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I have never found any 'crew talk' convincing......always seemed very canned and fake.
If they ever had dedicated 'talk' maybe it would work.
I am standing five hundred scale feet away and I can hear the crew talking?
I do not mind the Crew Talk. However, it would be great
if a old recording from the 40's or 50's were added.
Many thanks,
Billy C
Yeah, you're not missing much without it. I've never heard a very realistic version yet, even my young son winces when he hears it, like "uuuugggghhhhh". Pretty rough...
Crew talk is best when it is absent. Really. And steamers with "radios", told to "start
up"? There's no key; there's no battery - it's got a FIRE in it.
And, as midnightwrecking says - "...five hundred scale feet away and I can hear the crew talking?"
The last straw for me with this stuff came when my Lionel Mexican National Centipede crew spoke to me in US Standard Midwestern English.
Si, yo comprendo - but I shouldn't have.
No crew talk, you say? That's a mercy.
I like to use it just to see the reactions of people at train shows when they hear the trains talking. Yes, it's not prototypical 100% at all, but to the usual mother and child, it definitely gets their attention.
Though, to be honest, I am using it less and less for my own pleasure. I'm kinda just focusing on the trains running with bells ringing and whistles blowing. However, I tend to use this more on diesels than steamers.
I will agree Lionel should put in more uniqueness in their talking like they did before 2011. I mean, almost every TMCC engine and early Legacy engine I can think of was unique in its dialogue sound and accent.
If I can't turn off the crew talk, I don't want the engine--that simple. There is no other feature I know of that puts me off more strongly, and it overcomes just about every other positive one. If I really, REALLY want the engine and can't turn it off, I will either cut the speaker wires or replace the sound board. I would prefer the Mighty Sound of Steam or even the old Marx shot-shaker before the best RS with Crew Talk.
BTW, did I mention I don't like Crew Talk?
I wonder why they don't just record real radio chatter & copy that? Crews don't swear on the radio & it's usually all business. Either that, or write it down & have actors repeat it instead. Seems dumb to use made up, nonsense. The real deal is out there & if you want realism, that would do it.
Kids like it, but I don't see a lot of kids in the LHS, trains shows, or online ordering $2000 engines these days. I'd rather see the memory used for crew talk be put to better use.
I run conventional and am quite happy with a total lack of crew talk. If left to idle for long periods some locos will start talking to themselves, I guess, and it is annoying to me.
Bottom line : If you don't like the Crew Talk, don't push the button!
Interesting how these crewtalk threads always pop up after a new Lionel product video is posted.
They swing back and forth...love it...hate it love it, hate it....
I can take it or leave it, seldom use it and find TMCC crewtalk the most entertaining with various accents and elaborate conversation.
Most notably my TMCC B&A 0-8-0 on shutdown: "Fifty twee heeya, we're awf to da clam bake ovah".
IMO the best use of crewtalk is MTH's passenger station announcements. I would like to see Lionel add to/replace current crewtalk dialogue with this. It eliminates the "need" for a pricey stationsounds diner add on.
The best real crew talk I have heard was while I was photographing NS trains. A GE engine had shut down and he was going to stall on a grad he was approaching. He told the dispatcher what really was annoying was that he couldn't stop the #8%# bell from ringing !! Real life railroading.
Insert Eric S.'s standard disclaimer on not using them if you don't like them here. I think that about covers the subject on if they should or should not exist.
That said, I am a bit surprised that Lionel did not provide a way to change the recordings, as I believe DCS does allow this, it should have been something they copied... Then again, given the ranting and raving, and the less annoyed but still having problems with software updates, posts that abound, The execs may have made the decision that allowing you to update software in the locomotive was not a strong selling point.
Further more, and this is just supposition here, there may be cost issues with copyright in adding more recordings. Lionel should be able to figure out a way to own the rights to the sounds, but it may be that they are still paying a royalty on every loco for the dialog, and don't want to add any new costs.
On the other hand, one VL BigBoy sale will pay for an hour of studio time and a few more of them will pay for the production and all else. When it comes down to it, the cost isn't very high to add new sounds, and that leads me to think ... that the real reason there are no new or prototypical sounds is that Lionel is simply listening to it's customers on this one... Many don't want the sounds, so no need to do anything for them, and those that do like them don't mind very much what they already have... No need to change anything.
what really was annoying was that he couldn't stop the #8%# bell from ringing !! Real life railroading.
I can feel his pain. "I've been there baby, up and down both sides of that street!"
@Lee Willis posted:I run conventional and am quite happy with a total lack of crew talk. If left to idle for long periods some locos will start talking to themselves, I guess, and it is annoying to me.
Those are MTH ProtoSounds locomotives talking randomly.
The LIONEL RailSounds crew talk can only be activated by a controller button.
Andrew
@Bob Delbridge posted:
Kids like it, but I don't see a lot of kids in the LHS, trains shows, or online ordering $2000 engines these days.
Crewtalk is available on even inexpensive engines, and has been for decades now. The grandkids find it pretty entertaining, so I'm glad it's there. And as Dave and some others noted, since it can be turned off if you don't like it, what's to complain about?
I don't care for it although I will say it has grown on me and now I find it charming in a quirky way. Oddly enough, visitors to the layout love it! So I don't mind using it for their entertainment. It would be cool if they could make the sound farther away. I would love if I could hear it like it really is in the distance. There are some real oddballs out there that like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but I like scrapple. So goes it with Crewtalk I suppose haha
@Railroaded posted:Yeah, you're not missing much without it. I've never heard a very realistic version yet, even my young son winces when he hears it, like "uuuugggghhhhh". Pretty rough...
LOL. A couple of my easily-triggered preschool grandchildren started crying when they heard CrewTalk under the Christmas tree the first time.
What, me worry?
As a holiday only runner I will say my bride and kids, now grown, love the chatter. I was more fond of it when it was engine specific, but I understand why that can't be done any longer.
For me it opened the doors to Legacy and new engines. No complaints here!
As others have said, I mostly use it for visitor's entertainment.
One of my favorite sequences to do is use the emergency stop dialog. I then apply the brakes with brake squeal (by setting the momentum to high). The train slows gradually squealing it brakes. Add the hotbox reefer in the mix and everyone loves it as now there was a real reason to stop the train. Visitors then love the smoke coming from the hotbox car and the red glow of the truck.
@falconservice posted:Those are MTH ProtoSounds locomotives talking randomly.
The LIONEL RailSounds crew talk can only be activated by a controller button.
Andrew
Hmm . . . Another old thread resurrected after 8 years.
Just another reason I’m glad I went all Lionel rather than MTH. If you want crew talk, just push the buttons on your remote. If you don’t want it, then don’t push the buttons. Simple. 
As John said mostly for the visitors, I never heard anything like “crew talk” while in the head end. If I called the dispatcher and asked some of the questions in crew talk …the answer would be quite colorful
Yea Lionel needs to change there crew talk.. very generic.. and the same on freight and passenger engines. MTH has always had the best sounds.
I like the crewtalk, but I agree that there needs to be some changes. The newer engines do have some updated crew dialogue, but Lionel should do something similar to MTH's superior dialogue. I would prefer that all locos have road name/# specific dialogue (not just Vision or older locos, like my 2009 ATSF B40-8W). I absolutely love the dialogue for the Vision rolling stock. I have a Vision ATSF Reefer set from a few years ago, and the dialogue is both realistic and has some funny parts, too (like when the boss complains about the workers not working fast enough or when someone spills a crate of oranges). The new Vision Stock Cars are even better (I don't have those, since my layout is modern-themed; but I had to get the Vision Reefers because they're so awesome).
@ThatGuy posted:As John said mostly for the visitors, I never heard anything like “crew talk” while in the head end. If I called the dispatcher and asked some of the questions in crew talk …the answer would be quite colorful
If they released an oil derrick with "crew talk", they'd very quickly receive a fine from the FCC!
@Cheap&NothingWasted posted:If they released an oil derrick with "crew talk", they'd very quickly receive a fine from the FCC!
Very true, that’s also why Lionel does not use real crew talk in their locomotives. They would have to be a disclaimer on the box over 21 only. LMAO
@Dylan the Train Man posted:I like the crewtalk, but I agree that there needs to be some changes. The newer engines do have some updated crew dialogue, but Lionel should do something similar to MTH's superior dialogue. I would prefer that all locos have road name/# specific dialogue (not just Vision or older locos, like my 2009 ATSF B40-8W). I absolutely love the dialogue for the Vision rolling stock. I have a Vision ATSF Reefer set from a few years ago, and the dialogue is both realistic and has some funny parts, too (like when the boss complains about the workers not working fast enough or when someone spills a crate of oranges). The new Vision Stock Cars are even better (I don't have those, since my layout is modern-themed; but I had to get the Vision Reefers because they're so awesome).
Dylan, thanks for that input. I didn’t realize that some of their talk on their new locomotives or cars was much better. As someone who has worked railroading , I tend to turn it off almost immediately. I never went much for the cars with sound. Your perspective is very well thought out. I’m going to have to pay more attention to the vision line sound.
@ThatGuy posted:I never went much for the cars with sound. Your perspective is very well thought out. I’m going to have to pay more attention to the vision line sound.
I like the sound cars as long as you can "tone it down" to occasional sounds and reduce the volume. It's neat to have some sounds when a long train goes by.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:I like the sound cars as long as you can "tone it down" to occasional sounds and reduce the volume. It's neat to have some sounds when a long train goes by.
I like the MTH train run by sounds that you can set an engine to play. It would be great to have a device that could be set off that would give you the click-clack as the train rumbles by.
@ThatGuy posted:I like the MTH train run by sounds that you can set an engine to play. It would be great to have a device that could be set off that would give you the click-clack as the train rumbles by.
Well, there is such a device. MP3 Universal Sound Module
Not in to crew talk. All I need is some chuffing, railsounds, brake squeal etc. And TONS of smoke. 😄
Brad
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, there is such a device.
Thanks John I had no idea
Never been a big fan of crewtalk. I'll use it once in a blue moon on MTH engines. Sometimes I'm surprised at how good they sound, but usually they are downright cheesey.
I almost never use them on Lionel engines. Especially steam engines because it still sounds like radio chatter. I agree with another member about the "Startup and hold" on steam engines lol. You don't start one up...you fire it and that is a long process lol.
If it was made more realistic I might use it but how Lionel does it now is a little too silly for me. It would be cool to have realistic chatter in the background
@Stinky1 posted:I agree with another member about the "Startup and hold" on steam engines lol. You don't start one up...you fire it and that is a long process lol.
They just need a 6-8 hour delay between the commands to allow time to fire the locomotive.
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