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The Legacy M1b is one of my favorite locomotives. However, the whistle leaves something to be desired; at the low quilling point it doesn't sound right to me. Hard to explain, but its like at full blast there are several tones sounding together whereas at the low quilling point only one of the chimes is sounding. That is not prototypically-correct-sounding and sounds bad to me.

I have heard this on not just mine, but on at least two others, so I don't think there is something wrong with mine, but does anyone know if there is a way to "fix" this?

Go to the 5:00 mark in this video to hear what I'm talking about:

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I think you've bought way to many engines in to short a time.

If you had less I don't think you'd be on sensory overload and the others would sound just fine.

You need to get rid of that one and at least that Y6B

E mail me and I'll send you my address I'm that concerned about your health that I'll even pay the shipping(Hey what are friends for?) Big Grin

David
I'm with David on this one Jeff, maybe with the issues you've been having, your now looking for problems that aren't there. I suppose I could say that maybe that low tone is a bit too clean when starting at a low quill but at the same time I suspect that same tone is what sounds so good as the whistle goes from the high tone down to that low that tails off with the echo later in your video. I would assume thats a digital recording of an actual pennsy whistle,it does sound similar to that of PRR k4 1361 (probably a better match for the real k4 than the whistle offered on the new legacy k4). I've watched numerous videos of the real 1361 and the whistle sounds a bit different in each one but generally speaking it sounds cleaner down low and more raspy on top, come to think of it aren't most steam whistles that way,I think even 765 sounds off in a similar manner. Listen to the sounds on one of your Mth locos,then it won't seem so bad Big Grin.....just kidding.
Are you kidding me? The M1b whistle is my favorite! You can make it sing to you.
Fantastic whistle!

I like the quill feature, this is probably my most frequently run locomotive on the layout.

Just as nice as the S-3.

I think the only beef I have is the small pilot wheels and the large space between the tender and cab. Eek
You guys are on to me! I probably would have impulse bought the Legacy NW Class A today if my lhs had it! Then I'd be mad about the 2 missing wheels! I am relieved! But, I am still looking for the legacy PRR gp7 in cab no. 8512 if anyone knows of any!

Seriously, I love the M1b, and I'm just making sure I'm not missing something that could improve it to my ear.

Dave, good point, no I am not sure. But compared to the Legacy K4 and J1a, it just isn't as smooth between the lowest and next to lowest quilling levels to the point where I wasn't sure if that was not how it was intended.
quote:
Originally posted by pennsy484:
You guys are on to me! I probably would have impulse bought the Legacy NW Class A today if my lhs had it! Then I'd be mad about the 2 missing wheels! I am relieved! But, I am still looking for the legacy PRR gp7 in cab no. 8512 if anyone knows of any!

Seriously, I love the M1b, and I'm just making sure I'm not missing something that could improve it to my ear.

Dave, good point, no I am not sure. But compared to the Legacy K4 and J1a, it just isn't as smooth between the lowest and next to lowest quilling levels to the point where I wasn't sure if that was not how it was intended.


Yea Them "A"'s have a couple more wheels AND a tender that didn't come off of last years switcher . The "A" and the "Z" also had air pumps which to make it their idea of a "Z" Lionel just removed the air pump . Now your gonna need Denzel Washington and his buddy to get the train stopped cause it don't got no air brakes.


David
Sounds good to me. I don't know what typical whistle sound that the PRR M1 had.

My new MTH NYC L3b Mohawk has a whistle that sounds almost European; high-pitched whistles
were not uncommon on US steamers, actually. They didn't all sound like the Southern Railway #4501
excursion Mikado's deep, "steamboat" sound.

I think that your M1 sounds great, all around.
quote:
Originally posted by pennsy484:


. But compared to the Legacy K4 and J1a, it just isn't as smooth between the lowest and next to lowest quilling levels to th


The m1b is one of the very first "legacy locos" and is probably almost closer (to a degree) to the tmcc locos that immediately preceded it than the latest legacy offerings. The recent legacy stuff has signifigantly changed/updated/improved electronics I.E. self diagnostics,far more robust smoke unit,sequence control etc I see no reason why JZ wouldn't have stepped up the quilling as well. I guess its one of the drawbacks/advantages, (depending on how you look at it) of Lionel products, they always seem to improve with each "batch" that is released, even the more basic sounds like the chuffing, it seems just when the last chuff I heard from a Lionel is the best one yet, the next one is even better.
Thank you Rick. That is what I'm looking to hear. It is what it is, and it wasn't as good as the current quillable whistles. I wanted to make sure that mine and some others weren't having some kind of fixable problem and they should sound like the current ones, e.g., K4, J1a, etc. Based on what you are saying, I now look at it kinda like Larry does, it really isn't a true quillable whistle in the same sense that the current quillable whistles are.

The full on tone is fine. The low and mid tones are ok too. The issue I was asking about is not the tone, or whether it is the correct tone for an M1b, but that if you try to really quill it, then tones do not transition well and the sound is very broken and digital sounding. It sounds like it is confused.

I can use the whistle fine, but it does not behave like the current quilling whistles. That doesn't bother me now that I know it is an evolutionary step prior to what we have now. In fact I will enjoy it more now knowing it is working properly, even though it isn't a current-style quillable whistle.

Thanks all, good discussion.
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