound chip, with the sounds controlled via 'F' keys, or linked in some way to turnout switches and signal switches.

 

Levers being puolled over and bell codes are the most audible signal box sounds and as noted above, they were certainly quite audible if the box windows were open.

 

Paul Chetter ??

[two tone green]

There could well be one out soon !

[Dunsignalling]

I remember operating at an exhibition some years ago where the next layout incorporated a very well-recorded loop of "country sounds" - bit of birdsong, cattle lowing, a tractor passing but mainly lots and lots of b****y sheep.  

 

It was quite nice at first but it repeated about every 15 minutes. The public appeared to love it so I was reluctant to complain but I'd had more than enough by lunch-time on Saturday and fled to the fiddle yard which was as far away as I could get............ 

 

John

[RJS1977]

I've tried to be sparing with the sound effects on The Seaside Layout - all I have programmed in so far are loco horns/whistles/safety valves, the guard, coal shovelling.and  an occasional flock of seagulls. (I did experiment with having a Beach Boys CD playing very gently in the background but I couldn't get the levels low enough without losing the other sounds). The sounds are deliberately kept low and used sparingly, but they do serve another purpose - the background to the layout is a laptop screen (see profile pic) and the key presses on the external keyboard which trigger the effects prevent the laptop from falling asleep!

[JJGraphics]

.

 

Nothing new under the sun ;

 

http://www.tri-angrailways.org.uk/OONew/Signal%20Set.htm

 

.

 

 

 

Now there's a blast from the past. One of my mates had that and I was very envious!

[JJGraphics]

In this DCC/Sound age it is surprising that none of the various well known sound guru's have come up with an idea for something like this. Presumably such sounds could be relatively easily loaded to something like a standard Zimo/Loksound type sound chip, with the sounds controlled via 'F' keys, or linked in some way to turnout switches and signal switches.

 

Levers being puolled over and bell codes are the most audible signal box sounds and as noted above, they were certainly quite audible if the box windows were open.

 

Paul Chetter ??

 

 

That's definitely the sort of thing I had in mind!

[Retfordlad]

I do all the swearing and tea drinking noises 'live' if anyone wants to send me a fiver and a cassette tape I'll be only too happy to oblige ....

R

[coachmann]

Signal Box sounds are a great idea.  We are trackside and the sounds need to be what tracksiders could reasonably hear. But the last place you want them from is inside the box......... It's bad enough with the daft shovelling and AWS bell footplate sounds. I can imagine the scene in the deckchair beside the garden railway, the sound of signal box bells drifting on the breeze, the clearing of a signal and then the anticipation of a train...... DCC breathes life.....

[RJS1977]

Signal Box sounds are a great idea.  We are trackside and the sounds need to be what tracksiders could reasonably hear. But the last place you want them from is inside the box......... It's bad enough with the daft shovelling and AWS bell footplate sounds. I can imagine the scene in the deckchair beside the garden railway, the sound of signal box bells drifting on the breeze, the clearing of a signal and then the anticipation of a train...... DCC breathes life.....

 

How about an occasional rendering of the late Stephen Lewis "Oh, that ruddy train!"

[F-UnitMad]

There was a GWR outline layout on the Exhibition circuit in the 1980s that used real block instruments & bells People think DCC sound is irritating these days....

[phil gollin]

.

 

Operating level crossings was one of the higher voting items in the "accessories" section of the annual vote.

 

There, there was a lovely medley of sounds as the bells rang and the keeper turned his wheel and the gates swung shut  and clanged together with the signalling sounds and occasional metallic lock sounds.

 

IF ( HA ! ) one of these is produced, then a digital version could be fun.

 

((  Actually, thinking about it, as it would be a process it wouldn't necessarily be DCC, merely an open/close

switch with the sounds being on a sound chip - which would suit analogue layouts.  ))

 

.

Edited August 7, 2016 by phil gollin

[coachmann]

The real bellcode instruments used on some exhibition layouts was indeed irritating. There was no way to reduce the volume. DCC can be set according to taste and location.

[meil]

OK we are a DCC layout but we use counter bells

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/desk-bell

 

Yet to find two with the same tone...

 

 

Phil

That's the last thing you want in a signal box!

[RJS1977]

There was a GWR outline layout on the Exhibition circuit in the 1980s that used real block instruments & bells People think DCC sound is irritating these days....

 

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's still on the circuit (it was at Warley last year!).