Chuff-chuff sound from 70s Lionel tenders?

[Boyd]

In my search for a good running Lionel 8203 Pennsy 2-4-2, the ones I find on ebay so far don't have the electronic chuff-chuff sound from the tender "working". Did any of these have chips in their electronics? Or was there anything on them that made them not work? I have one of these right now thats rough and barely moves down the track making sparks as it stops and starts. The chuff-chuff sound does not work on the one I have.

[sir james I]

There is a board and speaker in the tender. IF all the tender wires are soldered, you can check the board by placing it on a powered track and touching the wire that plugs into the engine to the center rail. IF the board is good you will hear the chuff.Again, If you hear the chuff, then you must open the engine as the conntact is wired to the smoke piston.

[EIS2]

The electronics in those "Mighty Sounds of Steam" tenders did not last long.  As I recall, there was some electronic component that failed after a few years.  I don't recall which component failed, but was advised to replace the whole sound unit with a more modern component.

Earl

[brianel027]

I have both the mechanical and electronic MPC Sound of Steam tenders and like them both.

What was wrong with the electronic ones was the foam insulation used to insulate the circuit board from the metal tender frame. The foam disintegrates over time, and if you don't catch it and turn on the engine - you wind up burning out the board. Then you need to replace it. Best thing to do is when you buy one of these locos is to immediately check the tender and replace the insulation.

I've been lucky and have bought used engines that hadn't been run in years. I checked the tender first thing, replaced the foam and the electronic Sound of Steam still works.

Yeah, the sounds are quite simple by today's standards. But I rather like simplicity.

[prewardude]

The electronic SOS worked fine in my Lionel Lines 8800 steamer... until I sent 110 volts through it. I think I was 11 or 12 at the time.

 - Clint 

[ADCX Rob]

...What was wrong with the electronic ones was the foam insulation used to insulate the circuit board from the metal tender frame. The foam disintegrates over time, and if you don't catch it and turn on the engine - you wind up burning out the board. Then you need to replace it. Best thing to do is when you buy one of these locos is to immediately check the tender and replace the insulation...

I just did this about 10 minutes ago on a 8142 tender.  I used that really sticky stuff that never really hardens up used for wall posters etc. 

After cleaning the car & the board, I made 4 little balls of the stuff as stand-offs at the corners and pressed the board down gently into it.  Works great.

Rob 

[krapug1]

As has been noted, check all wires and connections in the tender unit.

From my own experience I have found that sometimes the 'Mighty Sound of Steam" sound boards die out after a while, but others go on and on.

I have a beat up workhorse 8142 from 1971, and the MSOS works just like it did on day one, and others that I've had never worked right at all.

I did take one that didn't work to my regular repair store, and it was reworked so it operates without the teather, but has the original MSOS sound, and in that case the trouble plauged electronic whistle works as well.

Ken

[Boyd]

I wonder if old boards could be repaired if blown. Also are there any aftermarket replacement or upgrade to one of these?

[brianel027]

If they have them in stock, Brasseur Electric Trains, who is also handling K-Line parts sales, has them listed on their website at $22.00 (Lionel Part No: 8102-T51) or $28.00 for the Tender frame assembly with board (8102-T11). Here's a link:


http://www.traindoctor.com/service/lionel/8010to8200.asp

There are also the after market companies like dallee.com, tastudios.com, and qsindustries.com. You'd have to wrtie to them and inquire. TAStudios has a link on their site to write to them with your request. Seems to me others have said they have gotten a replacement system from them.

[mpzpw3]

Don't know how much this applies. A couple years ago I purchased the FARR#1 MPC engine new-in-the-box. The sound of steam didn't work. Nothing seemed wrong with the board, but upon disassembly of the engine for routine maintenance, found the little swith that triggered the sounds was covered in smoke fluid. After cleaning, the SOS worked fine, and has ever since.

I'm wondering if through your description, your engine is due for some maitenance? Seems like the loco. you have may just need a good cleaning and lube. If you are looking for another one anyway, why not disassemble the engine you have, and see what's up?

[Railroader_Sailor_SSN-760]

I know your pain. I have a Pennsy 2-4-2 from the Silver Star train set from the 1970's and it had the Sound of Steam in it. No worky worky.

Upon inspection of the sound board, it had sub-par solder joints and a slew of failed components.

Replacement cards cost way too much. I replaced it with a whistle.  

I still do not care for the quality of the solder jobs at Lionel, I have a GP-38 with a faulty reverse unit board. (The engine failed the day after it was taken out of the box, unfortunately the nearest service center is a bit of a drive away, and I do not trust the USPS.)

If you want a Lionel sound device that will deliver rock solid results, I would recommend the mechanical sound of steam tender, the ones with the rattle built into a big wheel in the tender that sounds like a Daewoo attempting to start it's incompetent motor while falling down a rocky mountain side.

Crude, but it works and attracts cats.

 

 

[Roger Bielen]

Ditto Brians reply.  We have 3 mint sets on the shelve and have obvious notes attached that the tenders need to be re-insulated if the buyer intends to run them.

[CW45]

I know this is a 10 year old post, but somebody might stumble across it looking for help. The electrolytics go bad on the circuit boards and are easily replaced if you are good with a soldering iron. Since Radio Shack is no more, Mouser, Newark, or DigiKey can supply these parts. I have not had an issue with a transistor going bad or a diode, just the caps. The voltage is so low, even a shorted cap will normally not take any components with it. AC track voltage is changed to DC by the diodes, and filtered, the circuit is a simple noise generator with a trigger transistor keyed from the engine wire hooked to the valve gear. In this modern era, a programmed chip is used, not so here, and with some rudimentary electronic troubleshooting skills, such as knowing how to read a transistors front to back to see if it is OK, these are easily repaired. The electrolytic capacitors are the taller round units, a plastic wrapped metal can. The smaller flat round ones are disc ceramic and will almost last forever at this voltage level. Read the printed value on the side, like 47uf at 25volts and order. Reinstall with the proper polarity, if you are going to try this, mark the circuit board negative terminal clearly so you can put in the new part properly. Most new caps like this will have the negative terminal marked very distinctly with a black band along the side or a series of negative symbols, ending in an arrow pointing at the negative terminal.