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I have finally tried to fit the new ERR Railsounds board into a Flyonel SD diesel engine. I have done a number of TMCC conversions using ERR products before using the Sound Commander 2 with the Mini 2 board. I went ahead and tried an upgrade to the Cruise Lite, and after seeing how much better this board performed, I decided to try the new (to me at least) Railsounds board. What a treat, this package is great. I do need to say that fitting O gauge electronics into an S gauge GP is a task, but it can be done. It is really nice now to have a conventional built American flyer GP with the cruise control and ERR Railsounds added to it. This combination gives me the 100 speed steps and the cruise ability that makes the GP run slower and now it does not slow down on curves or on the uphill grade while pulling a bunch of cars, it also holds that speed on the way down the grade. It makes these types of engines much easier to run on the same route with my Legacy locomotives. I need also to mention the new ERR Railsounds board is really nice, a great improvement over the Sound Commander 2, having the ability to have the engine start-up sequence along with the shutdown, and the bonus of crew talk. I give my thanks to the guys, Ken and Jon, at Electric Railroad for improving on some already great products. 

Ray

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Mark,

It is not a very difficult conversion to do, the hardest part of the project is fitting it all in the GP body. ERR's instructions are quite good and if you do get stuck you can contact the folks at ERR for info, they are always willing to help, or you could contact me, I am probably more familiar with the S gauge equipment. Carl Tuveson  is another good contact but I don't know if he has done the Cruise Lite with the Railsounds board. The sound board connection to the Cruise Lite is a little more involved because you have to hybrid the plugs but its not difficult.  Both of these items come with clear instruction sheets. The bad news might be the cost, the Railsounds board is around $90.00 and I think the Cruise Lite is around $75.00 plus you will need a different speaker than the Fat Boy that is supplied, it is to big unless you would have a dedicated car to put it in. I found speakers at some of the electronics sellers on the internet, I would say  maybe an additional $10.00 for the speaker.  You are looking at about $175.00 total. That may kill the idea for some folks but I had the GP already and I am sold out on TMCC/Legacy so it had to be. When you look at buying a Command engine in S gauge you wont find much in that price range. 

Ray

Thanks Ray. I may try it on a Flyer Royal Blue 350 to match the fantasy passenger car set I made to match it last year.

Mark, To the Royal Blue you would also need to add a DC motor, the Cruise Lite is designed to operate a can motor. These motors are great in the fact that they need so little power to operate. Less power=more trains.

Ben, I do agree, for me also it is well worth the effort and the cost, operating with TMCC/Legacy is such a pleasure. I only wish that the American Models and S Helper Diesels had a little more room in the shell for these electronics, I have done an RS 3 but only found enough room for the Mini 2, no sound,. Like wise for the GP 35, the all wheel drive on these [which is great] leaves very little room for anything else.

I also have a couple of Alco FAs in the works, but need a dummy to have room for the sound, the alternative might be DCC but I am not going that way. I like the simplicity of the Legacy  operating system using the Cab 1L . For the present time these will stay with the Mini 2 with the option of using the Flyonel sound cars. Maybe as I write this utilizing the  ERR sound converter in the sound cars and connected to the Mini 2 with a micro plug.

Ray

P.S. Mark, I will take your advice on the posting for the next conversion I do but it will probably happen after the S Fest.

Last edited by Rayin"S"

I just did my first conversion and what a delight.  I converted an AM FP-7 with ERR's cruise lite and railsounds boards, but I did it the easy way by purchasing a dummy B unit too and tethering it to the A. I had Ron leave the regular B trucks in so I could get power and common from them to the cruise lite board.  So I was just tethering from the B to the motor and headlights in The A.

Since I had an empty B, I was able to use ERR's speaker with just a little bit of filing the baffle/mounting to get it to fit.  I also added LED headlights, tail light, and a strobe all controlled by the board.  

I am giving it to my son tonight as a present along with some Budd coaches and a brand new vista dome.  

I am only a few months into modeling, so you pros out there could easily handle it. I made a number of mistakes along the way, but I had great help from Ken at ERR, Ed Goldin, Carl Tuveson and Ray who corrected and prevented some.  For example, I would have bought the AC version of the FP7 had I not spoken to Carl and learned that the cruise lite only outputs DC.

Ray, when you talk to Ed ask him for the link to the video he just made of my AM Northern retrofitted with a fan driven smoke unit. It is not on his website. So far it is a one of a kind. He just finished the engine and mailed it back to me Saturday.

Tom,

I did talk with Ed yesterday afternoon, he mentioned your engine in our conversation and said he had just posted the video on YouTube. I looked for it but could not find it, you might ask him for a direct link by email.

Ray

If you do, please post it here.

Last edited by Rayin"S"

Francine,

I copied and pasted these prices right from the ERR website. If you were to do a steam engine it would be $5.00 additional. These prices include the Fat Boy speaker which is an excellent speaker but, a little large if you want the sound board mounted in the powered diesel, it will fit into most tenders. It will fit nicely into a dummy B or A unit. It will not fit into a Baldwin, which is small for the Cruise Lite,  or a GP but should fit into a FM Trainmaster Dummy. Of course I need to mention I am referring to S gauge Flyonel engines which are somewhat smaller than their O gauge counterparts. I would also recommend the purchase of a Super Flex wire package that ERR sells for $5.00. Smaller speakers that will work in S gauge locomotives can be found at some of the electronics suppliers on the net and will cost $5.00 to $6.00. With many of these speakers you will need to fabricate an enclosure which is not difficult, I make my enclosures from Styrene sheet. Total cost with the additional speaker and wire $175.00. This may seem a little pricey but if you already have the locomotive and it is one you like it is worth the price. Like I mentioned in an earlier post you will not fine any of the Command locomotives in this price range.

Ray
  
 
 

  
 
 
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Diesel RailSounds SD series
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Cruise Commander Lite Kit
     - Cruise Lite, R4LC-C08
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Thanks John,

Ray,

You are an invaluable provider of information.  I have a Flyonel PE Berk, a Gilbert Northern and a Gilbert Atlantic.  I have the electronics and DC motor to change the Northern to DCC (but working on a custom tender).  The Atlantic has a DC motor installed, but no electronics. 

North Penn S Gaugers use DCC, DC and AC on our layout.  I want to get something that will work on DCC and or the new Lionel TMCC (whatever they call it) like the PE berk.  One of the guys had a modern Flyonel Diesel that runs on both.  Was hoping to find an upgrade that would do the same.

 

Francine,

You are correct the SD-70 will operate on both Legacy/TMCC and on DCC, as well as in the conventional mode. At this time however the electronics available from ERR does not have that capability. You will have to make the choice, DCC which is DCC only or TMCC which will also run in conventional mode. Be aware though that you will not be able to run TMCC equipped locomotives on DC power, they are AC power only.

The Atlantic and the Northern will both have room in the tender for the Cruise lite and the Railsounds 4 and the Fat Boy should also fit in these two.

The P.E. Berk you mention is Flyer Chief, again different than TMCC, but will benefit greatly from the Fat Boy speaker, simple speaker replacement in the tender.

 

Ray

Last edited by Rayin"S"

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