Specific Railsounds - Updated

Thanks, nice videos.

 

The only good thing I can say for generic railsounds is that it better than no sound at all (okay, also, I think it's a bit better the WBB's new diesel sounds, but not by much . . . ).  Anyway, the specific sounds are just incredible on the several diesels I have with it.  I can hear the clatter of valve gear at idle on some of them, etc., - worth the money.  

How does one go about getting specific RailSounds?  The only upgrades I have found are what ERR has, which don't work for everything I have that I want to upgrade.

Well it was pretty easy...

 

What I did for the FT-A was I purchased a Railsounds4.0 ERR F unit sound board from a fellow forumite foamer, and the first thing I tried was to swap the Railsounds board from the mother board.  The R2LC, the Railsounds power board and the Railsounds board all plug into the mother board, and can be gently slid off and back on the long connector leads.

 

Unfortunately, they must have been different generations, so what I had to do next was swap the PIC and ROM chips between the boards.

 

The PIC and ROM are the large, black, flat J-leaded component (called QFPs or Quad Flat Packs) that press fit into Plastic Leaded Chip Carriers (PLCCs) and you must use a special tool called a IC (integrated circuit) puller (available from Radio Shack), as not to damage the fragile ceramic base material, the wire bonded leads or the plastic resin encapsulant.  They must be kept in pairs...

 

Once I did this, and put the RS board back in, I reprogrammed the TMCC system to 36 (NYC F3, with cab light) and everything works great.  The cab light comes on / off with 9 and 8, respectively, and AUX2 is the headlight.

 

Next on my list is to replace the generic diesel Railsounds from an Atlas Master NYC GP35 with a Lionel Railsounds4.0 sound package from an SD40.

 

Yes, I know that the RS4 are road name / number specific, and I know that it's an EMD 645, but I like the sound and I don't use crew talk anyway.

So when that comes Thursday, I'll do a before and after on that, as well.

Good luck!

- Mario

 

Oh, one last thing...

 

The Railsounds2.5 and 4 PIC and ROM chips are compatible, as they both use an 8-bit format, but the Legacy systems are stand alone, as they use a 9-Bit signal.  You might want to say that the Legacy responds to CAB1 commands in 8-bit, so it should be ok.  As did I.  But was told a resounding "no".  evidently, it all runs through the radio board on the Legacy systems, and the radio board interprets the 8-bit signal and up-converts it to 9 when it sends the commands to the Legacy RS boards through the serial line.  Or, as so I understand it.  The 9th bit is the quillable whistle / horn, which is why its sorta random when using Legacy equipment in TMCC mode through a CAB1.

 

Thanks,

Mario

I've been told, but I can't confirm or deny it, that all the way from RS 2.5 up to RS5 the chips will work in the boards.  I've used RS 2.5 chips in a RS4 board set successfully, and the RS5 boards will accept RS4 chips, so I suspect that's correct.  I also noticed that my early Legacy locomotive on the bench here has a RS5 board in it, even though it has Legacy sounds.

 

Really, RS5 may work in RS4 boards you say... Hmmm, I'm trying to figure out a way to get GP35 sounds without swapping everything over to Legacy... I'll have to do some digging.

I've swapped RS5 chips from the RS5 board to the RS4 board, and all the sounds worked.  So, that's a sample of one...

 

RS5 boards are available and work with TMCC.

 

Okay, time to get a specific example.  I have a MTH PS-1 equipped PRR S-2 Turbine (30-1149-1) [Not one of the dinky Bantam ones.] that I'd love to convert to TMCC but there are no turbine sound kits from ERR.  Lionel did make a TMCC equipped version at one time (6-38028), but you can't order the sound board from Lionel for it.  So how would I even get the RS chips for it to swap out on the ERR boards to get the right sound set?

 

If you run into trouble obtaining an RS Turbine sound chip, you could always go the other route & upgrade your locomotive to ProtoSound 2.0 instead and load the turbine sound file into it from the MTH Protosounds website.

 

Sinclair,

 

What I would try doing is first, try begging and pleading for the service team to flash you a set of RS4 chips for a TMCC turbine, part number 691-RS40-018.

 

 

 

or, if that didn't work (try bribery )...

 

And lastly, they do have the RS2.5 sound board in stock, part number 691-8057-T56, 691-8068-T56 or 691PCB1053, which are for the Century Club Turbine, and for the semi-scale TMCC1 Turbine, respectively.

 

 

I have printed the list, and check our my highlighted text.  I don't know what Railsounds Lite boards are, but it's worth a shot to get one and try it, if it doesn't you can send it back. (see attached)

 

Good luck!

 

- Mario

Psst... There's TMCC/RS equipped separate sale CC tenders on Da Bay...

 

 

 

ok, I'm NOT going to go into a debate on which control system is better, as it is purely personal preference, but John does come close to a good point.  If the original PS1 does have sound, then you might be able to find a Digital Dynamics Equalizer and keep the original sounds and get TMCC.  I did this on a AA set of PS1 PA-1s, and the stock MTH sounds are really nice.  This is the only MTH power that I run...

 

Thanks, John!

 

- Mario

My set up currently isn't PS-2 compatible (Yes, I use and love CW-80s.) and my focus is toward TMCC for command (For now.), so this upgrade path isn't the best.

 

I'd love to get several DD Equalizers, but finding good working ones is hard.  I bought a locomotive that had one, but it was dead so I converted it back to full PS-1.

 

As for buying just a tender, do they have everything I need to convert to TMCC, or do I still need to get more parts, like the antenna and board the antenna connects to for the locomotive side?  I ask because they cost as much if not more than the TMCC ERR kits.

 

And those highlighted RS boards are 2.0.  Is that too old to put in the ERR boards?

 

The tenders will probably not have everything you need for TMCC, as my steam engines have the TMCC boards in the boiler, and just the sounds in the tender, and the antenna is usually integrated into the handrails.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, GRJ, but couldn't Sinclair purchase an ERR Cruise Commander for the TMCC in the boiler, and serial it to the Railsounds2 boards in the tender if he gets the CC Turbine stand0alone separate sale tender?

 

Here's what the Century Club RS2 sounds like (thanks to Southern2356):

 

As for the RS2... I see no other offerings that will work, unless the "Railsounds Lite" boards will.

 

Thanks,

Mario

 

 

 

I have done that exact upgrade.  I put the Cruise Commander in the locomotive and used the existing RS4 board set that was in the tender.  No problem at all.

 

Hmm, something I'll have to think about.  Thanks for the info.

 

Early CW-80s were known to have issues running PS-2 engines as I recall, not all of them.  Are yours early versions?  If not, then compatibility-wise it's a moot point.

I was quoted : Cruise Commander and Railsounds would cost $210.00 parts and labor.

by Modern Toy Train Parts. Can I "assume" I am getting the latest version of Railsounds or is it relative to my particular engine? I am wanting to covert an old MTH RailKing to TMCC with Railsounds.

unless you own a legacy engine MTH proto1 and proto2.0 is much better sound then any of the older lionel railsounds you get mor cab chatter from MTH more talking back and forth when in idle position Lionel engines TMCC says only one thing and the cab chatter is muted you cant make out what they are saying and the MTH remote to control the sounds from a 2.0 engine is far better then a cab2 remote  

 

My MTH Proto-Sound (PS1) PA1s don't have any talking; no chatter, no passenger station announcements, no freight yard discussion...  Just a darn-good sounding 244, a bell and a horn.  Of course, these were ahead of their time in 1994!

 

I haven't played with my scale F3s yet, maybe this weekend!

And I am one of the ones that hate the chatter.  I never activate it on my TMCC locomotives, and I hate how some of it auto plays when you turn the smoke on or off.  And the first thing I do with my PS-1 locomotives is turn off cab chatter and disable passenger station/yard announcements.

 

As for the CW-80s, I think most of them are newer ones, but what's the point in going to PS-2 if I'm going to have a TMCC/Legacy layout as I'd still be running them conventionally?  So if they get a command upgrade, it's going to be TMCC.

"There was a lot of hand holding going on, as you can see!  In the end, it was totally worth it!"

 

Mario, I totally agree with your statement. It does make a difference.

"For now" clearly suggests that DCS was not ruled out, hence my compatibility being moot comment.

So, for my MTH RailKing steam engine, 30-1128-0, who can I contact to do a lock and key job of getting it up to TMCC and RailSounds 5.0? Or is that even possible?

It is hard for me as a newbie and not an electronics guy to evaluate all the discussion here.

 

Quiz,

 

Welcome to the family!  I bet your Berk has some really nice sounds.

 

There's a few guys out there that will do the conversion for you, stem-to-stern if you will, including our own Wurlitzer (Phil Edwards - JR Junction; Syracuse, NY) or Boxcar Bill (Modern Toy Train Parts - NW Ohio).  Both Phil and Bill are official ERR retailers and installers

 

Most importantly, there's GunRunnerJohn who has helped me immensely, and does these on the side.

 

There's very few people I trust with my trains, and I trust these men... only.

 

Thanks and good luck!

- Mario

Here's the swap of the generic diesels sounds in my Atlas Master NYC GP35 to a nice sounding EMD 16-645 with nice horn and bell...

 

 

Video 1:  "Before" video of the GP35 with generic Railsounds

 

 

 

Video 2:  "After" video of the GP35 with specific Railsounds4.0

 

 

 

Hope you like them!

 

Thanks,

- Mario

 

I do like the horn better after the change.  The bell doesn't sound that much different, and the motor sounds more like an airplane to me.  Now I bet if you had more than one, that's be cool.

 

 

Ask and you shall receive!

 

 

If you interested, I put all 4 videos together here:

 

 

Thanks!

 

- Mario

Yes, that was awesome.  Makes me want to convert my 3 GP38-2s all to TMCC and run them like that...

 

All I can say is do it!  You won't be disappointed.

 

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I DIDN'T CATCH THIS SOONER, OR THAT IT WASN'T BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION...

 

Can you tell me what was wrong with the Railsounds for these FTs... I'll give you a hint... listen carefully at the prime mover startup and at the beginning of each rev-up.  (A little throaty isn't it?)

 

 

 

 

 

Now listen to the NEW new Railsounds4.0 upgrade for the FTs:

 

I again thank GunRunnerJohn for the correct F-unit sounds...

 

Thanks,

 

Mario