IS STATION SOUNDS THE SAME AS TRAINSOUNDS?

Station Sounds as in Station Sounds diners from Lionel are RailSounds 4.x based, they are not based on TrainSounds.

Trainsounds only work in conventional mode. They add some voice to whistle and bell plus chuff or prime mover sounds. Station sounds are Railsounds specific to passenger trains. They have a radio board (R2LC) and need to be programed with an ID to be triggered with a Cab1 or Cab2.

Pete

Dave, I'm no expert on the inner workings of these systems.  However, my experience has been that StationSounds was a feature introduced years ago in many 15" and some 18" passenger car diners.  It was intended to provide the "clickety clack" railroad sounds, and various conductor and dinner announcements for passenger trains.

It was first introduced in TMCC environments, and has now been catalog'd in 2015 after a long, multi-year absence.  Given that TMCC has been superseded by Legacy, I'm sure there may be some unique Legacy features in the newer 21" StationSounds passenger car diners.

If TMCC/Railsounds works in your environment, I can't imagine StationSounds not working... unless there's another problem lurking with your StationSounds diner.

Experts, please chime in. 

David

Dave to expand even more on what was said above.   There was an evolution over time on what the hardware was that was used as train sounds also.  So a specific model would help identify what you have.

First was the Railsounds on an independent board and power supply.  It was followed with a single independent board and called RS2.5  It was the first TMCC integrated RS.  When Lionel went to RS4.0 it was an upgrade of 2.5 and became modular 24 pin plug boards.

Lionel then made a "Conventional" Railsounds to add to starter sets.  Same modular boards but they did not have TMCC capable sounds.  Just bell and whistle button sounds.

Later this Conventional Railsounds became "Trainsounds"  followed by becoming a single separate board again.

So as stated Trainsounds is conventional only.

Station Sounds was as John stated a RS4.0 hardware but used in a passenger diner to simulate a different sound set to go along with the engine sounds.  Replicates an MTH Passenger Sounds effect in PFA.

They also made a Caboose Sound set called Crew Talk that was made in a few caboose models.  Both 2.5 and 4.0 hardware.

If Station Sounds not working treat it like a RS engine with no sound.  Do a reset or reprogramming.  You can download a instruction manual from Lionel Website.  G

Thank you all, for your very helpful and detailed info, very useful.

I think that Station Sounds was a Williams before Bachmann system that used QSI circuit boards and was a sound system only. If I am correct on this Station Sounds was used with the Crown Edition engines by Williams.

The other Trainsounds and Railsounds are most likely made for use with Lionel trains.

As for the 50 or 60 hertz being a problem with Station Sounds by Williams, I will say that it is a first to hear of that problem.

To compensate for the 50 to 60 hertz there is one thing that will work but it is expensive to do unless you have a few trains that need it. The cure that I know of is to go with marine grade 12 volt batteries and keep them charged up and to use a 12 volt invertor to 120 volts AC 60 hertz.

Lee Fritz

Lee, "Station Sounds in one of the cars" sure sounds like Lionel's Station Sounds Diner product.  It's a RailSound 4.x based system.

I think QSI produced a number of different sounds for Train Layouts.  Like farm animal sounds and such.

They may have even used a similar term, but Station Sounds is also a Lionel term for there Diner car as stated above.  G

Just to clarify Trainsounds malfunctions on 50Hz power. You get random whistle and bell sounds.

Very similar to the older CW-80 transformer which again has random whistle and bell trigger when run on 50Hz. The newer CW-80 with the QC50-OK label is fixed to work on 50Hz. Trainsounds was never fixed to my knowledge and has been superseded in the Lionel line by Railsounds RTR. 

You could get a "Double Wammy" like I did when I bought our first Lionel set back in 2005 for our eldest son. It had a Trainsounds engine and the older CW-80. This actually got me involved back in the hobby as I was determined to fix it! 

 This was way before Jon Z and Mike R came to Lionel and started sorting this sort of stuff out.

The best solution for a Trainsounds engine in a 50Hz environment is to rip that rubbish out and replace it with a ERR Railsounds board. One of the lads in the UK club is doing that with his Trainsounds Polar Express tender at the moment.

Lee, you don't need batteries to power a inverter. I use a high amp 230V AC to 12V DC power supply to run my inverter. These are often available from radio amateur stores etc. 

Nick