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Bill,

 

Got to try my railsounds boxcars for a few minutes. I operate with a Legacy control system using powermaster 24130 units to control traditional operation when desired. The UP diesel sounds boxcar has good volume and a nice turbocharger whine when accelerating. When pushing the Legacy whistle/bell controller up towards the bell symbol I get a single horn blast followed by a narrative. No bell sound either direction. The Erie steam sounds boxcar has a nice chug sound with good volume. I did not adjust either unit from the facyory setting. When pushing the Legacy whistle/bell controller up towards the bell symbol I get a single toot followed by a narrative. No bell sound in either direction. This could be a product of the Legacy controller as my AM units with sound sometines act a bit odd by reacting opposite to the signal that is desired.

 

Rich

Ran my great northern steam sounds car on Legacy at the mall yesterday. The whistle will not blow continuously while holding down the whistle button. It just goes toot-toot-toot-toot....

 

The whistle button sometimes starts the anachronistic crew talk, which I hate, and I could not get the bell to ring.

 

I did not put in a battery, nor did I adjust the volume pot.

Originally Posted by banjoflyer:
Originally Posted by richabr:

This could be a product of the Legacy controller as my AM units with sound sometimes act a bit odd by reacting opposite to the signal that is desired.

 

Rich

That's maybe to be expected as when I run AM engines with sounds built in with a Cab1 TMCC unit the buttons for bell and horn will do reverse duty depending on the train's direction.

I am bummed out by this development for these cars. 

My SHS switchers have been crying (silently) for many years now.

Mark

If you run an AM engine in conventional mode with a transformer with built in whistle and horn buttons, the whistle will sound when you push the whistle button when running in forward in a clockwise fashion and the bell will sound when you push the whistle button when running in forward in a counter clockwise fashion (and vice versa with the bell button).  This is not a problem for the three railers because (to use Gilbert terminology) the base post is always connected to the outside rails and the variable is always connected to the center rail but in 2 rail the base and variable input to the engine are different depending on the direction of travel. 

I don't know if that explains what is going on with Legacy and TMCC but maybe someone with more knowledge will have an explanation.

 

Little Tommy

The battery goes in OK if you open both doors and put it in with wires in first. Look at the picture in the instructions.  It takes fingers on two hands through the doors to get it in.

 

I did not use Legacy system to operate my UP car.  Power was Gilbert 30B.  I could not get the volume to be loud enough to be heard over the normal sound of a Gilbert GP7 and 5 cars.

 

Using the two separate Lionel sound control buttons I found as you gave it more power you could get decent control over horn and bell.  At low voltage then it was a quick toot or one ding.  The manual says it must have 6 volts to operate.

 

I found the announcements only seemed to happen when the car was not moving.  There were two separate announcements.  One to hold the train until permission to go and one giving the green to go.

 

I was unsatisfied with the car and Called Charles Ro.  They are picking it up. 

Did a little more testing of the sound cars today. I ran them on a different loop as I have 3 choices. 2 of the loops seem to run with a high momentum setting with conventional operation the other with a low momentum. Still working on solving how to change the setting for conventional running as all the instructions are for Legacy momentum operation which function per instructions. Anyway, running on the low momentum loop the Erie sound car functioned as advertised. Great chug volume, bell sounds activated after a slight delay while holding the control at the limit. The bell was continious. Whistle function also activated afer a slight delay and gave a continious series of long and short signals. With the battery in and voltage off, the sounds went to what sounded like a steam blowdown sequence. The UP diesel car also functioned as advertised. Bell worked the same and so did the horn. Since I haven't put a battery in the deisel car yet I assume the shutdown sounds are also present. Max voltage used was 10V on an AM RS3 and seems the minimum for the aforementioned full operation was about 4.5V. Below that seemed to activate the crew sounds dialog. I could not replicate the dialog above the 4.5V level. All in all I am satisfied as I consider the cars a good compliment to those engines without a sound function.

 

Rich

Originally Posted by Roundhouse Bill:

I didn't order a Railsounds Boxcar to use with Legacy or TMCC. All of my engines that use these already have Railsounds.  I wanted it to pull behind Gilbert and Flyonel engines without sound.  I use Gilbert 30Bs on my layout with Lionel sound buttons.

 

Agreed. All Lionel AF TMCC and Legacy engines already have a full suite of sounds. Where the Railsounds boxcars should/would be useful is with conventional engines w/o sounds of their own. Years ago Lionel built traditional-sized O gauge boxcars with Railsounds precisely for this purpose.

 

Bob

The cars work as expected using a Legacy system to control engines/cars in  conventional operation. Basically the speed is controlled by the Legacy/Tmcc handheld remote instead of a normal transformer knob. My system uses an AF 22090 and 22030 to power the track. Essentially it is the same as a traditional Gilbert setup except for track type.

 

Rich

Well, maybe I had low expectations, because  my Erie Boxcar functions as well as I expected, which is to say as good as the Electric Railroad Company Steam Railsounds Modules  that I installed in the tenders of  my AF 300 Atlantic and my AF 21165 Casey Jones.

 

I wanted the Boxcar for use with my AF Docksider and my Putt Trains Mogul which just didn't have room to install a sound module and a speaker, and I am pleased with how it works.

 

I am looking forward to getting the NH Diesel Boxcar for use with my American Models Trainmaster ( I know that American Models makes a Boxcar with Diesel sounds, but it is too "modern" for use on my Pike)

 

Little Tommy

 

 

Last edited by LittleTommy

I picked up my UP and Erie railsound boxcars and they worked as advertised.  I was using a MTH Z-1000 for power and for the fact that it is the only transformer I own that has the required bell and whistle/horn button.  The sounds were great the chug rate was pretty well in sync with a Flyer locomotive. The diesel sound revved up as speed increased.  I am very happy!

Triggering dialog on a Lionel locomotive in conventional mode is done by playing a single, isolated short horn blow. Might take some practice, depending on your transformer.

 

The resulting dialog will vary with the state of the locomotive.

  • If the locomotive has been stopped for less than 15 seconds, a short horn blast triggers a “please standby” dialog .

  • If the locomotive has been stopped for longer than 15 seconds, a short horn blast triggers a “cleared outbound” dialog.

  • If the locomotive is moving, a short horn blast triggers an “all clear ahead” dialog.

  • If the locomotive is moving, turning on the bell and a short horn blast triggers a “slow to caution speed” dialog. 

Sample video of the Railsounds American Flyer Boxcars. My camera dosen't have the best sound pick-up. I should have turned up the sound on the Erie Box Car. It has a very low pitched whistle. All the cars do sound good, but all are a little different.  Some back ground noise from the transformer fan.  Sorry about the poor quality of the video, but it will give you a ruff idea how each car differs in sounds.

 

I started with the Great Northern and Union Pacific Boxcars.  I liked them so much that I purchased the other two cars also.  Great for running with conventional powered locomotives.

Last edited by Engineer Fred
Originally Posted by Engineer Fred:
Fred'
Thanks for posting this, we did enjoy hearing the Great Northern and the U.P. at Wayne's home and these two additional cars will be in my future. I need now to pick the first two up at Ron's.
Ray
 

Sample video of the Railsounds American Flyer Boxcars. My camera dosen't have the best sound pick-up. I should have turned up the sound on the Erie Box Car. It has a very low pitched whistle. All the cars do sound good, but all are a little different.  Some back ground noise from the transformer fan.  Sorry about the poor quality of the video, but it will give you a ruff idea how each car differs in sounds.

 

I started with the Great Northern and Union Pacific Boxcars.  I liked them so much that I purchased the other two cars also.  Great for running with conventional powered locomotives.

 

Originally Posted by Engineer Fred:

Ron, The newer boxcar shells should fit.  The shell is fastened with four corner screws.  Just like the sound music Christmas Car shell.  Fred.

Thanks Fred....    Gee, I don't even recall their being a Flyer music sound Christmas car.... when was that out?     I know Lionel does them in O every year.

Ok, thank you, Fred!  I remember that Christmas music car now.
 
And, BTW, you have some great equipment, too.  I really like those smoking diesels.  Have they operated well for you?  
 
Originally Posted by Engineer Fred:

Ron,  Christmas reefer: 6-49061 was in the 2012 Christmas catalog.  It runs on a 9-volt battery & plays Christmas Carols.  I purchased one last year. 

Last edited by RadioRon

I purchased both a diesel and steam railsounds boxcar. Both have performed as advertised. However I don't mess with the batteries. I have never place the batteries in the locos or the boxcars, not worth the effort for a few additional seconds of sound. I also don't have to worry about the batteries going bad and leaking.

I finally received the NH S Gauge Railsound boxcar. Put on the track; diesel sounds ok, but NO horn or bell. That is even with those silly "sound activation" buttons from Lionel. Called Lionel service and sent it in. Fast response time for sure!! They installed a missing Resistor on the sound board; I verified it. Well, now I have bell and horn but no dispatcher speaking. And these DO NOT WORK when the train is moving, but only standing still!! Called Lionel back and they say I have a problem with my layout??? I have Flyonel's 4-8-4 for years, and it works just fine with sound buttons. I use a 30 B trans. Wonder if these new Railsound boxcars must have a Lionel transformer to work?? Thought they are for us guys with older Gilbert that want some extra sound. Please, any thoughts ?? Or do I need to fight with Lionel? Been buying their products since 1979, and this is my first issue. For about $140.00, and now with $14.00 shipping for repairs, it should work. Help!!

Thanks, Bruce L.

lemons posted:

Received NH BOX CAR for Christmas. Run conventional using MTH  transformers.

Today sound was fine ,  turned to a buzz , and now its dead . Nothing.

Any ideas?

lemons posted:

Received NH BOX CAR for Christmas. Run conventional using MTH  transformers.

Today sound was fine ,  turned to a buzz , and now its dead . Nothing.

Any ideas?

 

I finally received the NH S Gauge Railsound boxcar. Put on the track; diesel sounds ok, but NO horn or bell. That is even with those silly "sound activation" buttons from Lionel. Called Lionel service and sent it in. Fast response time for sure!! They installed a missing Resistor on the sound board; I verified it. Well, now I have bell and horn but no dispatcher speaking. And these DO NOT WORK when the train is moving, but only standing still!! Called Lionel back and they say I have a problem with my layout??? I have Flyonel's 4-8-4 for years, and it works just fine with sound buttons. I use a 30 B trans. Wonder if these new Railsound boxcars must have a Lionel transformer to work?? Thought they are for us guys with older Gilbert that want some extra sound. Please, any thoughts ?? Or do I need to fight with Lionel? Been buying their products since 1979, and this is my first issue. For about $140.00, and now with $14.00 shipping for repairs, it should work. Help!!

Thanks, Bruce L.

Ok maybe its just the Macguyver in me or something, but it seems very possible to rig a Arduino nano board with a Micro SD card and solder it to a small speaker. I think that you could make your own sound boxcar for around $50 and load it full of sounds that are free from the web. I am tempted to try it.

banjoflyer posted:
Engineer Fred posted:

The cars all have different sounds like the Lionel catalog lists. 

Well I contacted Lionel and told them of my problem with the UP and NH Railsound cars sounding exactly alike and that maybe my UP car has the wrong sound board in it.

As expected, Lionel replied" We do apologize but all the American Flyer Railsounds boxcars have the same sounds.  It is likely a change in production from what was described in the catalogue."

 

Don't give up! I checked with customer service and let them know there are indeed different sound sets for the different cars. Please reach out to them again and they will give you an RA number to send your car in. It will be reprogrammed with the correct sounds.

Thanks for your patience,

Rudy Trubitt
Director of Audio
Lionel, LLC

I have the NH New Haven 36388 Diesel Rail Sounds and the Erie 90310 Steam Rail Sounds box cars and they both work perfectly, really like both of them. I use them on a loop controlled by a Lionel CW-80 transformer. When I use them on my 30B loops I only get the steam and or diesel sounds, no crew talk, bell horn or whistle. All work fine with the CW-80.

Alas, my Great Northern boxcar came out of the box ... and did nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Needless to say, it was shipped back to the vendor the very next day.  Add that to my Challenger (dead), and a pre-broken Baldwin, and innumerable truck frames that literally just fell apart from the cheap metal  being used, and you can see why I am not a fan of Flyonel.

Stephen, I do sympathize with you, almost sounds as if you received my orders. The Flyonel products that I have purchased for the most part have been good but I have also been where you are receiving one thing after another, though not train related, that were not right. It does make a person feel that they are under a cloud. Hope your experience improves.

Ray 

Stephen Law posted:

Alas, my Great Northern boxcar came out of the box ... and did nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Needless to say, it was shipped back to the vendor the very next day.  Add that to my Challenger (dead), and a pre-broken Baldwin, and innumerable truck frames that literally just fell apart from the cheap metal  being used, and you can see why I am not a fan of Flyonel.

I have the UP. When it was first unpacked, it would not function. However, I slid the on-off switch back and forth a few times and it has functioned fine ever since (~ 1+ yrs.). Sometimes, the slider switches found on the under chassis of sound cars, conventional diesels, etc. can be intermittent, particularly if the piece has set unused for a while. 

Bob

@Bob Bubeck posted:

I have the UP. When it was first unpacked, it would not function. However, I slid the on-off switch back and forth a few times and it has functioned fine ever since (~ 1+ yrs.). Sometimes, the slider switches found on the under chassis of sound cars, conventional diesels, etc. can be intermittent, particularly if the piece has set unused for a while.

Bob

Bob, my UP sound boxcar is inoperative but it does not have an "on/off" switch anywhere.  Just the volume pot.

Art

@Sgauger posted:

Bob, my UP sound boxcar is inoperative but it does not have an "on/off" switch anywhere.  Just the volume pot.

Art

My bad. I meant to write volume control. This is what my NH sound car is fitted with, too. Volume potentiometers and sliding switches that Lionel often use can become intermitant and physical activation of these components is all that is needed to restore operation.

Good grief. That post is from a half decade ago.

Bob

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