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So if your like me, you like a bit of realism with your trains and me being an novice film maker and sound designer, key words there. I'm slightly bothered by the whistle Lionel seems to have defaulted to on many of their steam locomotives. Am I the only one who is?

One of the next locomotives on my list I'm looking to acquire for my layout and collection is the Southern Pacific #4449 (or some other GS-4, possibly 2 or more). The only thing I'm not liking is the whistle.
Below is a clip of one of the newest Legacy Locos (0:40 for whistle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVr-DtaoqzI

Here is what she sounds like in real life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4Tuam23js

Now maybe I'm being too critical on this but those don't sound remotely close and the Lionel Whistle seems to be on several other large locos.

I took a look at some other locos and the whistle they did on #4436 (Also Legacy) sounds pretty good. (Skip to 0:26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ozyH6RGhlU

Again maybe I'm being to critical on this. But for me the whistle needs to be pretty close. Thoughts on this? Is there a way to "upload" a new whistle into a loco? Are there other sound sources out there for "upgrading" your locomotive?

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Lou1985 posted:

MTH got it a little closer (PS2 3V GS4 sound file). My MTH Premier GS4 on the Golden State. 

Lol, Thats true, Ironic Lionel nails the UP whistles but MTH faill short there and MTH does well with the SP.

Only problem is not really wanting an MTH loco. They seem to have constantly cause me headaches or been royal pains.

UPMav#488 posted:

Lol, Thats true, Ironic Lionel nails the UP whistles but MTH faill short there and MTH does well with the SP.

Only problem is not really wanting an MTH loco. They seem to have constantly cause me headaches or been royal pains.

That's very true.  I have both the VL-BB and the latest MTH scale BB from the 2017 Catalog.  The VL-BB has one of the most realistic whistles I've heard, the MTH BB sounds like a wounded duck!  In short, it's awful, and doesn't sound like any steam whistle to me or anyone else that has heard it!

I believe there was a discussion a year or so ago about Lionel's K4's and how the whistle on each engine release was different, and not quite what the K4 should have been. IIRC, someone said that it was almost as if it was a generic PRR steam whistle for mid sized steam. Mind you, I have not actually seen or heard the actual K4 whistle on YouTube but I still enjoy it all the same. It would be nice to have the real deal(if not already the case), but heck, I'm not a whistle expert and just enjoy the sound regardless.

For whatever reason Lionel chose not to use the correct whistle for the last run of GS-4's which included 4449 and the AFT 4449. They had the correct one and used it in the previous run with 4436.....so what happened?

MTH has a really good one but I totally understand not wanting an MTH locomotive.

You saw my 3rd Rail 4449 which uses the accurate Railsounds card in the ERR electronics.

That's the biggest reason I sold my Legacy 4449, because the whistle was not correct. The cab vent was also installed by Lionel backwards but I corrected that right away. Not much you can do about the sound card. 

Aaaack! Sorry about my shoddy video in my old place (just moved). I was overjoyed with excitement when I took this piece out of the box over the holidays and didn't bother cleaning up the background. There's foam bits from the inner box all over the floor and track and I put the video together quickly on my iphone. Not a great clip for a former Pro video editor, but I just wanted to get something up. Glad to see it served your evaluation well here.

*I am the proud owner of that 4436 you see in the link from the OP. Totally in agreement with you, OP, on sound and feelings are the same about the Legacy 4449. I was livid when I saw that they didn't bring back or even enhance the whistle from 4436 for 4449. Total FAIL. I would have bought and only had that 4449 if the whistle was correct, but I now own 4436 and the first Premier 4449 MTH did (awaiting upgrade plans), and I also have a K-Line semi-scale TCA Daylight that was custom repainted in an American Freedom Train inspired scheme I designed as a tribute to 9-11-01. Christine of CJB Designs in PA worked magic on that piece! Oh, and I have a GS-2 Daylight with TMCC that is a wonderfully done beast with a better fitting whistle than the Legacy remake of the GS-2. I think I have plenty of Daylights

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