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Greetings Everyone,

Today I received my Lionel Freight Sounds PS-1 Boxcar decorated in the Pennsylvania Railroad livery.  Stock Number 1926640.  Overall impression of this piece is very good.   The detailing is nice with excellent graphics.  I didn’t have a chance to run her around the layout but I sampled the “Freight Sounds” by using the 0-5-0 switcher for a short distance on the main.   The sounds are interesting to me but I’ll have to wait for a longer run to really decide.  Now, here’s my one and only complaint.   This piece is equipped with the “Thumb Tack” Cheese Ball couplers.   Yeah, the trucks are metal die cast, BUT they are rigid and NOT sprung.  Perhaps this is a bit Nit Picky but with a retail price north of $130.00 I wouldn’t expect this type of truck.   I know about the disclaimer that what is depicted in the catalog is not necessarily what is delivered, but the PS-1’s in the catalog show the “Thumb Tack-Less” trucks.   A very disappointing situation indeed.

 Chief Bob (Retired)

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Jsulli21 posted:

I also received two ps-1 boxcars which are a first for me. Question if I may. Inside each box are two black tabs with screws and there is nothing in the instructions relating to them. Can anyone tell me what they are for. I would guess they are truck related. Thanks for any information on them.

They are for Kadee coupler conversions.

Doug

Got mine today from Ready to Roll in Miami. We put them on the store layout to test them and they are great! I think they are much better than the last bunch of cars that came out a few years back. Too much bang and boom for me. These are perfect for a long train with a flat spot sound spotted in the full train. I got the Pennsy and the B&O Sentinal cars. The Pennsy paint is a little faded, but nice. The B&O blue strip is way off. Both paint jobs are done nicely though. The couplers are a disappointment but not a game changer. You just got to wonder when you know that they have a beautiful truck for the non sound PS1's.

Billy C

PUFFRBELLY posted:

Greetings Everyone,

Today I received my Lionel Freight Sounds PS-1 Boxcar decorated in the Pennsylvania Railroad livery.  Stock Number 1926640.  Overall impression of this piece is very good.   The detailing is nice with excellent graphics.  I didn’t have a chance to run her around the layout but I sampled the “Freight Sounds” by using the 0-5-0 switcher for a short distance on the main.   The sounds are interesting to me but I’ll have to wait for a longer run to really decide.  Now, here’s my one and only complaint.   This piece is equipped with the “Thumb Tack” Cheese Ball couplers.   Yeah, the trucks are metal die cast, BUT they are rigid and NOT sprung.  Perhaps this is a bit Nit Picky but with a retail price north of $130.00 I wouldn’t expect this type of truck.   I know about the disclaimer that what is depicted in the catalog is not necessarily what is delivered, but the PS-1’s in the catalog show the “Thumb Tack-Less” trucks.   A very disappointing situation indeed.

 Chief Bob (Retired)

Oh no! My Susquehanna PS-1 arrived today, and I did not open it yet. Not to worry. I will either cut off the thumb tack couplers with a dremel or replace the trucks and couplers with Lionel's die-cast sprung trucks and couplers with hidden uncoupling tabs. 

irish rifle posted:
PUFFRBELLY posted:

Greetings Everyone,

"Now, here’s my one and only complaint.   This piece is equipped with the “Thumb Tack” Cheese Ball couplers.   Yeah, the trucks are metal die cast, BUT they are rigid and NOT sprung.  Perhaps this is a bit Nit Picky but with a retail price north of $130.00 I wouldn’t expect this type of truck.   I know about the disclaimer that what is depicted in the catalog is not necessarily what is delivered, but the PS-1’s in the catalog show the “Thumb Tack-Less” trucks.   A very disappointing situation indeed. "

 Chief Bob (Retired)

Oh no! My Susquehanna PS-1 arrived today, and I did not open it yet. Not to worry. I will either cut off the thumb tack couplers with a dremel or replace the trucks and couplers with Lionel's die-cast sprung trucks and couplers with hidden uncoupling tabs. 

I don't believe the "New" hidden uncoupler trucks are actually sprung.

I have 3 earlier PS-1 box cars & a tank car with the sounds. I agree about the sounds, but mostly for me the continuous clunking is annoying. I like the squealing. I also have the latest reefer sound cars & there seems to be less clunking & a little more squealing. One thing I have found if you adjust the volume lower & set the switch to less rather than more its a better balance. Also running them on multiple trains at different speeds sounds better to me. I think if you experiment you can find satisfactory effects.

You really need to have more than one to really appreciate what they offer. Am I totally satisfied, no. The clunking may be appropriate when switching cars but I think on a train that's running continuous at a set speed, which is mostly my preference, but slow, 10 to 20 scale mph, more squealing at different pitches is what I'm looking for.

I bought the NYC (MDT) Freightsounds Reefer (1926100) and I kind of enjoyed the sounds.  I thought it was a reasonable approximation of the real thing.  I posted a video about a year ago of a CSX freight going by,

CSX Freight

It's about 4:30 minutes of freight sounds and my new reefer reminded me of that occasion.  I haven't tried experimenting with the controls on the car.  I just wish you could turn the sounds on and off remotely.

I have the older thumbtackless PS-1 version, CNW boxcar.  I like it, but I wish it would just have clickety clack sounds like the Station Sounds Diner cars. But it’s better than nothing, and adds something to my long freight trains. Also the sound volume is adjustable as is the frequency of the effects. I lovingly refer to the car as having “bowling alley” sounds.

You can hear the car roll by at the end of the train below, just in front of the caboose:

 

 

Attachments

Videos (1)
6A877C1F-4FAE-4CF7-891E-EB8A710EADA0
Last edited by Craignor

I tend to agree with NH Bill. I live in Yonkers, NY & for 23 years of my life I lived 75 yards from Ludlow train station. I saw & heard trains every day growing up, commuter & freight... my dad still lives there. Through the 60's to the 80's a lot of freight activity passed by. From NYC, Penn Central, Conrail to CSX & still some late evening freights today. I'll stop almost every time to watch a freight pass by, count the cars & listen to the sound. To some, the low rumbling, clickity clack & flange squealing may be too much, but for me... I'm 10 years old again & I drift into my never ending fascination with trains. I love the sounds of our trains, thank you Lionel & MTH! Although the sounds have come leaps & bounds from the simple early attempts, there is still something missing.

I've attached some youtube videos below, 3 from popular train watching spots near Bear Mountain, NY & West Point, about an hour from me. The last 2 are of an incredible scale 2 rail RR. Hard to beat that realism! Not sure why Lionel or MTH couldn't replicate that.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyZpC2_MRpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urEXVbGIB6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq6gmO2LXlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yTYH408lv0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...SHksx8A3E&t=250s

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Maybe they should first make it sound like a real freight car, not some guy inside with a big hammer.

gunrunnerjohn posted:
NH Bill posted:

  I just wish you could turn the sounds on and off remotely.

The soon to be available ERR Mini Commander ACC from 3rd rail will solve that problem for you, I'm going to put one in all my sound cars.

I decided that the banging is just too irritating. While flat spots may be "realistic," they're not terribly common, at least the bad ones. (The railroads try to fix these cars asap.) The ERR Mini Commander might provide an "off" switch, but why pay all that money for a sound car if you're not using the sound (plus the cost of the Mini Commander)? I guess I'll just wait for the next run of these cars.

They seem slightly different. I could be wrong. I may just have the settings slightly different, volume or minimum/maximum sound. Whatever it may be the reefers sure do seem to squeal more & clunk & bang less. I will have to look & test more closely. One thing for sure, I do not have the volume up more than half to 3/4 setting. Full volume only made the clunking/banging more prominent with the PS-1 box cars for sure.

I'm surprised no comment on the youtube videos I attached.

William 1 posted:

This may be a rather obtuse question, but what does a tank car with sound do.  Do you hear the rocket grade fuel sloshing around in the tanks or something.  Or is it more station sounds. Like, fill er up Mac!  Just curious is all.

Pretty much same sounds. 

Some wheel squeak, some banging.

You don’t hear sloshing in tank cars, they are either full or empty, they don’t ship them half full. 

WILLIAM 1,

As Chris mentioned, the cars we are talking about have generally the same sounds, activated by track power & movement. The sounds have nothing to do with the type of car. For all I know the sound sets in the PS-1 boxcar, the 30K gallon modern tank car & the reefer may be exactly the same. How you adjust the settings, Min or Max, volume from low to high, that may be the only variables that give the impression they may be different . While not cheap, $130, they are low end sound cars unlike vision line. Personally, I like them & they add another dimension to my RR, but not quite as realistic as the VIDEOS I posted above.

It be nice to get an answer from Lionel.

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