Hello,

I am a N scale fan but I like the idea to test building a very small Z scale layout and I am looking around for information and learning slowly.

I had a look at a few videos concerning sets I intended to acquire simply because I liked them.

One set is the 8108 Orient Express. However, In all videos I watched the locomotive is very (horribly) noisy. I initially believed it was due to the 3 pole motor but I watched other videos where the locomotives were fitted with the five pole motor and they were noisy too !!

I just watched a long video (with a truly horrible background noise) where a very skilled person showed his incredible retrofit work of a Marklin diesel locomotive to use a cordless motor instead of the original one, but I was sad to notice that once the job done the locomotive was still noisy !!!

On the other hand, I found a video of another, more recent set, the 81332 Rheingold train, and it was quite silent.

My very early conclusion seems to indicate that the noise comes less from the motor than from the quality of the locomotive build itself.

What is your experience with this ?

Hello, hope all. Is well.

You are right about one thing, the Z locomotives can be noisy. Some have a definite growl.

When I spin a motor outside the frame, it is quiet. I have done this with many different ones and none standout as noisy.

A three pole or five seem to be the same. When assembled into the frame and with all the gears, things seem to change. Bo Bo types seem to be very noisy once assembled. Don’t get me started with the railbus models. What I notice is the sound seems to be amplified when the shell is in place. Ballasting also seems to influence sound levels as does the layout platform.

Some find the noise from our Z scale locomotives to be an endearing quality like the clickity, clack of the rails. I believe a recording will pickup this noise and even amplify it. This can be annoying for some.

But all is not lost. Recent core-less motors definitely improve the noise levels on many models. You should find acceptable noise levels on most if not all core-less locomotives. Lower sound levels seem built into these models. Marklin has converted many 3/5 pole locomotives to coreless models,but I have not seen a new release of the set you mention. Perhaps it will be released a some point, the Orient Express is such a timeless favorite.

If you are thinking about converting the motor on the Express to a core-less, you might be handy enough to do this yourself. Unfortunately core-less installs may require modifications to the frame, or special motor mount which might not be available. If you get into z and successfully accomplish a conversion, please share your methods. Many would be interested in this.

Best wishes, take good care.

Zme

Have you looked at the gear wheels themselves? Just one poorly formed tooth (maybe excess material) can cause a lot of noise - a jeweller's file can sort that out.

Carim

Obviously some locos are more noisy than others even if they are of the same type. Also older locos tend to be a bit noisier.
However, I wouldn't go by how noisy they seem on videos. Many cameras will automatically set the sound recording level. So if there are no other sounds present then the volume of the loco could be boosted up.
I have recorded numeroous short videos and invariably find that the trains sound better on the videos where there is a radio playing in the background.
Since you don't know what type of camera the person recording the film used you can't really tell how loud the actual trains are.

Another thing is that the way the track is mounted can make a big difference. If the track is fixed solidly to a plywood or chipboard baseboard then the sound can be amplified considerably especially if the track has been ballasted.
Unless you know how the track in the videos has been laid it is difficult to tell how the sound is being affected.
All you can really tell is whether one loco is noisier than another if they are running on the same layout in the same video.

It's all a bit of a guessing game unfortunately. You just have to get a loco and see how it seems to you in your own conditions.
I used to exhibit Z gauge layouts at shows back in the eighties. All the locos then were the original design with three pole motors. Some were noisier than others, particularly the ones with lots of gears but I don't remember them being irritatingly loud.