Trainsound bells and whistles, whether you want them or not

[Justraincrazy]

Hope someone can offer a solution to this Trainsounds issue.  We have a Lionel NYC Hudson, numbered 5417 (I forget the actual "number") with a Trainsounds tender.  This makes a nice steam train sound when running, but unless running very, very slowly, the whistle sounds over every O-27 turnout, and the bell sounds intermittently, requiring us to push the bell button to turn it off.  Our simpler Trainsounds boxcars, one diesel and one steam, have none of these issues.  Track is spotless, trains run beautifully, what could be the problem with the engine's tender?  Frustrating.

[TrainLarry]

It sounds like it may be a slight loss of voltage when crossing the turnouts is causing the sounds to be activated. It happens very occassionally with my postwar whistles and horns also. Try cleaning the wheels and pickup roller on the tender with naptha (available at harware stores). Clean the track and especially the turnouts with the naptha also. (It will not harm plastic or paint). Try running the trains again. If the problem persists, suspect the sound board as being faulty.

Larry

[Buckeye Riveter]

What type of power are you using to run your layout?  For example: A Lionel CW-80 or a MTH O Z-1000 Transformer are two typical types of power transformers in use.  

[Dave632]

 I have a Lionel  0 8 0 switcher that blows the whistle by itself occasionally. I just figured it was normal for this unit.

[BigAl 956]

It's not unusual for shorts and sparks to generate stray DC that will fire the whistle or bell. What is unusual is the sound staying on continuously until you press the button again. Since it happens on a switch look for a short when the locomotive crosses through. Perhaps a wire or piece of metal is touching the center rail.

What are you using for a transformer? Does it have it's own built-in bell button or do you have a separate button connected? It could be a problem with the diodes in the button box.

[Justraincrazy]

We run the layout on a relatively new ZW, with two 180 watt poer packs.  The bell function, according to the manual, turns on with a push of the bell button, and must be turned off by pushing the button again, whereas the whistle sounds only while the whistle button is pushed.  Frustraing to hear the engine making loops of the layout with the bell ringing after being activated on its own.  Whistle occasionally blows but, with 17 turnouts on our layout, the whistle is nearly always going off.  I've cleaned everything several times but, as the engine is now thee years old, I guess a diagnosis of "bad sound board" will be ours to pay for.  Cheaper to just buy a tender with an old air whistle and just enjoy the engine.  For now, our only solution is to run the enginer very, very slowly, which limits the unintended activation of sounds, but makes the 21st Century Limited look ridiculous at five MPH!

[phillyreading]

Are all 17 of your turnouts on the same loop of track? Sounds more like you got a bad tender that needs a circuit board replaced but the 027 switches can cause some feed back because of electronics in them or the solenoid circuit hook up. Have you tried using another type of switch? Maybe Gargraves or Ross Custom switches? These have the switch motor separate from the switch and no electrical feedback is possible.

[jwse30]

It sounds like dirty track and or wheels and rollers to me. But if they are truly clean, then here's another option:

I've got an older Trainsounds tender that was acting erratically when I first used it. It turns out (in the instructions ) that there has to be a light bulb present in the circuit to add some impedance to the circuit. If your engine is using LEDs for the headlight and the rest of the train doesn't have any lighting, perhaps try to add a lighted lockon or something similar and see if that helps.

Of course if the engine already uses a regular light bulb, then this obviously won't be the cause.

Hope this helps,

J White

[David Barker]

Transformers can cause problems, however you need to check wiring and control buttons to eliminate those as culprits.

I had the RailSounds which operated on its own until I replaced the activation  button.

[Justraincrazy]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Each half of our layout has 17 standard O27 switches, and this particular engine's trainsounds seem to be triggered over the switches, and the uncoupling and operating tracks. Our two trainsounds boxcars, one diesel and one steam, do not suffer the same problems. I assume this means the ZW is working properly. There is an illuminated bumper present on the layout, and we've tried using the engine to pull four illuminated passenger cars. No effect - the bell triggers and remains on until the bell button is pressed, and the whistle triggers intermittently over nearly all of the special tracks. Changing turnouts is not an option - my sons and I are Lionel men exclusively. The only solution found so far is to run the engine at minimal power and speed. Truthfully, in my experience almost anything with a circuit board has been problematic, sometimes right out of the box.