Electronic Mighty Sound of Steam off switch?

From what I remember the traditional size locos  sound of steam did not have a switch. But keeping the tether unplugged  from the engine and tender eliminates the sos board from sound. I just tuck them from the tender and engine. I believe the scale\ semi-scale steamers had  switches. Such as the 783,784 Hudson's.

An inexpensive option for sound is the Dallee electronics hi line sound board. Very small and priced right. You have different bells and whistles to choose from. I just install the MPC roller pickup if the tender has plastic trucks, and wire the + & - from the board to the pickup. Pretty easy. If I can do it anyone can! Hope this helps.

I loved the engine I got with it which was the 18003 Lackawanna Northern. I did not like the sound of scratch one bit and installed an electric railroad sound Commander some years ago. It was my first foray into modifying something under the hood. If I could do it anyone can.

Thank you Donnie Kennedy and POTRZBE for your feedback and suggestions. Helpful ideas and something to consider.

John,

I don't have an 18004 but I did a search for it on the bay and in the first offering I checked (I only checked one) there was a picture of the tender with a switch on the bottom. I do have a 6-8404 (PRR S2) and its tender also has a switch. Hope that helps.

Bob

@John's Trains posted:

Do Lionel engines with the Electronic Mighty Sound of Steam have an on-off switch for that feature? I'm considering a Lionel 6-18004 from 1989. I've seen videos with this engine and some sound better than others. I read on the forum about updating it with a modern sound card, but don't know if I'm going to want to venture into that. If there's no off switch, would disabling it internally be fairly straightforward?

John

As an example, the tender for the 6-18005 (note correction) has an on-off switch for the SOS. When in the 'off' position, the whistle is still operable and sounds OK.

Because the 18005 (1-700E) is a reproduction/reissue of the original 700E which has a whistle but no steam sounds, not using the chuff never really bothered me. Usually, a set of Bakelite Irvington cars (circa. 1990) are my consist for this engine in keeping with my vintage approach to this Hudson's use. Interestingly, there is something appealing about the sound and ambiance of the model and its heavyweights going down the rails without the electronic jazz.

Bob

Thank you also Bobfett and Bob Brubeck for this helpful information. I like that the whistle won't be disabled by turning off the steam sound. On one video the steam sound wasn't even so bad. I already read that I'm going to have to check that the foam under the card hasn't disintegrated. This forum is a great resource!

Cut one of the wires to the speaker. Reversible with a wire nut if you should ever need to hear that...."chuff"....again.

@Bob Bubeck posted:

Because the 18004 (1-700E) is a reproduction/reissue of the original 700E which has a whistle but no steam sounds, not using the chuff never really bothered me. Usually, a set of Bakelite Irvington cars (circa. 1990) are my consist for this engine in keeping with my vintage approach to this Hudson's use. Interestingly, there is something appealing about the sound and ambiance of the model and its heavyweights going down the rails without the electronic jazz.

Bob

The Lionel 6-18004 is a traditional 4-6-2 Reading locomotive. The Lionel 6-18005 is the reproduction of the 1937 1-700e scale New York Central Hudson.

@Jim R. posted:

The Lionel 6-18004 is a traditional 4-6-2 Reading locomotive. The Lionel 6-18005 is the reproduction of the 1937 1-700e scale New York Central Hudson.

Stand corrected. Thanks.

Bob

SOS or as we know it as sounds of scratch or sound of Squawk is definitely an option to leave it off. It does sound irritating and the whistle isn’t much better.
We always appreciate an expert’s train knowledge.

Is there one or two wires that could be cut to stop the S of S and keep the whistle in operation?

Not really interested in new sound system. If you know and could snap a pic, that would be awesome. Thank you in advance.   -Joel

Does anyone have an answer to my post just above? Could really use some OGRR help!

@JDFonz posted:

Is there one or two wires that could be cut to stop the S of S and keep the whistle in operation?

@JDFonz posted:

Does anyone have an answer to my post just above? Could really use some OGRR help!

No need to cut, just unplug the black trigger wire to engine. The whistles are self contained, powered by roller(s) on the tender.

@John's Trains posted:

Do Lionel engines with the Electronic Mighty Sound of Steam have an on-off switch for that feature? I'm considering a Lionel 6-18004 from 1989. I've seen videos with this engine and some sound better than others. I read on the forum about updating it with a modern sound card, but don't know if I'm going to want to venture into that. If there's no off switch, would disabling it internally be fairly straightforward?

John

So I dont have to go through all the other posts, Yes, the 18004 has the Later version Sound of Steam Circuit Board. Yes it does have an on off switch. You can still use the whistle while the switch is off.