I seem to remember an article about building a replacement for the whistle control for a 314AW. Can anyone guide me to that or show what is required?
Thanks
Ray
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Ray, look at Port Lines Clinic #42, pages 33 and 34.
Tom,
Thank you, I guess I can activate with my Railsounds activation buttons.
Ray
Should work, the DC offset just needs to be large enough to actuate the DC relay in the tender. The tender whistle motor needs to be in good repair so it spins easily at lower track voltages.
One quick way to test an AW is put 3 D cell batteries in a row (+ to -) and pass the AC track current through that stack (track AC in at the - end, out at the +). I use a cardboard tube to hold them. Their 4.5 DC will overlay on the AC and activate the AW solenoid. If the everything is in good tune and working well, you'll hear a nice sweet whistle with a slightly higher pitch than what a whistling billboard produces.
I recently picked up a 314AW and found the normal whistle impeller problem and secured it back on the shaft. Once it was all cleaned up it ran and produced a good sound when manually operating the relay.
It also worked fine with the original whistle controller and the tender shell off but as soon as the tender shell was put on it became intermittent when operated. I eventually got it working as best as I could with various adjustments to the relay contact but they really are a PITA to adjust. The shell on does seem to change how the slugged relay operates.
